Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) by Jessie D. Eaker

Author:Jessie D. Eaker [Eaker, Jessie D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-24T22:00:00+00:00

My stomach twisted in knots as I waited my turn.

I knelt on the highly polished wood floor with my knees on the edge of the contest area. The others of my group, identically dressed in gray pants and a belted shirt, were lined up beside me, motionless, all of us with backs straight and hands in our lap.

The windows were open today, letting in the scents of spring flowers and providing a gentle breeze to cool the room. However, it could do nothing to alleviate the smell of sweaty exertion, and maybe a bit of fear, that permeated the room.

In front of me, two of my group were fighting. Their swords flashed in the bright sunlight streaming from the open windows, and the clang of metal against metal punctuated their strikes. The blows they traded were deadly. Should either one of them make a misstep...

I closed my eyes and tried to center myself. I needed to be calm. My turn was next, and I had, unfortunately, drawn a girl who was as close to a friend as it came in my group. We were only fifteen, but this was the sorting. One of us would leave the group today, never to return.

No one knew what happened to those that lost, but rumor had it that slavery was the best outcome. And we didn’t talk about the worst.

I opened my eyes and tried to focus on the fight. Tried to analyze their movements and dissect their weaknesses. But at this point, there were very few. Those who consistently made mistakes had been weeded out long ago.

Not for the first time, I wondered why my father had forced this on me. Forced me to be part of this group of children and receive such brutal training. The Emperor’s Butterflies, as we were called. They said we were special, and we should be honored. But from the way they treated us, it didn’t seem that way.

I couldn’t understand what I had done to deserve it. I couldn’t have offended Father. I had only met him the one time, and he didn’t even know who I was. And I certainly didn’t pose a succession threat. I was so far down the line that it was laughable. I wasn’t even suitable to be some allies’ concubine! Even the relatives on my mother’s side refused to acknowledge me.

The only reason I could think of was due to the scandal my mother had been involved in. Maybe it was to punish her. Whatever the reason, I would likely never know.

But one thing was sure about the Butterflies. Once entered, there was only one way out.

“Hold!” came the shout of the referee.

I jerked myself back to the present.

The red seeping through a slash in one of their shirts caught my eye. It was just a flesh wound—nothing serious in of itself. My eyes slid up to the boy attached to the injury. Duong was his name. He was always joking and made us smile, even though we tried not to.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.