Blood of the Wolf (City of Chains Book 3) by Sebastian Priest

Author:Sebastian Priest [Priest, Sebastian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen: The Candour Coupling

'I sincerely hope you all realise that candour couplings kill people that attempt to go against their word,' Viktor seethed as Bearia pulled out a box and set it on the table, revealing two golden handcuffs with glowing molten runes carved into them.

The magic was overt, and just looking at the runes for too long gave Viktor a headache that couldn't have been due to the brightness alone.

'Da. Is a fool-proof method of discerning a man's honour. Contracts in Runskia are often made with such devices.'

'I suspect that's a good part of the reason why they are illegal in Adelstrad. No doubt you had some sorcerer somewhere make these for you,' Stendeval snarled, pacing angrily near Viktor. 'There's also a lesson in there about common sense. Those bastard devices kill only with consideration to the letter of an agreement, never the spirit of one.'

Viktor found himself agreeing with Stendeval. He gestured to the candour coupling with a disparaging hand.

'A man that promises to deliver a loaf of bread the day after an agreement gets hit by a cart and finds himself in the fucking hospital, unable to walk. The delivery doesn't get made, even despite the utterly understandable circumstances for the broken promise and then Ivar the Bread Maker fucking detonates in his bed.'

'Nyet,' Bearia shook her head. 'Of course we are not stupid enough to use them in such common circumstances, Viktor. These are only for the agreements that are important enough that "understandable circumstances" do not apply. Even if we wanted to, they are agonisingly rare and hard to create. This pair here is family heirloom. My grandfather claims they took almost two decades for a Theronlian sorcerer to create and cost as much as a castle.'

'You fools were the ones that got involved with Lym Erolo, and you did it because you were hoping to profit off the last of his business before he went mad completely and got himself killed. As far as I'm concerned, you deserve to get in the Baron's shit books.'

'Oh, you think so?' Tika hissed. 'And what do you think will happen, executioner, once that happens and we all inevitably lose our fucking heads? Do you think the Baron will be satisfied? Your name will be all over those documents too now that you've agreed to take Lym's estate.'

Viktor hissed, having considered that himself but hoping that no one else had. The Baron had truly manoeuvred Viktor into a tight spot for his insolence. Perhaps the zombies were mere coincidence and the templars had missed them only because of how far underground they were, [DR96]but it still wasn't a good look.

The Baron clearly needed the narrative to remain what it was if he was to be able to turn the current situation to his advantage. The moment the story changed from bomb treason to wild sorcery, it became infinitely harder for him to keep fingers pointed at the people he wanted to cut the heads off.

'I'm here on the Baron's own direct orders.

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