City of Wolves by Kat Ross

Author:Kat Ross [Ross, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781957358000
Publisher: Kat Ross
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Ascalon emptied into the Bight of Balmora, a deep curve in the continent’s western coastline that sheltered hundreds of small islands. The waters of the Bight were shallow and rife with rocky outcrops. Countless wrecks littered the seabed, adding to the underwater hazards. The Bight was also well beyond the usual shipping lanes of the Via Sancta, making it an ideal location for smugglers.

As they neared the mouth of the river, the marshes gave way to scrubby dunes with stunted, wind-bent pine trees. And at last, a wide white beach, girded by the last of the stelae. The edge of the Void. Open ocean lay beyond, where the ley would be too deep to touch.

They abandoned the raft on a sandy spit where the cross-currents of the river and ocean joined. A large schooner was anchored a short distance offshore. A slave pen held a few dozen disconsolate Perditae, guarded by a group of women with the tanned skin and sinewy muscles of a ship’s crew. They glanced at Malach as he approached.

“Trade is closed for the day, mage.”

“I’m not here to trade. I’m looking for someone. A woman seeking passage to the isles.”

The sailor jerked her head toward a wooden building on stilts. “She’s in the post with Captain Aemlyn.”

It was a simple thatched-roof structure with two windows on the ocean-facing side. They had peeling white shutters that could be sealed against poor weather, but it was a fine morning and the windows stood open. Low voices came from inside as he climbed the rickety stairs. Then the raucous sound of Nikola’s laughter. She had several kinds in her repertoire. A dry chuckle. A snort of disbelief. And a full-throated belly laugh that sounded like a wounded hyena, reserved for remarks she found especially amusing. When the last one erupted, it was impossible not to join her, even when you weren’t sure what was funny.

Malach paused, heart suddenly racing. What if she didn’t want to see him? She’d run from him, after all. Left without even a goodbye. Never had he felt so full of doubt. He paused on the landing, paralyzed, as light footsteps approached. Before he could turn away, the door opened. Nikola stood before him. She had shed the heavy green cloak and wore one of her cheap flower-print dresses from Novostopol, straining across the middle now. Their eyes met. She quickly pulled the door closed behind her. Emotions flitted across her mobile face, too swift to decipher. Nikola ran down the stairs, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the dunes behind the trading post.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed, so close he could count the grains of sand caught in her hair.

Malach opened his mouth to reply and Nicola scowled deeply. Then she kissed him, a long, passionate kiss that left him breathless and burning for more. “Idiot! So you got away, did you?” Another violent, lingering kiss. “Saints, I feared you were dead!”

“Not yet,” he murmured, still drunk from the taste of her on his lips.

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