“Our witch friend. Copper hair, yellow eyes…”
He nodded slowly. “Right. I’ve seen her. But I don’t know. Where was she killed? And how?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out, as well. We found her in the palace gardens,” I said.
The Rimian scoffed, visibly disgusted. “That place is teeming with Darklings, and most people don’t even know it. They’re impossible to detect. As for your friend, I honestly have no information. But if she was killed by Darklings, then she probably saw or heard something she shouldn’t have. Otherwise they would’ve let her be. If there’s one thing I know about the Darklings, whoever they are, it’s that they do not kill without reason. They’re always looking for sacrifices to the Black Fever. Call it a cult, if you will. Their faith demands blood.”
I wasn’t entirely satisfied with his answers, but I also knew he couldn’t give me more. His heartbeats were steady, his pulse even and strong. There was no deception in his response. This was all he knew, and it bothered me for two important reasons: one, it didn’t bring me any closer to Nethissis’s murderer, and two, it merely verified that Valaine was the Darklings’ target. That put my brother at risk, as well, since the two had become more or less inseparable since last night’s attack.
“This isn’t good,” I said, getting up and turning my back on the Rimian. Kalon joined me, equally concerned.
“What do you think?” he asked, leaning closer.
“He’s telling the truth,” I replied. “But it’s not helping much, is it?”
“We know they’ll keep going after Valaine,” Kalon said. “They won’t stop until she’s dead. I reckon our only chance to figure out who the Darklings are is if we capture one of them alive.”
“What about the Red Thread here?” I whispered.
“Oh, he’s liable to be charged with treason. He’ll have to surrender his friends to avoid the death penalty, at best,” Kalon said. “Conspiring against the Aeternae, trying to kidnap me… both capital offenses.”
We turned around to face the Rimian again, only—he was gone. His ropes were loose, the ends cut neatly with a blade.
I gasped. “Crap.”
Something moved at the back, through the darkness. A door opened, light pouring through as the Rimian escaped. My heart started thumping, angry in its rhythm, as I realized he’d played us. While we’d been interrogating him, he’d been working on his ties, likely using a blade he must’ve kept up his sleeve or something. I had not thought to check his sleeves, nor his boots. This was a terrible mistake.
“Come on!” Kalon said. “We need to get him!”
He dashed across the hall and bolted through the back door. But this was supposed to be the end of a cul-de-sac. Where was the Rimian going? I remembered seeing a tall wall behind the house, but I doubted he had the ability to jump over it, especially after I’d dislocated one of his kneecaps.
It dawned on me then that he’d probably gone around the house, so I ran back out through the front door. I saw him at the beginning of the alley, limping slightly, and I heard Kalon behind the mansion.
“Kalon!” I shouted. “Out here!”
Seconds later, he joined me, and we ran after the Rimian. Neither of us was done with him. He could still give us useful intel about the Darklings—and, as far as Kalon was concerned, about the Red Thread faction, too. I had no interest in getting involved in going against a revolutionary movement, but Kalon and I shared a common goal in this Rimian.
Finding out as much as we could about the Darklings, so we could wipe them out, once and for all. I was also dying to learn more about their weird, sacrifice-demanding faith. Where the heck had that come from? What exactly had powered it into such a bloody practice? And was there any truth behind it? Would an Aeternae sacrifice truly stop the Black Fever?
Tristan
We left two of the golden guards to handle the scene at Egan’s house. The children had yet to learn of what had happened, and that made my insides clench, but there wasn’t much we could do. Valaine and I had to keep moving and head back to the palace.
“We haven’t gotten much out of today, huh?” I asked Valaine as we made our way down the alley. She pointed to the very end.
“If we go left there, it’ll take us around a Nalorean neighborhood. It’s quieter than most. You’ll like it,” she said, avoiding my question. A dark look had settled on her face, casting shadows over her almost-black eyes.
“What’s wrong, Valaine?”
A bitter smile fluttered across her lips. “Where do I begin? Thrice now, the Darklings have tried to kill me. Two of my attackers were people I knew personally. I grew up with Egan, and I never even saw it coming… not to mention his wife.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this, you know. If there’s one thing I actually take pride in being good at, it’s my ability to investigate events like this. My sister and I once had to figure out what happened to an ancient tribal chief, having only his bones, his hut, and the accounts of his people, passed down from generation to generation… and we did it. I think we’ve got this.”
“I hope so. I don’t fear for my safety, but I do worry they’ll hurt other people I’m fond of, either by attacking them or by coercing them, like they did with Egan and his wife.” Valaine sighed.
We turned left at the end of the alley and found ourselves in an otherworldly place. A quaint little neighborhood with dark blue houses and white-framed windows, pots of flowers and neatly trimmed shrubs everywhere.
“We know more now than we did a few hours ago, if you think about it,” I said.
She nodded. “We know the network runs deep, not only in the palace and among the gold guards, but also beyond it… and that members of the higher class of Aeternae are involved.”
“We also know they killed Nethissis,” I replied. “I will stand by that until proven otherwise.”
“This is insane,” she murmured. “And to think my life was actually quiet and relatively boring before you came along.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I hope you’re not blaming our arrival for any of this.”
“No! No, not at all,” Valaine said, briefly touching my forearm in a bid to reassure me. The gesture was so light and instinctive, she didn’t even realize she’d done it until she pulled her hand back, eyes wide with self-surprise. “I just… Troubles never come one at a time. They come together, to test you.”
I stopped at a small junction, turning to face her. “Am I trouble to you, Valaine?”
Her expression changed. Her gaze softened as she looked up at me and smiled. “Only the good kind of trouble.” Her voice was so sweet, I was momentarily hypnotized. A thought crossed my mind. An impulse to do something I’d never thought I would do. What would happen if I got closer? If I kissed her?
Did I want to kiss her?
The mild pang in my heart told me yes. When had I become so enthralled with this marvelous creature? The mystery surrounding her, the way in which the air thickened whenever she was close to me… I couldn’t deny any of it. The chemistry was real, though no words had been spoken on the matter.
Perhaps a dinner invitation might’ve brought us closer, giving us an opportunity to be together. But what would such a dinner be like, when there were Darklings all over this city looking to kill her? A masked assassin was sure to ruin the mood of any candlelight event.
