Of Kings and Killers (Elder Empire Sea #3) - WIll Wight Page 0,120
over one shoulder, and she looked more savage than she ever had. Brutal. Almost unrecognizable.
Until she saluted Jorin and spoke. “What is the plan, sir?”
Calder found himself relieved, which was itself a surprise. She had personally executed his father…though she had also stepped between him and certain death.
“We’re still waiting on the last cards in our hand.” Jorin turned to the back of the room, and Calder thought he saw a light flash behind the man’s dark glasses. “Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long.”
Calder followed the Regent’s gaze…and his breath stuck in his throat. Dread crept over him again, and it brought him back to Urg’naut’s infinite void.
Shera prowled into the room, the lower half of her face covered by her mask of gray cloth. Her hood was down, leaving only her short black hair, and she stared at him with frigid hate. Her hands crept back to her daggers.
And she walked next to someone worse.
Estyr Six marched side-by-side with the Consultant, and her scowl held such a weight of Intent that it drowned out Shera’s. Three Hydra skulls floated around her cloud of blonde hair and she had her hands tucked into the pockets of her black cloak.
She was still alive.
She was going to kill him.
Estyr lifted one hand as though gripping something…and Calder instantly figured out what she was gripping. His throat.
An invisible hand seized him around the neck, cutting off his breath and lifting him until his feet left the floor. He scrambled, clawing at his throat on instinct, but of course there was nothing to grab.
“What’s Kelarac’s bilge-boy doing here?” Estyr asked, jerking her chin at Calder.
Calder tried to speak, to say something, to take even the smallest breath, but of course he could do nothing.
“I’m not so certain myself,” Jorin said lazily. “Loreli?”
Calder forced his eyes down to catch a glimpse of the third woman who had entered the room. The Luminian Regent walked out from behind Estyr, but before she could respond, two other people did first.
“Let him down!” Cheska shouted. She moved closer to Estyr, but her steps were frozen in an instant.
Calder appreciated the sentiment, but he did wish she had been more polite. There was nothing she could do to force Estyr Six into anything.
Bliss, on the other hand…
She dipped her hand into her coat, still scowling. She pulled out the Spear of Tharlos one foot at a time. As usual, it should never have fit into her pocket.
“You should put him down so we can hear the charges against him. Otherwise I will be forced into combat against you.”
Bliss might really be able to threaten a Regent, and he hoped it worked, because Calder’s vision was starting to be replaced by black spots. He kicked his legs, trying to find purchase to stand.
“He is tied to Kelarac,” Loreli said, and Calder heard his death in those words. “…but he isn’t controlled. I investigated him closely.”
Calder felt a brief spark of hope, but it was quickly drowned out by the panicked agony of being completely unable to breathe.
The air crackled as another blow tore the heavens, a flash filling the room even though there were no windows. Estyr’s expression hardened. “Kelarac has fooled us before. I’m at least locking him up.”
“I am certain,” Loreli said calmly. “I have thoroughly Read him, his ship, his crew, and his possessions. I will vouch that he is not a puppet, only a fool.”
Calder would take any insult if it meant he could breathe.
“Impossible,” Shera said, and Calder wanted to cry. “I killed him myself. He was dead.”
Loreli shook her head. “There is no time to explain, but I assure you he was not brought back to life by a Great Elder. He is himself. Now, Estyr, would you please release him?”
Darkness encroached on Calder’s vision. He was beginning to see Urg’naut again, that emptiness that now lurked behind his every thought. It was somehow an even more primal fear than choking to death.
Until the grip left his throat.
He fell to the ground, coughing and hacking and choking down oxygen. He took the longest, sweetest breath he could remember since the last time he’d almost drowned.
The grip around his jaw loosened as Estyr spoke again. “Fine, but why is he here?”
Loreli glanced up at the ceiling. “Kelarac is on his way—”
Jorin lifted a hand. “And possibly the others. Five, if you count Ach’magut.”
“We don’t,” Estyr said. “The Emperor dealt with him only a handful of years ago. He can’t pull himself together, even now.”