Of Kings and Killers (Elder Empire Sea #3) - WIll Wight Page 0,66

Capital.

Her bare feet found purchase on the cool tiles even as the moon shone overhead. He smiled. “Not bad, but how about this?”

He leaped off the tower.

She changed to follow him, transporting herself directly to the ground.

…but not the ground where she intended.

She found herself standing in a grassy field. Bliss glared at the Spear—it interfered with her intentions sometimes, because even plans should change.

But it was hard to focus on her Vessel. Slippery. As though…

…as though something was getting in the way.

Bliss sharpened herself. She gathered up all her concentration and directed it to changing her blood in a very specific way. Cleansing it.

Removing any foreign agents.

For a moment, she burned with fever and her heart sped up.

Then her mind was clear.

Alchemy.

She had been poisoned.

She saw the world around her clearly for the first time since she’d woken in her bed: the moonlight playing over the grass, the ground under her feet, the trees casting their shadows, and the fifteen laughing Bareiuses surrounding her.

Bliss glared at the nearest one. Now that her mind was unclouded by alchemy, she could feel the foreign Intent in the illusion.

“I imagine he is paying you a lot of money,” she said. “But is that really worth me learning who you are?”

The illusions of Bareius exchanged uncertain glances.

Bliss drew herself up and spoke with the dignity she felt her position deserved. “I will not punish you if you tell me where I am.”

Like pricked soap bubbles, the illusions disappeared one at a time.

She clicked her tongue. “Rude.”

So someone had gone to great risk poisoning her—and not with a lethal poison, but with one that would inhibit her judgment and cognitive functions. That same someone had hired a Soulbound to project illusions and lure her away from the Capital.

It wasn’t hard to imagine who that someone was.

He never tried to harm her, because even Bareius knew he needed the Head of the Blackwatch and that she would be almost impossible to replace. He usually just stayed away from her.

Which was a good decision for several reasons. If he had tried to administer a lethal poison, the Spear of Tharlos would likely have neutralized it immediately. It needed her alive.

Bareius had known that, but he had still gambled quite a bit to be rid of her. It must be important.

The Independents wanted her out of the city, so they were going to make a move. Or they were already making one.

She tried to transport herself directly to the Capital. When nothing happened, she realized she must have been even further than she thought.

Until she made it back, there was nothing she could do.

Chapter Thirteen

three years ago

While Jerri continued to weep, Calder distanced himself from her and the two remaining crew members of The Reliable.

One remaining member, he corrected himself.

Lakiri had been stung by several of Othaghor’s Slithers; the marks had swelled up and turned purple, oozing with pus and a strange ichor. Her seizures were nearing their end, and Calder doubted she would make it even if they had a medical alchemist on hand.

He could only count it as a miracle that the rest of them had escaped without being stung, but he had been bitten three or four times, and the others were in the same condition. As far as he knew, these things had a slow-acting poison in their teeth that would do worse than the stings.

Now that the crown was gone, Andel had been swallowed and probably killed by the Slithers’ big brother, and Urzaia was in pursuit. There was nothing more Calder could do for them.

He only had one idea left, and it was a stupid one.

Calder headed off to the beach, kicking away his boots as he walked. He carefully set down his gun belt; Foster would never let him hear the end of it if he got sand in the barrel of a Dalton Foster original. Then he limbered up his bare sword and waded into the surf.

The Testament was close, so close that he could see Petal and Foster scurrying around on the deck, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to reach the ship with his Reading yet. Just to be safe, he opened himself to the Intent of his Soulbound Vessel, but it still felt distant.

He waved his sword in the air, drawing Foster’s attention.

They would have seen him anyway, he was sure, but he kept waving as he forced himself step by step into the ocean.

Terror pushed against him as much as the water. He had