It was a huge relief to have a working bathtub and some fresh clothes. The stench of iron had settled firmly into the back of my nostrils and refused to leave no matter how much soap I used. I stepped out wearing a modest winter dress and an overcoat. Franklin was pacing back and forth in the middle of the room when I returned.

  Theodore was lurking outside of the bedroom door, his well-trained manners refusing to allow him entry to my private quarters even in a situation like this. I clapped my hands together and drew Franklin’s attention.

  “Take a deep breath and stop being such a worrywart. I’m fine.”

  Franklin exhaled and calmed his frantic pace.

  “What happened while I was unconscious?” I asked.

  “The guards have been occupied trying to clean up the bodies and ward away those half-hawks, but I overheard some chatter between the chambermaids that some of the ladies in waiting have been escorted out of their quarters to be interviewed.”

  “They must be the suspects from the smuggling operation. What worries me is that the other co-conspirators won’t be on their radar, and I doubt that those ladies will be willing to sell them out without an iron-clad promise of a lesser punishment.”

  If that was even necessary in the first place. Nobles could get away with a lot of things they shouldn’t – and that was doubly true of the royal family. If they had anything less than firm proof of their involvement, they would likely walk away with a warning or a slap on the wrist.

  “Did you tell them what you knew?”

  “Of course not. The King is not going to dispatch a search party to arrest the chef based on a random accusation from the likes of me.”

  “But what if he did?”

  Charlie was gone, their plan was in shambles, but in no way did this feel like a victory. If the chef was involved too then the level of infiltration across the palace was severe in nature. A huge number of the Royal Guard had been killed during the fighting, and it was possible that some of those deaths were by ‘friendly fire’ from those who had been bribed or convinced to join in. In essence - without the ability to completely remove the metaphorical tumour, the problem would only return in time.

  Picking off the chef wasn’t going to change that.

  The looming feeling of incompleteness was irritating. I was about to leave the palace and head back to the city, yet that ran the risk of another attempt being launched on his life in the meantime. I couldn’t sit here and babysit him for the rest of time though. Offensive action was required to find and eliminate Landon Sloan.

  Franklin moved the subject along after I refused to humour his suggestion.

  “I imagine that this will serve as a good excuse to put the marriage process on hold and take our leave.”

  “That it will. But first we have to deal with our persistent friend.”

  I marched over to the door and pulled it open. Theodore staggered through and inside with us, having leant against it during the wait. I slammed it shut behind him and locked it again.

  “Say your piece, Theodore, there is no benefit to being coy with your words now.”

  He smoothed out his ruffled hair and collected his thoughts, “So you mean to say that the person who fought those mercenaries at the gala was you?”

  “That was me,” I confirmed.

  “And at the theatre during the academy’s visit?”

  “Also me.”

  “Is there any recent event that you didn’t have a hand in?”

  “That implies I was partly responsible for them, and not merely a prepared bystander who is always willing to fight back when the situation requires...”

  “Surely it cannot be a simple coincidence. Don’t try to pull wool over my eyes, especially when it refers to the safety of my family and peers.”

  “That is the full extent of what you have to know. Naturally I was present at the party and the parliamentary visit simply because it was an activity hosted by the academy.”

  Theodore couldn’t wrap his head around it, and he was right to question my motives because I was still lying to his face. The reason I was present at all of these incidents was because Durandia wanted me to be. She had planned for me to step into the role of anti-hero since before my death in the hotel.

  It wasn’t a Rube Goldberg machine arrangement. Durandia knew me better than I knew myself thanks to the Red Tree’s predictive power. All she had to do was find the right person and drop them into the right place, at the right time, and watch it all play out as she planned. The rest of her meddling was intended to assist us in achieving her goal through direct assistance.

  I suppose when looking through it through that lens, I retained my freedom of choice like they wanted to. I could sit down, fold my legs and arms and sulk until everything went to hell if I really thought it was the right course of action. The difference was that Durandia already knew that I wouldn’t make that choice.

  Theodore didn’t have context for any of this. From where he was standing I was a young noble teenager who was well-known for her looks and good breeding, who was now willingly engaging in some of the most violent, disturbing fighting that one could find.

  “Doesn’t it... keep you up at night? I saw some of the bodies on the way to the sanctum and...”

  What was the best way to toe the line here? I frowned and tried to come up with an answer that didn’t make me sound like a lunatic.

  “It can be difficult to maintain my composure in the face of these stresses, and the obscene sights that follow the actions of violent men. Surely there will be some sleepless nights in the near future, but those pale in comparison to the duress one may endure if they stand idly by and allow these massacres to take place unbidden.”

  I never forgot the crazy shit I saw. That came part and parcel with the job, and desensitizing yourself to the brutality would shorten your career. Those were the types of people who turned it into a game, or tricked their minds into perceiving it as a non-issue. It’d build up in the back of their heads like scar tissue until they couldn’t handle it any more.

  Keep one foot firmly on the ground and accept that you’re going to see some eviscerated bodies from time to time. Hell, you might even be responsible for a few of them if you use unusual means to see them off. It would have been so easy for us to drop that vulture capitalist asshole into the machinery when we pushed him for info about Welt.

  “I don’t understand.”

  That was as plain a statement as one could hope to hear from Theodore. His aloof and cool attitude was nowhere to be seen. For better or worse he was being open with me instead of putting on a fa?ade.

  “Is there a need for you to understand? Would those memories linger less bitterly if you could see into my mind and go through my decision-making process?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everyone is different. They respond to stress and trauma in different ways, and that means there is no one correct method to distract your mind from these things. You should focus on comforting yourself in your own way, instead of hoping to decode every decision I make. It is not a blueprint to emulate.”

  Theodore sighed, “Then I shall keep this incident between us, as you requested. It is unlikely that anyone would believe the true story anyway. Now that I think about it – that is how you evaded discovery for so long. Hiding in plain sight, using nothing but your reputation as a shield.”

  And the small fact that there were no survivors most of the time...

  “I suspect that this particular drama is far from over. I hope that the Royal Guard strengthens their security protocols for a while after this. They can’t let people bring in whatever they please, like those damned half-hawk pheromones. Where did they even get those?”

  Franklin spoke up, “The port in Gerside has extremely lax customs enforcement. Most illegal items slip into Walser through there. All they needed was a seller from a country with a less protective attitude towards their wildlife.”

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  “Oh, I understand that much! I mean the extremely dangerous process of locating a female in heat and harvesting their bodies for it. The damage they can cause is extraordinary!”

  It was my first, and hopefully last, encounter with Walser’s proud national animal. Those things were goddamn terrifying in motion, like a bulldozer rolling through the place and threatening to dice you into pieces with their claws. Fast, aggressive, and capable of flight too. Durandia was out of her mind inventing a predator like that.

  “I hope the kitchen isn’t going to be serving hawk meat for the next month,” Theodore murmured. They must have killed enough of them to scare the birds away while I was busy in the sanctum.

  “I’m certain that we’ll enjoy a much longer talk about all of this once the chaos is over with.”

  “Are you heading home?”

  I nodded, “Yes. That’s the best place to lay low and recover from... well, you know.”

  Theodore bowed his head, “Then I will thank you once more for rescuing my father and see myself out. Stay safe, Maria.”

  It was everyone else who needed to stay safe from me. I chuckled and returned the gesture.

  “I would do the same for anyone. Goodbye, Theodore.”

  He promptly left the room and finally gave me some space. While it was true that we were leaving by the end of the day, there was still some business to attend to before we rode our carriage back to the city. I had to expel all doubt and ensure that no bold attempts on Thersyn’s life could be organized in the short-term, at least until I managed to find and kill Sloan.

  “I want to know how many people are being held in the prison, Franklin.”

  He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “You never make it easy for me...”

  “Because I know your natural charm is enough to loosen any pair of knowledgeable lips you find. I promise that this is the last favour I’ll ask of you before we go.”

  “It’s not that. You’ll be asking me for more once we get back to the safehouse. Your father told me to keep you safe, and keep an eye on you, and it’s starting to feel like entertaining your orders is only plunging you into even more danger.”

  “Neither of us have a choice in the matter,” I said, “I simply can’t escape the gravity of what’s happening. This is exactly where the Goddess wants me to be. I simply must have faith that it will all go my way.”

  The best way to do that was to fight and claw with everything I had.

  “I’ll see what I can find out,” Franklin relented.

  Andre Amiens was in a mad hurry that evening.

  He had been at ground zero when the chaos broke out and the half-hawks descended upon the palace, killing many and sending the well-drilled guard into disarray. He was tucked away safe and sound inside of the main kitchen, away from any windows or large doorways that they could use to attack him.

  But his urgency now was not driven by the usual flood of challenging meal orders from his clients. He was not clattering pots and pans, and juggling three-dozen different ingredients simmering on different hobs. Instead he was packing away his favourite tools of the trade into a crate.

  He was supposed to be the only one there. The door was locked using his key, but it opened anyway and I stepped through to greet him.

  “This is a nice kitchen you have here, sir.”

  He jumped up from behind the workplace and stared at me. Panic was quickly supplanted by a sense of relief. Even though a stranger was breaking through his perimeter, it was only a young girl visiting as a guest. Seeing an armed guard would be a much greater cause for panic.

  ‘How did she get through the door’ was excused away with his own reasoning. He must have forgotten to lock it when he entered.

  “I’m afraid that the kitchen is off-limits to young guests, ma’am. We wouldn’t want any incidents occurring under my watch.”

  Practiced. Slick. Normal. It sounded good in his head. Staying the course would see him safely home, and from there he could forget about his worldly troubles. Although in truth there would always be that nagging voice in the back of his mind that one day the penny would drop – and he’d open his front door to find an officer there to arrest him for treason and conspiracy to commit murder.

  That was an unfounded fear. The head chef evidently wasn’t on their radar, but he was on mine. I slowly walked along the tiled floor, the heels of my boots cracking against them like miniature gunshots. He did his best not to wince with each one.

  “You seem to be in a hurry to go somewhere. Are they asking for the staff to leave?”

  “No. I merely... wish to ensure that all of my expensive tools are kept in a safe place. I don’t know when we’ll be allowed to move freely again while they investigate.”

  I tittered, “Really? It would be an awful lot of trouble to become a prime suspect over a simple cleaver, no matter how expensive it may be.”

  I drew closer – standing in the middle of the aisle, and without touching any of the shiny surfaces that surrounded me. It was a modern kitchen, clean and pristine with all of the nice conveniences that came with new materials and construction techniques. They would capture any fingerprints I left behind.

  “Will you be leaving us soon, Lady Maria?”

  “That’s correct. Our carriage is ready to go, but there is one last matter I must attend to before I leave. It would be a gross mistake not to thank the head chef for his hard work. The food here has been consistently wonderful.”

  I was an arm’s length away from him now. I could see the sweat pooling above his brow.

  “Thank you very much. It’s an honour to receive such high praise. Although, it is rare for anyone to take the time to find me in the kitchen.”

  “Yes. With that said, I am much less impressed with your event coordination.”

  He tensed up, “I’m sorry?”

  “Your event coordination. I take it that you were intimately involved with concocting this idiotic scheme? One of your fellow assassins squealed like an overwrought pig when I pushed her for information. You’re the only one who isn’t being corralled by the guard as we speak.”

  There was the expression I hoped for. Pants shitting fear.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, ma’am.”

  “The chef and his staff are always singled out as a major point of weakness in any security situation. It only takes a single sympathizer to slip something nasty into the food – and who knows how much damage they might cause. Food testers can only go so far when the poison is slow-acting, but you didn’t even manage that.”

  He turned and tried to run, but that was his last mistake. I snapped my fingers and suddenly he found the tendons in his legs disconnected from the bone. He fell to the floor and smashed his chin against the hard tile. He clutched his aching jaw and turned around, backing away using his hands.

  “W-Wait! Wait just a moment! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “Results weren’t fast enough for Sloan. He asked why you couldn’t simply shoot the man dead and be done with it. You became nothing more than a mule, helping to shuttle contraband around the palace or offer information to your friends about what was going on inside of the King’s sanctum.”

  The horrible truth of the matter finally struck Chef Amiens. This was not the type of talk to come from an ignorant teenage girl. I was accurately describing the thought process behind everything that had happened since my arrival.

  “But I suppose that suited you just fine. Being a background player, slinking around in the shadows until the time is right, and then disappearing when the job is done. I do not like leaving loose ends.”

  “Turn me over to the guards, then.”

  Andre bet on being released for a lack of evidence. I clenched my teeth and shook my head.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I can’t allow even the faintest possibility of you retaining your position of employment here.”

  His eyes narrowed into daggers; “You can’t kill me. You’re just a child! They’ll have your head for murder!”

  He was buoyed by the fact that I was making no move to draw a weapon. There were no knives or cleavers within reach, and my hands remained behind my back during the discussion. He hadn’t figured out how much damage my magic caused to his legs. Even if he survived it was unlikely that he’d ever be able to walk normally again.

  “It won’t be murder. The guards will come through here in an hour and find nothing but a death from natural causes.”

  “I didn’t do anything!”

  His pleas fell on deaf ears. I held out one of my hands and lowered it towards his chest. Suddenly a valve in his heart disappeared and the blood started flowing in the wrong direction. His eyes widened as a sharp, stabbing pain started to emanate from the area I was pointing at.

  “You should choose more wisely, whatever comes next.”

  He clutched his chest in agony and writhed on the floor. I stepped over him and headed to the other exit, moving out into the corridor and following a carefully planned route that I had rehearsed and studied earlier the same day. Nobody saw me leaving, and those who did spot me only saw me moving through well-travelled thoroughfares that split off into a dozen different pathways.

  It wouldn’t be long before he died from that. His cries for help would not be heard, nor would they be able to heal him if they did. I kept a calm fa?ade despite the adrenaline running through my veins and returned to the front of the palace steps where Franklin was waiting with our carriage.

  “Time to go.”

  An actual assassination! It had been a long time since I got to do one of those...

  It was impossible to ignore the horrible state of the city when we returned to the safe house later that evening. There were upturned carts around almost every corner, with protestors manning them, many of whom were armed and ready for a fight. The massacre at the plaza had stoked tensions just as Sloan intended.

  Samantha was waiting at the door with Adrian and Claude when I returned.

  “Maria! You’re back. What happened over there?” Samantha asked.

  “It certainly met my expectations, both the stomach-turning wealth on display, and the frank violence of what Sloan attempted to do to kill Thersyn Van Walser.”

  “So... you stopped them?”

  “Yes. We have some breathing room now to take care of business. He won’t be able to organize another attack like that before we get our hands on him.”

  I stepped past the group and headed up the stairs into the first-floor office. Veronica and Frankfort were waiting for me.

  “I hope your field-trip went well,” Veronica said dryly.

  “It’s all in good humour until they kill Thersyn and plunge the nation into anarchy again,” I scoffed in reply, “Have you two figured out where Sloan is hiding yet? We have a window of opportunity to end this charade once and for all.”

  I was only gone for a few days, but it felt longer with so much going on while I was there. Veronica and Frankfort were the best in the business – so I hoped that they would use that time wisely to catch another lead for us to follow.

  Frankfort had what I wanted; “As far as we understand, Landon Sloan has been hiding in the Gerswhiler Arsenal for the past week. It’s a fortress – but I suspect that we need not launch a frontal assault to get to him.”

  “Can we sneak inside?”

  “No. That would be risky and difficult. Landon hasn’t been sitting silently in his chambers this entire time. They’re working on something big. He’s been sighted leaving under armed guard at various times of day.”

  “And where does he go?”

  Veronica delivered the bombshell.

  “The Henry Snow Museum. He should be there right about now.”

  They both looked very confused as the blood drained from my face. The Henry Snow Museum. The very same museum where Durandia had instructed the titular inventor to construct an etherscope, one which could effectively weaken the barrier between our world and the Veil and even enable contact with the deities beyond.

  What a funny little curiosity that machine was to the uneducated masses who walked through that lobby every day. One of his most ambitious projects – stopped before it could come to fruition and challenge the rapid development of industrial machinery. They didn’t have the faintest idea of how dangerous it could be.

  That son of a bitch couldn’t be that stupid, could he?

  “We have to go. Now.”

  Veronica and Frankfort chased after me.