“Body like yours, surprised you weren’t showing skin the moment your breasts budded,” Alyssa said. She winced. “I’m sorry, Zusa. I forgot.”
When Alyssa had first met Zusa, she had been a member of the faceless women, a sect created in punishment for priestesses of Karak who broke their rules of sexuality. They’d kept her body covered in tight wraps, her face hidden behind a thin cloth. Zusa still wore the wrappings, though for what reason Alyssa could only begin to guess. At least she no longer hid her face, except when necessary.
“I will blame the wine, and not you,” Zusa said, and she smiled.
Alyssa felt her head swimming and set aside the glass. Enough with that. She rarely succumbed to weaknesses, and she would not drown herself in alcohol just because she was a lovesick mother. Glancing about to make sure no one might overhear, she leaned closer to Zusa and began to whisper.
“What will you and Haern do first?”
“We’ll go to the streets,” she said. “Every city is alive with its own crude personality. We must learn of Angelport, and from there, learn of every hole someone might hide in.”
“Good luck. Just make sure you two are back before morning. No one will be surprised if you sleep in.”
Zusa bowed, then went to find Haern. Alyssa felt a little dizzy, so she found herself a place to sit in front of a fireplace. She couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten. Stupid of her to drink on an empty stomach.
“Are you feeling ill?”
She looked up to see Madelyn taking a seat across from her. She shifted baby Tori from her left arm to her right, stroking her face with her fingers.
“The journey here was long,” Alyssa said. “I think it’s worn me out more than I expected.”
“It is a trip I’ve taken for every Kensgold. I’m well aware of its toll.”
“You could move back to Veldaren.”
Madelyn shook her head. She had always been incredibly beautiful in Alyssa’s eyes, increasingly so over the years, and seeing her holding a newborn made her all the more stunning. But when she looked up, and spoke the name Veldaren, she looked shockingly ugly.
“Veldaren? No, girl, I will not move back to that terrible place. You may choose to bed with thieves, but I will not. There is no safety there.”
“Nor here,” Alyssa said, knowing she was crossing a line but not caring. Madelyn clutched the babe tighter to her chest, hard enough to make little Tori cry.
“The mongrel you dealt with, that killer…the King’s Watcher? By his blade you pour wealth into the streets, and for what? It was his sigil left written in my son’s blood. Veldaren was your mess, and you helped create him. Far as I’m concerned, your hands are just as guilty.”
“Enough, woman,” Laurie said, stepping between them. Neither had heard his approach, so focused they were on each other. He glared at his wife, then bowed low to Alyssa. “Forgive her, she speaks out of grief.”
“As do I,” Alyssa lied.
“Tori needs to be fed,” Madelyn said, standing. “Excuse me while I fetch the nursemaid.”
Laurie grabbed his wife’s arm. Her eyes flared, and Alyssa felt she looked upon a wild animal, not a noblewoman. Madelyn stood there, staring, until at last he let her go without saying a word. He didn’t seem offended, only sighed and took her seat across from Alyssa by the fire.
“She has not taken this well,” Laurie said, sounding tired beyond his years. “Sometimes I think that baby is the only reason she continues on at all.”
“Forgive me, Laurie. I did not mean to provoke her, I only suggested she return to Veldaren. It might do her good to be out of this house and its…memories.”
“I have expressed the same,” Laurie said, leaning back. He snapped his fingers, and a servant rushed over with a drink in hand. Downing its contents in rapid gulps, he had it refilled, then waved the man away. “But she will not heed my words. To her, Veldaren will always be the place she was taken hostage by Thren, and as long as that spider’s alive, she’ll never return.”
“Laurie, I meant to mention this earlier. My guests…”
“This about your, what were they, cousins?” Laurie laughed. “I’ve spent every waking moment of my life surrounded by men and women who dine with golden spoons. It doesn’t take much to know neither has had the Gemcroft name for long, if ever. Who are they really? Bodyguards?”
Alyssa bit her lip, trying to think of the proper answer.
“In a way,” she said.
Laurie shifted in his chair, his hand drifting to his neck before returning to the armrest. No doubt he still missed the long braid that used to fall over his shoulder. Touching it with his fingers had been a nervous tic of his, and now it was gone.
“I understand you wishing for extra safety, given what happened. I trust they will be with you at all times.”
“Not exactly…”
Wishing for her own drink, Alyssa swallowed and pressed on. Laurie was far older than her, and with Leon’s death two years ago, was now the eldest of the Trifect. She’d always felt intimidated by his presence, however soft-spoken he might be. Something about him always seemed vulnerable, and made her want to trust him, but she could never forget the ruthless stories she’d heard growing up, of what he’d done to make the thief guilds truly fear him. Still, she did not want to lie to her host, especially when he was her ally and friend.
“I have brought them to hunt down the one who killed Julie and Taras, this…Wraith.”
Laurie set down his glass hard enough to chip a side. For a long moment he sat there, leaning forward in his chair, thinking. Alyssa did her best not to appear nervous or uncertain. At last he spoke.
“The past few weeks have passed in agony, Alyssa. Each moment crawls like a day. I could tell you down to the hour how long it has been since my son left this world. And I assure you, for every one of those torturous seconds, I have had my men scouring Angelport in search of him. We have found nothing, heard nothing, other than more names claimed as his victims. It doesn’t matter who you brought. It doesn’t matter how much you paid them, or how good you think they are. They won’t find him. If this is the gift you’ve come to offer me, you waste your time.”
He stood to leave, but Alyssa stopped him with a sentence.
“I brought the King’s Watcher with me.”
He turned, something dangerous stirring in his eyes.
“You brought him into my home? It was his mark left to me in mockery, and you bring him here?”
“It was not him, I’m certain of it. Whoever this Wraith is, he’s sent the Watcher a challenge. I could think of no one better to hunt him down and lay him at your feet.”
“You bring a murderer to find another murderer.” He shook his head. “You’ve always been willing to lower yourself into dealing with scum to solve your problems. One of these days, Alyssa, you’ll learn that if you lie with enough dogs, you’ll catch their fleas.”
“I do what I must,” she said, straightening in her seat. “I will bear no shame in that.”
Laurie chuckled.
“If you insist. I’ll tell Torgar to give him free rein to come and go as he pleases, within reason, of course. And I suggest not telling Madelyn that the Watcher sleeps under her own roof. The results would not be pleasant.”
She laughed, and Laurie laughed with her. Despite the redness of his eyes, he finally showed a trace of his original self.
“Pleasant nights, Lady Gemcroft,” he said, bowing.
“And pleasant dreams.”
Left alone, Alyssa finally relaxed, glad to have that confrontation over with. His certainty about the Wraith’s elusiveness worried her a little, but she brushed that aside. There were plenty that the Trifect had tried to track down, yet failed. Thren Felhorn was a prime example of that. Yet she had the Watcher at her disposal, the one who had found those she could not, frightened those who felt no fear, and forced an entire war to end with just his bloody sabers.
If there was anyone who could find this Wraith, it was him.
“We’re never going to find this guy,” Haern said as he tightened his hood. “A skilled assassin in his hometown, one daring enough to strike at a member of the Trifect? He’ll know every nook and cranny to hide
