The hurt in Clem’s eyes cut me deeper than a fusion blade. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I couldn’t stop her. I watched, frustrated and uncertain, as the two most important women still in my life walked away from me.
The Hit
AS GOOD AS THE FIRST half of my second year at the School of Swords and Serpents had been, the second half was shaping up to be a complete disaster. After what had happened in the library cell, Rachel avoided me like the plague. Clem didn’t exactly take my former girlfriend’s side, but she did tell me to give her some space.
“I don’t know what happened in there, but she’s scared,” Clem said, her eyes searching my face for some clue that would shed light on the mystery. She hated not knowing things, and this thing in particular bothered her. “If you won’t talk to me about it, either, there’s not much I can do to help. Just give her some time. She’ll come around.”
Rachel was still avoiding me when the winter chill had given way to spring’s warm breezes. She’d gotten very good at being where I wasn’t, even going so far as to transfer out of the Intermediate Scrivening class. When I did catch sight of her in the halls, she ducked her head and took off like a shot.
I tried to reach her through Rafael, but that was exactly the wrong thing to do. Whatever grudging respect he’d had for me after our duel had burned away. He was furious that I’d scared his sister, and I didn’t blame him.
“Leave her alone,” he told me flatly. “If you keep after her, we’ll cross swords again. And this time, Song won’t be there to keep score.”
My Eclipse nature bristled at the threat, and I turned away before Rafael saw the darkness flow into my eyes. As nice as it would have been to stomp him flat for standing in my way, that would only prove his sister was right.
I was a monster.
The tension from living with Hagar and having hidden security teams patrolling my quarters at all hours of the day and night certainly made matters worse. I couldn’t concentrate on my schoolwork. My Intermediate Scrivening mark had fallen to a C-, and Professor Shan made it clear that if I didn’t turn things around before the end of the year I might have to repeat the course.
The thought of repeating a class I’d already suffered through once made me so miserable I was almost relieved when Hagar dropped a bomb on me on a cloudy Tuesday in the last week of May.
“We know who’s coming for you,” my handler said. “It’s very exciting.”
“What are you talking about?” I wasn’t in the mood for word games. “Spit it out.”
“The assassin who’ll try to kill you next. It’s Preethi Adjadumlun.” Hagar followed me into the kitchen. “They call her the Death Weaver.”
“And that name should mean something to me?” The elders had replaced my coffee set with a much nicer one that made me nervous to use. I carefully placed it on the counter.
“She’s a very high-priced murderer for hire,” Hagar said matter-of-factly. “She’ll be here tonight.”
“I see,” I said. “I assume I won’t be here when she arrives. Claude and Brand will deal with it?”
“Oh, no.” Hagar wiggled her eyebrows. “There’s a security team here, and we’ve set some traps in preparation. Unfortunately, the elders can’t be here because they’ve been called to Kyoto.”
“Kyoto?” It hit me. “Grayson’s trial. I’d almost totally forgotten.”
“You have a lot to think about, with your girl troubles and assassins and whatnot,” Hagar said with a grin. “But don’t worry about it. Our best guys are here, and the Death Weaver relies on surprise to get the job done. Thanks to our intelligence teams, we have the advantage there. She won’t last thirty seconds.”
“What if she needs less than thirty seconds to kill me?” I asked.
The truth was, I didn’t know how I felt about another killer showing up. My core had gotten stronger day by day, even after I’d advanced. My senses had grown so sharp it was almost impossible to sneak up on me now. Anyone approaching from behind roused my Eclipse nature from its slumber, ready to fight. That wasn’t so convenient at school, but it would certainly come in handy with a mysterious killer on her way. Maybe I could beat the assassin.
But that might not save anyone who got in her way. Hagar was a pain, but I’d feel terrible if something happened to her during the attempt of my life. I didn’t know the guards—they’d made it a point to avoid me while they patrolled the grounds to keep their professional distance. I assumed, though, that they had families and friends who would miss them if an assassin snuffed their lives out. Their lives were on my shoulders, too.
“It’s going to be fine, Jace,” Hagar said. “Preethi always strikes at night, so we’ve got an hour or two. Come upstairs. I want to show you what we’ve got.”
I followed Hagar up to my bedroom, where she pointed out the scrivened circles around each of the windows. They radiated a subdued golden glow to my enhanced sight, and what I could understand of their sigils told me they’d alert us to any intruders who broke the glass. The circles also had a nifty set of aggressive countermeasures that I couldn’t interpret.
“Don’t stand too close to those,” Hagar cautioned. “You can’t set them off, but their offensive capabilities have a blast radius.”
“Blast radius?” I didn’t like the sound of that. “Don’t destroy my bedroom or blow the roof of the cottage, all right?”
“No promises.” Hagar winked and crossed to the closet. She opened it to reveal that all my clothes had been removed. The small space now held a wiry man dressed in black, an ugly gun holstered on
