they danced invitingly in her glistening eyes.

“Vance,” Rami said, “you didn’t finish telling us your story earlier. What happened after you met your old servant, and he told you what your uncle had done?”

“Ah, yes,” I said with a sigh, leaning deeper into the tree and stretching my hands behind my head. “At that point, there was no way I could go back to Brakith, not until I had a plan to clear my name and defeat my uncle. I was also now considered a wanted criminal in Brakith, and I suspected that my uncle, in his thoroughness, had hired assassins to hunt me down.”

“So, what did you end up doing?” Elyse asked, as interested in my story as the other woman.

“The best way to defend myself from assassins was to learn to fight like one, to think like one. I already knew how to fight like a knight, but what does a knight know about assassins?”

“Nothing,” Elyse said. “Knights obey the rules of combat. While assassins—”

“Do whatever it takes.” Rami smiled and tapped the blades attached to her ai’tendar.

“Damn right,” I said. “So, I turned around and went back the way I’d come. When the road forked, I headed south and kept going south for weeks. I crossed the Sunblast Desert, slogging through its barren, waterless wastes until I arrived at the city of Targon.”

“Ah, the city of spice, the city of heat, the city of eternal summer,” Elyse said wistfully. “I’ve always wanted to visit Targon, but the journey always put me off.”

“It’s a long, difficult one, and most travelers don’t make it across the Sunblast Desert alive. There’s the relentless sun, the endless orange dunes, the desert bandits, lack of water.”

“I thought there were oases?” Elyse asked.

“They’re few and far between. Did I mention the sand devils, or the djinns?”

Rami shuddered. “I have heard tales.”

“Well, I bet they’re all true. Those fuckers are worse than any vampire or werewolf in the north. I made it, though, after a few hellish weeks on the scorching sands. And in Targon, I found the Assassin’s Guild.”

“How?” Elyse asked. “I’ve heard that they only allow themselves to be found by those whom they want to find them.”

“That’s true. I suppose word spread about my fighting skills prior to my arrival in Targon. Two nights before I reached the city, I single-handedly fought off an ambush by a gang of seven bandits. I killed every last one of the bastards with my longsword. Those were the days I still fought with a knight’s weapons.”

Elyse looked at my dagger and shuddered. “Perhaps you should never have traded your longsword for a dagger.”

“And where would that leave us? You’d still be without a bishopric, and I’d be a mere mortal.”

“I want to hear more of the guild,” Rami said. “Did they seek you out?”

I shook my head. “I did some digging when I got to Targon, dropped some hints in the right places, and the guild allowed me to find them. I told them about my uncle, swore an oath to serve them faithfully as an apprentice for five years, as they require, and that was that. Five years later, I left the guild as a fully fledged assassin.”

“But how did you end up becoming a necromancer?” Rami asked.

“Ah, well that was when chance—no, destiny, I’m sure—led me to the merchant who had Grave Oath. I found Grave Oath, or, rather, Grave Oath found me, and that’s when I discovered the power that exists in these old religious artifacts. I learned that there were others who were seeking out these items of power too. In particular, a sergeant who’d deserted the Lord of Light’s army. He took his troops with him on a quest to collect as many of these items as he could in a bid to grow his own power.”

“Sergeant Rollar,” Elyse said, after taking another sip of wine.

“Yeah, that asshole. After tracking a bunch of troops into a crypt and killing them, I gave Isu enough strength to partially return to this plane. She made me a necromancer. Then, I met Elyse here, and you know the story from there.”

“Thank you for enlightening me, Vance,” Rami said. “You have had quite a fascinating life.”

The unmistakable gleam of desire shone in her dark eyes, and she ran her fingers through her silky black hair as she stared at me. Her lips parted suggestively, and the heat of excitement stirred between my thighs. Rami, however, broke off her stare and got up.

“Like Isu,” she said, “I need some time alone. Meditation is an important part of being an enjarta. Don’t worry, I won’t stray far from the camp.”

Elyse and I watched her go in silence. She moved with such deadliness that her walk alone was hypnotic, and I had a difficult time tearing my eyes off the sight of her firm ass shifting sensually beneath her skin-tight black catsuit. She disappeared into the shadows beyond the firelight, leaving me and Elyse in the camp.

“More wine?” I offered Elyse the bottle after I had taken another sip.

“Thank you,” she said as she took it.

We drank without speaking for a time, simply staring into the crackling flames and listening to the nocturnal sounds of the forest. After a while, Elyse spoke.

“Can I… can I be completely honest with you, Vance?”

“Sure.”

Even in the subtle glow of the firelight, I saw a blush reddening Elyse’s cheeks. The alcohol had emboldened her though, and she pushed through whatever feelings of embarrassment were bothering her.

“I’m not just here on this journey with you because I owe you a favor, or because I’m hoping to track down other Blood God devotees and stop them spreading evil.” She paused, swallowed a large gulp of wine, and continued. “I enjoy your company, Vance. I’ve never been in love, but maybe this is the small beginnings of something that, perhaps, might one day be the germination of such a feeling.”

I thrust out my hand for the bottle. “Wine.” I gulped down a half

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