Wyatt looked up at her and shook his head in disagreement.
Addi nudged him playfully. “Oh, come on, Wyatt. No one else believed that snake, why would you?” she pleaded with him.
“What about Nev?” he sighed, feeling his heart sink at the thought.
“Is that a serious question?” Addi retorted, shaking her head. “I have never seen two people more in love. It is actually a little sickening sometimes, to be honest. Most of the time, I feel like I’m around a couple of teenagers. Despite you both being thirty,” she teased playfully before shaking her head with feigned disgust. “Now come on. I need to go have a chat with Nellis, and you have to…,” she said, before being interrupted by Wyatt.
“Go play healer?” he questioned, trying to sound extra suave.
“Ugh, gross. I am… I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Addi replied, shuddering.
Wyatt laughed as he stood, reaching down to help Addi back up to her feet. “Thanks, sis,” he stated sincerely.
“No problem. You can owe me,” Addi said, laughing.
“What? Another? But I saved you from that enforcer. Hmm… I think I need you to clarify our deal again,” he countered, sounding perplexed.
“Nope. I like it much better this way,” Addi responded, laughing as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards Nellis’ house.
Chapter 36
With night finally arriving, Sagrine knocked on the general’s door and waited to be beckoned in.
“Enter,” Razine directed, standing and waiting for the report.
Sagrine walked inside and bowed. “General, I bring you the most interesting and promising news,” he stated, still bowing.
Razine studied him for a moment. Prowlers were supposed to be his elite order. The ones sent to handle “special” assignments. Razine, however, found their obsession with the prophecy unsettling and preferred to call on them as little as possible. Whenever he was near one, he felt like icy tendrils were pushing into his mind, and it made him uncomfortable.
Still, they had their uses. There were also loyal to the empire and far smarter than their counterparts. Enforcers, unlike prowlers, came from the common people and were intended to be a general-purpose tool to keep the citizens of Obsidia in line. To enforce the laws of the empire through their heavily armored, dumb brutish strength was all they were meant to do, and all most were able to do. Rare and valuable were the exceptions to that rule.
Razine knew whatever the Oracle had hinted at, it would definitely qualify as a “special” assignment. Thus, Razine’s need to seek out Sagrine. He was, after all, the most skilled member of the Shadow’s Hand. His reputation preceding him wherever he went. The only stain on his record involved failing to recover a ‘target’ thirty years ago. Still, Razine took great pleasure in holding that one mistake over his head. “Go ahead. Know though, that I have grown weary of you disappointing me,” Razine said coldly.
Sagrine nodded and stood up. “I have found her. She was wounded in one of our encounters and now travels with a Tink, one with some level of skill,” he reported.
“The heiress?” he asked incredulously.
Sagrine ignored his skeptical tone and answered, “Yes.” He was already fully aware that the general doubted the prophecy’s legitimacy. Even so, Sagrine knew Razine would not be foolish enough to ignore reliable information regarding the one sought by both the emperor and the Oracle. If nothing else, Razine would wish to gain leverage and avoid their ire.
“One of our encounters?” the general asked with a sharpness to his voice.
Suddenly, Sagrine realized he had made a tactical error already and cursed himself silently for it. “Yes, I first found her outside Serenity Falls. I was not yet certain she was the lost heiress. I tracked her and landed an arrow in her shoulder. It is an injury that still troubles her,” he explained, hoping that last fact would please the general.
“I see. And the explosion that occurred there a little over a week ago?” Razine inquired.
“An unfortunate distraction that led to her temporarily eluding me… again,” Sagrine admitted with regret. He’d decided that lying about what happened would earn him no favors.
“And you’ve crossed paths with her again? For a possible third time?” the general pressed him.
“Yes. The heiress and her traveling companion, the Tink. It was at her childhood cabin. I had them both until,” Sagrine continued and then paused.
“Until?” the general asked, approaching Sagrine and staring at him with a piercing and unwavering glare.
“Until they disappeared. I do not know how they did it, but all that remained was… a purple smoke,” Sagrine said, sounding uncharacteristically unsure of himself.
“Purple smoke? Are you certain?” he inquired, leaning close to Sagrine’s face and looking for signs of dishonesty.
“Yes, sir. Even with her recent luck, I do believe that I will be able to locate her again. Her energy is difficult to trace, but I can feel her. She also has an amulet, and I can sense it. Sometimes it is undeniable. Once she uses it again, I will find her, and this time I will not fail,” Sagrine assured, sounding determined.
“See that you do not. And see that you keep yourself under control and do not kill the woman. I want her brought to me—alive,” the general said, turning and walking back to his desk.
Sagrine bowed briefly and headed to the door.
“Oh, and one more thing. If you wish to be successful, I have a bit of advice. Kill the Tink first. Otherwise, she is likely to elude you again. And if that happens, you will have disappointed me for the last time,” Razine stated, now focusing on the paperwork at his desk.
Sagrine quickly left the room and grinned. So, the boy needs to die first. That can be arranged, he reflected coldly.
The air was cool and crisp outside, and Sagrine quickly moved to the
