Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Because of this, my knowledge would be in high demand. But becoming a retainer would mean trusting my safety to a lord or lady, and I wouldn’t trust any one of these shitheads to pass me the salt at lunch. The crap they did to each other made your hair stand on end. I met Everard last night in passing for two seconds, and as cool as it was, he’d scared the hell out of me. And he wasn’t even actively evil, like Hreban, who would drown the country in agony.
I glanced across the balcony. Galiene and Hade were chatting quietly. Galiene smiled at something. She had probably kept me from dying again last night.
No, being an independent information broker was the way to go. I would need to keep a low profile and be very careful. This world responded to me. I tried to take Lecke’s bag, and he’d stabbed me. My actions had consequences. Once I started messing with things, Rellas would react to the changes I made. If I wasn’t careful, my information would become obsolete fast. I needed to be very selective about what secrets I sold, and as soon as I was able, I would need to hire people who would feed me new facts to compensate for the alterations to the storyline. Every change I made, even a minute one, endangered me. Especially a change involving the main players. Like Hreban.
Galiene smiled again.
In my head, I could see her in jeans and a sweatshirt, sitting at the next table at the Egg and Fork across from a little girl with the same blond hair. She would drink coffee from a big white mug, while her daughter, in a cute dress, nibbled on a pastry.
The safest, wisest thing to do was to sit on my information and make only the smallest alterations for my own benefit.
My plate was empty. It was time to go.
Several months from now that little girl and her mother would suffer and then die a senseless, horrible death. Because a self-indulgent sociopathic narcissist with delusions of grandeur felt like it.
Galiene had saved me from the streets. She didn’t expect anything in return. It had been a random act of kindness.
Fuck it.
I got up and turned left, walking along the balcony toward Hade and Galiene. Klemena followed me, hovering within reach. I stopped before their table. The two women looked at me.
The balcony was deserted, but for all I knew, there could’ve been people listening to us in the hallway or in the nearest rooms. I really wished I could’ve had this conversation in private, but the chances of getting Galiene alone were less than zero. In her place, I wouldn’t trust me enough for that.
I turned and looked at Klemena, then back at Galiene.
The queen of the Garden nodded, and Klemena backed away a few feet.
“What is it?” Galiene asked.
“You were kind to me,” I said.
“Don’t tell anyone, and we will be even,” she said.
Hade gave her a razor-sharp smile.
I stepped closer and lowered my voice. “Men like Ulmar Hreban don’t see other people as human beings. He doesn’t want you. He cares only about what you represent—the means to prove to other men that he is superior. He will stop at nothing to obtain that.”
Galiene drank her tea. “Thank you for the warning.” Her expression told me that my warnings were not needed.
“Elaut sold you out. You will find the money hidden in his pillow.”
Her eyes went wide.
“When you reject Hreban, he will take Adelai and use her to torment you. You will do everything he asks, and at the end, he will kill you both. When his knights run her through, you will think of your brother and the blood on his white tunic, the one your mother embroidered. You will not resist as they cut you down. You will die in a fire, bleeding and hugging your daughter’s lifeless body. You must bring her into the Garden. Hreban cares about public opinion and won’t risk attacking it directly. Don’t wait. Go right now. This is the only help I can offer you.”
I turned and walked away, down the stairs, across the main floor, through the tunnel, and out the door into the sunshine. Nobody followed me.
CHAPTER 5
The bells of the Red Basilica rang a melodious din. The higher-pitched, smaller bells struck a quick rhythm, punctuated by the deeper clang of the larger bells, and finally a single deep chime of the great bell rolled through the city and lingered, reverberating in the air. Noon.
I paused and leaned against a wall of the building to rest my tired feet. Past me, the current of the passersby flowed through Bluestone Square.
Kair Toren was a riot of people, sounds, and color. Most buildings in this part of town had simple lines, sturdy towers, and thick walls, built with a beautiful calico stone, a sandy beige with swirls of cinnamon and white curving through it. And there was a surprising amount of glass. Across the square, the sun glinted on the upper floors’ windows and a beautiful glass sign in red and teal marked an alchemy shop.