Page 40 of The Empty Throne

Bittersea laughed and crumpled the paper upto burn later, though it wouldn't really be necessary. Kneeling, heswiftly turned the dial on the safe, right, left, right: 11, 17,and 3.

Inside the safe was a stack of papers and asmall book, the kind meant to be tucked into a jacket pocket.Bittersea started with the papers, which proved to be everythingfrom a birth certificate to the formal papers declaringinheritance.

The name on them was not the one he'dexpected, but he couldn't say he was all that surprised, either.Setting those aside, he turned his attention to the little book,which proved to be a journal of sorts, the king's personal accountof all that had transpired to lead to this point.

How very entertaining. Bittersea tucked allof it away inside his jacket, where a secret pocket would keep thepapers safe, even if he fell into the ocean. Leaving the littleroom, he put everything back exactly the way it had been andscuffed his feet across the rugs to be certain no hints offurniture moving remained.

He'd just reached the stairs when the bangingstarted. That was coming from the front doors. Fazekas must havesent goons here to get the information he hadn't been able to beatout of Lindquist. Or possibly to look for him, if Lindquist hadmanaged to escape, which was likely.

He was going to get a chance to play, howdelightful.

Bittersea crept down the stairs, keepingclose to the wall, drawing two of his knives. At the landing, heknelt so he was mostly out of sight, and watched as the doorfinally gave way.

Five…six…seven. Bittersea waited, but no oneelse entered. So seven total. Hardly a challenge. He remainedstill, keeping watch, as they drew closer. Shock, followed by fury,rippled through him as he recognized the two men who'd heldLindquist's arms in the hall of Fazekas's castle. Two of the threemen who'd been most responsible for beating him.

This just got better and better.

No longer really interested in the other fivemen, Bittersea sheathed his long knives and drew out the leatherroll that held his throwing knives. Below, the group was distractedand talking, still completely oblivious to the snake in theirmidst.

Drawing the knives he would need, he heldfour in his left hand and one in his right, then crept in thebarest increments to the banister. Still they hadn't noticed, moreinterested in removing layers and complaining about the assignment.Bittersea rose to his feet in slow, measured increments. When hewas in place, he drew back his arm and threw. Then the next, andthe third. By the second one they realized there was a problem andscattered, so the third was as much luck as anything.

The last two of his immediate targets did himthe favor of coming up the stairs. He got one with a throw and drewone of his long knives to gut the fifth.

Stepping over the bodies, he finished goingdown the stairs and drew out a second long knife.

The two remaining men were frozen, eitherbecause they were too terrified to run, or because they had justenough sense to know running would be futile. "You're supposed tobe on our side!" the one on the left said.

Bittersea laughed. "When did I ever saythat?" He surged forward, kicking one out of the way and shovingthe other one into a wall, where Bittersea pinned him in place witha knife through the shoulder.

The second one came at him, but it took noeffort to best him either, and in only moments Bittersea had himpinned to the wall as well. Pretty, pretty, pretty. He tapped twofingers against his chin as he pondered his options.

The first man he'd pinned stared, shockfiltering through the pain contorting his face. "Your ring. Itlooks just like… but the stones aren't the same color."

Bittersea laughed and turned his hand toadmire the ring on his hand. Gold, cut with nickel, set with fiveglittering stones. Not rubies, though, or sapphires, or amethysts,the three gems they were often mistaken for. "Distance. When we'refar apart, the gems turn blue. When we're close, but still somemeasure apart, they turn purple. When we're together, they turnred. When we die, they'll turn green.

"If any of you stupid, arrogant fools hadever taken the time to learn a culture other than your own, you'dhave known that Bindings in Cremisio are done with mermaiddiamonds, which hold magic exceptionally well and are famous forchanging colors according to that magic. You'd have known thatLindquist's Bonded wasright there." He laughed and drewanother knife, this one meant for carving. "Instead Fazekas paid meto find myself and let me walk out."

Neither man replied, and both looked asthough they wished fervently that the blood loss would get to thembefore Bittersea did.

"Now you're going to tell me each and everyinjury you caused my Bonded. If you lie or leave anything out,you'll be punished."

"Please don't," the second man whispered. "Itwasn't— We were just doing our job."

"Men just doing their jobs don't laugh asthey beat a man nearly to death," Bittersea said, and cut theirclothes away. "Now begin, and if you're honest, you'll be deadbefore dinner. If you piss me off, I can make this last the wholenight."

Twelve

Oskia reached Starlen, the royal capital ofKenten, at dusk. She was exhausted, bruised, and battered, with atrail of bodies behind her that she didn't want to think about toomuch. Fazekas had been relentless in their pursuit, and it was dumbluck more than skill that had gotten her to her destination.

Luck, and her new fancy sword that she stilldidn't entirely understand.

Though every part of her body ached, and shehadn't eaten in at least a full day, Oskia didn't bother to stop torest and clean up. She made directly for the royal palace, whichsat in the middle of a body of water that was either a large pondor a small lake, she wasn't certain which, with two enormousbridges spanning the gap.

She'd never understood why they built thepalace in such a showy, impractical place, especially since it wasso cold most of the year that the water froze anyway, meaning anyattempts at protecting the palace from attack were pointless.

Thankfully, it wasn't and would never be herproblem.

Making her way through the crowded city wasnearly another battle of its own. Despite the late hour everythingwas still busy, typical of that time of year when nobody was yetsick and tired of Eternal Night yet.

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