Page 111 of Bound By Darkness

My foot slipped against the trellis as it dangled in the air. My fingers quickly latched onto the vines growing through it. Thorns pricked my skin, and the sweet smell of blood wafted to my nose as I held onto the trellis until it stopped swaying.

Bracing my feet, I took a deep breath before continuing, the sound of Naexi’s impatient stomping filling the putrid alleyway. It smelled of piss and mulch as I wiped my bleeding hand against my pants, a few streaks of red left behind.

“If you can’t complete the mission, wait here. I don’t have time to argue when the plans to the rebels are in one whore’s hand.”

“What if it was a Fae? Would you slit their throat?”

Naexi paused, the rain steadily hissing against the cobblestone. “If you must ask that question, you aren’t cut out for this.” She walked forward, her hand reaching to her side as she revealed a concealed dagger.

I followed behind, my hand reaching to grab the dagger Naexi had gifted me. The weight was sturdy between my fingers as I gripped the handle, keeping the weapon close to my body and out of sight from prying eyes.

As the alley opened to the street square, our cover was gone, people mulling about quickly as the rain hastened.

Fog clung to the cobblestones, hovering close as we wove through the slowly emptying streets. Night was approaching quickly.

A few oil lamps flickered as we passed by deserted shops.Some were boarded shut, never to see another patron walk through the door.

My fingers twitched at the heightened adrenaline coursing through me. It had been drilled into me—all those years of training, of preparing to lead others into battle, but it didn’t make it any easier. A life was going to be taken. An innocent life who knew nothing of the paper she kept tight against her bodice.

My hand brushed over the locket on my neck—a quick and silent prayer. Naexi whistled once. Low and quick. The signal to pounce and attack.

She whirled into the alley first as my body pressed against the stone ledge. I hoped to save the poor girl from her fate as I stumbled into the alleyway.

Lifting my dagger, it clanged against stone as something hard slammed into it, metal splashing into a puddle of gray-sludge.

I stepped back, my eyes scanning the dim alleyway in disbelief as the courtesan stood at the back, her ruby lips lifted in a wicked grin as her hand lowered. She’d thrown a dagger with pinpoint accuracy.

Beside her, a shadow emerged from the mist. “Hello dear,” a wicked voice purred—one of malice and years of cruelty.

My lungs collapsed, every breath labored as years of torment flooded into my veins like the drip of blue stone. My tongue stayed dry even as rain poured into my gaping mouth. “Father.”

He chuckled, his arm wrapped around Naexi’s neck. It looked like a twig beneath his bicep as he squeezed. Her face turned shades of red and purple as she desperately clawed against her captor’s arm.

“I taught you better than approaching a dim alleyway without striking to kill,” he said. “Then again, I never did follow up on your training.”

Euris Feyron cocked his head to the side, his long canines on display as he grinned. His hair was tied back at the neck with chords of rope, his hair to his trimmed waist. A great warrior depicted by the length of his hair, his losses numbering to zero.

My eyes assessed the predator between the rebel plans. A vulture bred for fighting. The same kind I’d tried to escape from years ago.

Euris licked his lips, a show of pure adrenaline and hatred. “Ready to end what started twelve years ago?”

Istumbled back, my eyes frantically staring between Naexi and my father.

“Did prison dull your tongue?” Euris asked as he took two long strides forward. “If so, I owe them a far larger sum than what I paid them to keep you alive all those years.”

I swallowed hard. “You… you paid the guards?”

Euris rolled his eyes. “Why would the guards enjoy your advances so much? You have nothing to give them.” He scoffed. “I paid them to keep you alive so you might suffer and rot in your cell until you came to your senses. If they took advantage of yourkindness, it is your fault.”

He released his hold on Naexi, her face gaining color as she took in labored breaths. Euris tossed her to the side, a sharp cry echoing from her lips as bone crunched against stone.

The faint smell of smoke and ash wafted to my nose.

“How was Galar?” he said, his hand stuffing into his pocket. “I heard a story of a woman who sustained multiple injections of an experimental liquid.”

My heart rate increased as I kept my face neutral. If he knew?—

“You’ve turned out farmore promising than I’d ever hoped. A living weapon filled with black mineral. Enough streaming through your veins to kill thousands of men.Imagine all of the advances Raha could make with a weapon like that.”

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