Page 95 of A Tower of Half-Truths
Maintaining a shroud was difficult enough while standing perfectly still in a dimly lit room. Being on the move made it infinitely more taxing—especially on a night like this, when the twin moons were full and bathed the city streets in their blue-white glow. The shroud faltered briefly as Mavery’s mark passed through a patch of moonlight. It wouldn’t be much longer before the spell failed entirely.
The rain had let up since Mavery had first arrived at the Lettered Gentleman, and a lamplighter was now illuminating the gaslamps. The mark, however, seemed to be in too much of a hurry to notice. They passed under a lamp. When the shadows dispersed beneath its warm glow, Mavery spotted that familiar mane of red hair once again.
“Ellice!” she cried. “Stop!”
Her former accomplice came to a halt, looked at her now visible hands, then glanced over her shoulder. Upon realizing Mavery was right behind her, Ellice swore loudly and took off at a sprint.
“Gods damn it,” Mavery muttered.
She quickened her pace, and her knee protested immediately. She hissed through clenched teeth as her boots collided with the rain-slicked cobblestones.
Ellice rounded a corner and disappeared down an alley. Maverycontinued her pursuit, but she couldn’t ignore the electric pain shooting up her leg.
The younger woman was far more spry, with no old injuries slowing her down, and easily put several yards between herself and Mavery. At this rate, Ellice would reach the other side of the alley and disappear into the flow of traffic the next street over.
Mavery slowed to a jog, then stopped altogether. She breathed deeply, channeling her arcana. She pushed both hands forward—the ritual for a simple protective ward—and focused her gaze on a spot a few paces ahead of Ellice. A blue aura rippled through the air, spanning from building to building.
Ellice, unable to see the warding magic, ran straight into it. With a shriek that resounded through the alley, she bounced off the ward and landed on her back.
As she lay prone in the mud, Mavery caught up at last. Arcana pulsing through her fingertips, she loomed over the younger woman with a scowl.
“All right, you got me,” Ellice groaned.
She raised a hand of surrender as she slowly sat upright, while her other hand rubbed the small of her back. She winced as she rose to her feet, then tried in vain to wipe the mud from the seat of her trousers. Ellice’s normally pristine locks were now caked with grime, and Mavery wasn’t above admitting that it was a pleasing sight.
“Fucking hells, Mave, you didn’t have to hit methathard.”
“Try to run, and I’ll hit you with much worse.”
“Relax, I’m not going anywhere. Now, put your hands down and let’s chat like proper ladies.”
Mavery scoffed at the notion, but did as Ellice asked.
“Thank you,” Ellice said with a curtsy. “Now, I’m sure you have questions—”
“You’re damn right I have questions. What are you doing here? Did you follow me all the way from Burnslee?”
Ellice rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t flatter yourself. Nel and I were just passing through on our way to Durnatel. Our payout from the Roven job was running low—”
“You burned through two grand in lessthantwo months?”
And five hundred of it was mine,she thought as her arcana flared.
Ellice frowned. “Nel thought he could double it. Turns out, his Tribute skills aren’t what they used to be.”
Neldren’s gambling habit had finally come back to bite him. It wasn’t the extent of the punishment he deserved, but at least it was something.
“As I was saying,” Ellice continued, “we were heading up to the capital to find work. We’d only planned to stay here for a few days, but then Nel spotted you in the Market District.”
“When was that?”
“Three weeks ago. He followed you—and the rich bloke you were protecting—to a Dragon-owned apothecary.”
Mavery’s eyes widened. ShehadSensed shadow magic back at the Cracked Pestle. Neldren had to have been lurking outside, watching through the window. He would never set foot inside any place affiliated with the Brass Dragons.
“So, you’ve been tailing me for weeks now?”
Ellice scoffed. “There you go again, flattering yourself.No, we’ve spent most of our time looking for work. Turns out, if you’re not affiliated with the Dragons, finding it is next to impossible in this hellhole of a city.
