Page 15 of Death of the Glass Angel
5
Talon
I once had a shadow. Two beings, sharing one body. You would be surprised how few noticed. Not even Aevus did. Though perhaps it would be more apt to call myself the shadow, and he the light.
-Excerpt from Gemellus’ private journal
Talon tossed and caught a plum while waiting for the rest of camp to rouse. He’d been watching the road, but no one had followed them from the inn. Perhaps their mysterious enemy had presumed four assassins were enough to finish the job.
A reasonable assumption. Janus had wandered into the night like a lost sheep—defenseless. Had Talon not been watching her like a hawk, she would have been found in the morning with a crossbow bolt between her eyes.
Catching the plum, he tucked it under his arm.
Hands mirrored in reflective surfaces upon the ground, glassy eyes, and shimmering steel . . . something about that evoker had not been right.
They would have killed the princess had it not arrived. A deep voice whispered.
Pathetic.A low voice muttered.
Resisting the urge to respond to the voices, Talon focused on the sound of the wind instead. Reaching under his vest, he pulled out the small crystal hanging from a pendant chain around his neck. His master had advised him to touch it whenever the voices troubled him.
Running a finger along the crystal, Talon immersed himself in the memories stored within. Though his clan was small, and Talon couldhardly consider them family, their collected memories always comforted him, allowing him to step from his shoes into another’s.
The face of a happy mother holding a baby drifted across his mind, the sounds of its cries drowning out the voices. Shifting memories, Talon next focused on a simple memory of his master sitting at his desk, comforted by the familiar flick of his wrist as he dipped his quill in a pot of ink while the other hand brushed back the bangs of his short, neat hair.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, Talon dropped his necklace and whirled around, hand tightening on his dagger. Janus smiled at him dumbly. Her hair fell in tangled black lumps around her face as she halfheartedly brushed them out.
Her light brown eyes widened. “Oh! Were you looking at your maevruthan? I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a cefra. I mean, you can just touch that necklace and see everyone else in your clan having sex, right?” She slowly shut her mouth with an audible click of her teeth. “Sorry, that just sort of came out.”
How would a simple merchant respond to that? Pretending to be horrified, Talon glanced away. “My Lady. . .”
“Sorry.” Janus raked out the last tangle and hastily gathered her hair into a ponytail.
Studying the disheveled girl, he thought of a metaphor. “You hate dates, right?”
“Mhm?”
“Imagine if they weren’t on every Thuatian dinner plate. Would you still hate them as much?”
“Well, probably not-” Janus paused. “Oh. I see what you’re saying. But how could you get tired of it? I mean, cefra are pretty. A bit too short and slim for my tastes, especially the men.” She breathed out heavily, tripping over her words. “I’m exhausted. Can we take a break from dance lessons tonight?”
“You’ve become half-decent, but I strive for perfection.” Grinning, Talon released his dagger. “You’ve gotten comfortable with me. All that dancing by the fire shook off your nerves. I daresay you’re ready for the ball.”
“What? No. You’re one person and you aren’t. . .” Janus floundered for the right word. “Important. You don’t expect anything from me.”
Talon wondered if there was a wound hidden behind those last words. He didn’t touch on it. “I’m only here to guide you, remember? You owe me both for the lessons and now the gallant rescue.”
“I never did compliment that. You were pretty smooth.” She tilted her head. “Did you learn to throw knives in the same place you learned to catch pickpockets?”
“The Clodian streets?”
“Are they that bad?”
Talon grinned. “Worse.”
Shuddering at whatever she imagined, Janus returned to camp as the soldiers prepared to depart.
