Page 25 of A Blade of Lies and Spirits

Ethan set them, centuries ago, just before the barrier protecting the Commonwealth from the world ended. He’d seen five centuries come and go, one of the two still left of the seven children born to seal the bargain. The other one lived in the mountains and didn’t interact with people. We lived a long time, we Stormdusts, if we didn’t get killed.

I found this place years ago, when I started sneaking into the Guild. The upper area held nothing of interest, but the basement, sealed by magic, remained sound and offered a perfect camping site.

I was almost out of the rations in the satchel Silver had tossed me. While I’d thought about the situation until my head ached, the time had come to make a decision. Decisions on what to do about the Wolves; what to do to track the Wendigo; how to ensure Dmitri’s safety.

Robert and Elise would die before they let Dmitri be taken, and they’d been warned. As long as I remained away, he was safe, but never seeing him again wasn’t an acceptable solution.

I slid around the bushes that had grown up in front of the broken pipe, which was wide enough to walk down. The thin light of the camp lantern picked out the remnants of small animals that had been taken back by the natural predators that denned here since the settlement had been destroyed.

Further in, where wards had been set, no animals ventured. I crossed the boundary onto the smoother concrete floor. The pipe led into a room that had probably once been some kind of emergency exit. Why they needed one from a basement, I’d never know.

After putting the greens into the electric cooking pot, I paced the length of the room. Wooden walls dampened the sounds of my boots on concrete. If I crossed back into the Guild, people could use the ability to scry and find my exact location and the Wolves could target me or Dmitri. I could go to Ethan, but he would not—could not—intervene on Guild soil. He’d pushed it with what he did for the swampers.

I’d have to bring Dmitri to Kalderon. And fight Robert to do it, since he wouldn’t willingly release my son from his care. Killing him wasn’t what I wanted either; Kara would be very hurt by it, and I cared about the younger woman. There was also a part of me that appreciated this family for caring for my child, even though I hadn’t had a say in the matter.

Every path I took in my mind to determine a solution went in a circle. No decision seemed to be the right one, but no decision was wrong, either.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a shoe scuffing. I spun, crouched, knives out.

“Boo,” said Chance from the steps.

I slowly unclenched my grip on my knives and rose, trying to calm my racing heart. “How’s Kara?”

“Better.” Then, he smirked. “But that Robert’s an ass, isn’t he? And the Wolves were the merc company you ended up with for a couple weeks when you ran away? They really want your head.”

“Yes, Robert is,” I answered with feeling. My mouth curved. “But then again, you bring it out in people. How did you end up meeting him?”

I wasn’t going to touch the comment about the wolves. Chance loved to pry information out of people, it was one of the reasons he’d been sent out of Kalderon. Being nosy made him a great spy.

It was obvious he didn’t know about Dmitri, otherwise this would be a very different conversation. Kara simply called him her brother, and the Dumonts guarded their privacy. By extension, she’d guard mine.

“He came swooping in to pick her up and lectured me on how unsafe direct magical transmission is. It got a bit heated; I pointed out I was better educated and he invited me to duel. Then Kara explained that everyone else would have died if she hadn’t healed the dryad.” Chance smiled lopsidedly.

“And then?” Chance was dragging this out, but I did want to know. “What did Robert do?”

Kara so wanted her father’s praise, and he gave it often, but not in things she knew he thought were important, like magical ability. What she saw as her lack of talent bothered her.

Poor kid. Been there, done that, even if our circumstances were different.

“He told her that no one had ever done that before, and he wanted her to demonstrate it for some of his colleagues. That it might help with the relationship with the greater spirits. She lit up like a lamp. Cute kid.”

“That’s good. Why are you here, Chance?”

“Even you should be able to tell you’re in danger, Lissy.”Chance folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “Greene’s family hired the best. Tech and magic. Go home to Ethan, Lissy. You’ll be safe there.”

I shook my head. Not without Dimitri. Not without dealing with the Wendigo.

Irritation flickered in his eyes. “Do I have to carry you?”

“If you touch me, I’ll gut you like a trout.” My matter-of-fact tone made his eyes widen. “Yes, cousin, I’m upset with you.”

“You’re seriously still mad? Still sulking? It’s been three years!”

I wasn’t, actually. At the time, I’d been upset at not being able to go to the Reborn Kingdom, not least because I didn’t want Ethan figuring out what had happened. He was a perceptive man, my uncle. So instead, I’d gone to Guild territory and found the assholes killing people who crossed the border.

That chain of events led straight to me being captured and indentured. I didn’t want to tell him about that or Dmitri because he’d do something stupid to try to make it up to me.

I didn’t want him in the same position as I was. The only way to get him to stop sniffing out secrets around me would be to make him think I was fine.

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