Assassin's End Read online

  I was probably wrong. If the children were involved, wouldn’t Talia have known? And had she known, she would have used them. That wasn’t the kind of thing that Carth would have kept from her. That left me back at Talia’s belief.

  And made me wrong.

  Still, I couldn’t shake the sense that I’d been used, played in the same way that I had been played before. With Lorst, I don’t think he did it quite as effectively as Orly, though he had played me. But there was something happening in Asador that I still didn’t understand, something that made me feel as if there was a greater game.

  “Galen?” Cael whispered.

  I shook my head. I had to stop thinking like that and try to understand what was happening. First, I still needed to find Rebecca again. Then I needed to understand what she’d lost and why the child was important enough to draw the Hjan here.

  “I’ve got to move past this,” I said. “Whatever else I think, maybe she’s not still alive.”

  “Or she is.”

  I spun at the sound of the voice.

  Carth stood before me, dressed no differently than she ever did. Black leather clung to her body, accenting her curves in a way that would draw most men’s attention. A light cloak covered her shoulders. Her gray-green eyes stared at me with a familiar intensity. The smile on her face was new.

  “Carth,” I said.

  “Galen of Elaeavn,” she said, giving me the same title that she always had. In the past, it had been almost a taunt, something of an insult, especially since I could not return to Elaeavn. But now I wondered if maybe the name wasn’t more fitting than I realized.

  “You were dead,” I said.

  “That’s what they say.”

  “You wanted the Hjan to think you were dead.”

  She nodded, glancing to Cael and quickly taking stock of her. A slight smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. “You’ve found a woman, and one with a spine. She would have made a skilled Binder.”

  Cael’s brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she stared at Carth.

  Carth smiled back at her. “Unfortunately, you’ll find that I’m difficult to Read.”

  “Why are you revealing yourself to me?” I asked.

  Carth’s gaze darted around the plaza, and she led me to a darker pool of shadows. I could still make out the drawn expression on her face. “I had no intent to reveal myself, but you, Galen of Elaeavn, have a way of surprising me. In some respects, I should not be surprised. When I learned that you had come to Asador, I knew I needed to be careful, but even my best-laid plans have a way of turning sideways when it comes to you.”

  “I’ve been used by you often enough to know that you have multiple layers of plans.”

  “Used? I have never used you, Galen of Elaeavn. Pushed, perhaps, but I have never had you do anything you would not already have done.”

  I would argue, but she was right. I would have helped the Binders, would have helped Talia, regardless of what Carth wanted. She knew my tendencies and had allowed me to act. Was that using me?

  “Why now?”

  “You’re observant.”

  I grunted. “I’m Sighted.”

  Carth shook her head. “That’s not the same, and you know it. There are many from your homeland who are Sighted but never see. You have learned to recognize when things aren’t as they seem.”

  I studied her face, but as usual with Carth, I couldn’t tell anything from her. “Which side do you serve?” I asked. “I assume this is a game to you as well.”

  She shook her head solemnly. “Not with these stakes. No game.”

  We fell silent for a moment.

  Cael interrupted. “Why can’t I Read you? Why can’t I even tell that you’re here?”

  “There are many kinds of magic in this world, Cael Elvraeth. I would think that given what you’ve experienced that you would understand.”

  I placed my hand on Cael’s arm, wanting to soothe her, and found her trembling.

  It was a strange reaction.

  “The children told you that I was here?” I asked.

  “They didn’t have to. I’ve been watching you since you first appeared, from the moment Talia took you into her custody.”

  All that time, and I hadn’t noticed. And here Carth thought to compliment me on my observational abilities, but with her my Sight failed, leaving me as blind as if I had been dosed with slithca syrup.

  “You should tell her that you live,” I said.

  Carth smiled sadly. “She cannot know. I trust that you can keep this secret?”

  I could, but I didn’t have to like it. “Why won’t you tell her?”

  “Because my time here is limited. We reach toward something greater soon, Galen of Elaeavn. Something that I had not realized you had a role to play, but now that you’re here, I see that you will be integral.”

  “I don’t think I care for the sound of that.”

  “No, I imagine that you wouldn’t. You never did like thinking that someone would force you to do something you would not choose for yourself.”

  “You never answered my question. Which side do you serve?”

  I suspected that she would tell me that she served the Elvraeth. That seemed the most likely, especially given the fact that she hadn’t been surprised to find me here, or with Cael. The Elvraeth would be powerful enough—and possibly rich enough—to hire her for whatever they needed. The others… she had already shown that she would hunt the Hjan, and I didn’t know enough about the Forgotten to know what Carth’s role with them would be.

  “Does there have to be a side?”

  When she’d used me in the past, it had been her side, but I had the sense that there was something more taking place. This wasn’t about her, or what she wanted so much anymore. And it had to be valuable if she had been willing to sacrifice her network—and fake her death.

  “This time, I think there does.”

  Carth smiled. “You remain observant. Tell me, what have you done with Ilian?”

  “Who?”

  “The Hjan you captured.”

  “He goes by Ilian?” I asked. “What kind of name is that?”

  “As with all the Hjan, they choose their name when they are raised. Their old name is forgotten and lost to time.”

  “He was Raphe,” Cael said.

  Carth frowned, and shadows seemed to move around her. “Raphe. Then he would be from Vellum. Fitting that he would choose Ilian. You were able to Read that about him?” she asked Cael.

  “He is difficult to Read,” Cael said carefully. “There is a barrier within his mind that prevents me from reaching beyond a certain point, but I can go into the past with him.”

  “A barrier. Interesting term you use. Few enough are able to Read anything about the Hjan, even beyond their birth. You are a particularly interesting woman, Cael Elvraeth. I see why Galen of Elaeavn was drawn to you.” She watched Cael a moment and shook her head. “You fear what might have been for Galen and for Talia. You should not. They were never meant to be joined. That was part of the reason I pulled her from Eban. It was too risky for them both, and for what must come.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  Carth tipped her head as if hearing something. “You must remain vigilant, Galen of Elaeavn. Now that you’re involved, you will find that this is nothing like the game of Tsatsun.”

  “I was never a very good player anyway.”

  “No? It seems to me that you mastered what you needed to know faster than most. I trust that you will do as you always have.”

  I glanced at Cael. “I’m not the same man that I was when in Eban.”

  “You were never the man you believed yourself in Eban. That is why I trusted you so much.”

  It was so similar to what Talia had said that I had to believe that Carth had told her the same thing. “What does this have to do with the child?” They were connected. They had to be.

  “There was one who claimed to possess something I would acquire.”

>   Rebecca. That was who Carth meant. “How does the child fit into it? You would use them in your games?”

  “Not use. I offer these children my protection.”

  Under Carth’s watch, they would be safe. “Then why come to me? What do you need me to do?”

  Carth smiled, flashing the familiar wolfish smile. She was a deadly woman, and one I doubted I could have bested had I needed to. And here I didn’t know what she wanted, or where her allegiances laid.

  “You should do what you’ve always done, Galen of Elaeavn.”

  She jumped, disappearing from the park, leaving Cael and I seemingly alone. Not really alone, though. I had no doubt that she was watching us still.

  18

  The small room near the docks left me with a claustrophobic feeling. I still hadn’t found Rebecca again and still didn’t know what had happened with the child that the Hjan were after. I stared at the fire, feeling none of the warmth and hating the feeling of uncertainty and impotence.

  “I should have pressed her about the child,” I said to Cael.

  She looked over at me. She sat in one of the rickety chairs and stared at her hands. She’d been silent since we left Carth, almost strangely so. “She didn’t seem interested in telling you anything.”

  “If it mattered, she would have.”

  I believed that, but I also believed that she would have kept anything from me that she thought was unnecessary for me to know. But the children she used, her new Binders, if that was what they were, might have known something about the missing child.

  It all came back to finding Rebecca. Or the child, but I liked my odds of finding her more than that of finding some unknown child.

  After Carth had left us, we had searched the city a while longer, but neither of us was in the right mood. Cael was bothered by something—and had been for the last few days—and I felt the familiar frustration of not knowing what Carth intended.

  Raphe remained tied to the wall, dosed often enough that he couldn’t wake to Slide away. He breathed, but his eyes were closed as the dose of orphum coursed through him. Longer lasting than coxberry, the orphum gave me a chance to consider what we would do next. It had the added benefit of reversibility, though when I brought him out of the stupor caused by the orphum, he’d be sick. Another lesson that I remembered well from Isander.

  I went over to the Hjan. It was time for answers. Using a syringe that I’d made for this purpose, I injected crushed pallad powder mixed with water into Raphe’s arm.

  Immediately, he awoke. And then retched.

  I suppressed my satisfaction.

  “It’s time for you to start talking,” I said.

  He shook his head. “You’ve made a mistake if you believe that your empty threats will frighten me into sharing what I cannot.”

  “Who said they were empty?” I asked.

  He smiled. “You’ve already shown that you lack the fortitude that you claim—”

  My knife caught him in the shoulder.

  I went with the knife because it would hurt more, and because it was a greater show of force than just using a dart. With the dart, I could kill or poison, but no one really feared them.

  “Galen?” Cael asked.

  She rose and started toward me, but I shook my head. I wasn’t going to have her interrupt this. “No. I think it’s time our friend Raphe shares a bit more about why he’s here, don’t you?”

  I twisted the knife in his shoulder, hating myself as I did.

  Raphe winced and clenched his jaw, but he didn’t cry out or say anything. The bastard had been well trained.

  Now it was time to see if I had been better trained.

  “What do the Hjan intend in Asador?” I asked.

  He smiled darkly. “You think it’s only Asador we care about?”

  “Fine. Then what are the Hjan after?”

  “The same as we’ve always been after. The same thing that your friend sought to oppose all those years.”

  “This is nothing more than a power struggle?” I glanced back at Cael, who she watched Raphe but remained silent.

  “This is about what we’re willing to do and what we know that we must do. This is about much more than a power struggle.”

  “And this has to do with Carth?” I asked.

  “That woman… she’s been a part of it for too long.”

  But this wasn’t only about Carth. I could tell that from his face. “And Lorst… You’d know him as Rsiran? How does he fit into all of this?”

  “Lareth,” he said with a sneer. “He’s managed to escape far too many times.” Hatred had bubbled up, surpassing his ability to control it.

  When I’d faced the Hjan before, they had always managed to retain a tight control of their emotions. For him to react like this… that was valuable to know.

  And told me that they were far more afraid of Lorst than they were of Carth. Strange that I would have reversed them. I’d seen the skill that Lorst possessed. His control over knives—whether lorcith only or all metal—impressed me, but it was nothing like what I’d seen from Carth. She moved so silently that I could barely see her. With Lorst, as with other Sliders, there was a flicker of light and a shimmering of color as they Slid, enough that I knew what I was seeing.

  “He was here,” I told Raphe. I needed to see how he’d react and whether I would be able to incite him to share more.

  The other man scanned the room quickly before turning his attention back to me. “Here. Lareth doesn’t venture too far from the city unless he has good reason.”

  “He came for Josun Elvraeth,” I said.

  The smile shifted. “I imagine Lareth would get more than he bargained for if he managed to encounter that one again.”

  “Perhaps. I’ll have to ask the next time I see him.”

  “If he comes for Josun Elvraeth now, I think you may not be seeing your Lorst again.”

  “That wouldn’t bother me, but I doubt that it’ll happen anytime soon. Josun Elvraeth was dosed with the same drug as you. He won’t be Sliding anywhere.”

  I watched as Raphe’s dark smile faded a bit more.

  “How is it that you Slide?” I asked. “You’re not of Elaeavn, and you’re not gifted by the Great Watcher.”

  “Gifted. Is that what you consider yourself? Do you really believe there is some being sitting above the world, watching over everything, who has decided who will be granted abilities and who will not?”

  “Yes,” Cael spoke.

  “You’re Elvraeth. Of course, you would.”

  I studied him, noting the scar behind his ear. There was a similar scar on the other two Hjan that I’d seen. “They did something to you, didn’t they?”

  He smiled. “If you think to convince me to share the secrets of the Hjan, you’re mistaken.”

  I moved close enough to touch the skin behind his ear. The training that I’d had from Della helped me assess what had been done. There was a ridge behind his ear, and I felt something firm, like bone, only I suspected it was not. Metal?

  What purpose would there be in implanting metal?

  But I already knew the answer. I’d seen Lorst using lorcith in such a way that should be impossible, but that he managed to make look simple. Could implanting lorcith have given the Hjan some of their powers?

  I glanced back at Cael, who shook her head. “I… I can’t tell.”

  Sighing, I reached for my pouch and pulled out a vial of slithca and the bottle of orphum. There was a way to find out what effect the metal implant had, but it would be messy.

  Cael watched me. For once, I couldn’t determine the expression in her eyes.

  19

  The dark silver plate rested on the floor in front of me. I’d cleaned off most of the blood, but I couldn’t get the stink of it out of my nostrils. There was a distinctive coppery scent of blood, and in the small space of this room, it practically overwhelmed me.

  Cael sat across from the plate but had not come to sit by me. Had it bothered her so muc
h seeing me operate on Raphe? It had been years since I had attempted anything like this and never had I worked so closely to the brain. Few men would ever survive something like this. That he had told me that the Hjan had very skilled surgeons working on them.

  When I went in, I thought that they might have removed the bone and replaced it with the lorcith. Were that the case, removing it ran the risk of killing him. I had no real qualms about killing him but would have preferred that there be a reason. Instead, I’d discovered that the plate lay over the bone, but tendrils of it had snaked deeper. I didn’t allow myself to think of what it meant when I yanked it out.

  I’d used a length of thread soaked in a mixture of pressed olives and foxweed. The combination would fight infection. If he survived, I would not have infection be the reason he died.

  “I can hear him now,” Cael said, finally breaking the silence.

  Had the procedure bothered her so much?

  “What can you determine?”

  She swallowed before answering, her eyes fixated on the plate of lorcith. It gleamed in the reflected light from the hearth, the metal cleaned to remove all traces of blood. “Everything.”

  Cael said it with almost a look of revulsion on her face, and I wondered what exactly she heard. What was it that Raphe hid that troubled her so much? He had willingly allowed himself to be altered like this, and had he gone to the Hjan, turning himself into something of a monster, but could I blame him for reaching for power when he had none?

  “That’s just it, Galen,” she whispered. “He was born with gifts given to him by the Great Watcher.”

  “But he’s not of Elaeavn.”

  She shook her head. “He’s not. He was born outside the city, but his grandfather came from Elaeavn. His mother had some ability, but it was weakened, and then he… he was born with almost nothing.”

  “And that?” I asked, pointing to the metal plate.

  “It… augmented his abilities. I don’t think it could give them to him if he didn’t already have them.” She pulled her eyes off the metal plate and looked over at me. “I can hear his memories, can feel the joy he felt when he gained his ability.”