Poisoned: The Book of Maladies Read online

  Marin approached, near enough that Sam had one shot.

  Tingling washed over her again.

  Another augmentation?

  Pain shot through her injured arm, and she felt it knitting back together.

  With a scream of pain, and frustration, and all of the emotions she’d held bottled in over the last few months, she swung her staff.

  Marin didn’t react in time.

  Sam connected with Marin’s head, sending it rocking backward, and she fell, striking her head on the cobbles.

  Sam fell backward, landing on her injured arm, breaking it once more. She screamed out and couldn’t move.

  A shadow appeared, and she recognized the bitter scent from when she’d been with Tray. He lifted Marin and carried her away.

  “Tray—” Sam called out.

  Tray paused.

  “Don’t. She needs to face punishment for what she did. She needs to give me answers.”

  Tray looked over his shoulder. There was a haunted expression in his eyes that Sam had never seen from him before. There was something else there, as well, something that looked to be a mixture of pain and frustration.

  “She’ll face punishment, but I need answers first.”

  “Why?” Sam asked.

  “If she’s my mother, I need to understand. You know what that means, don’t you?”

  Sam could only nod. Her body began tingling again as another augmentation coursed through it, and she felt healing, her arm repairing once more. Even healed, she wouldn’t go after Tray.

  She’d been so focused on having him help her find Marin for her own reasons that she’d overlooked reasons that Tray had to find her. And he deserved answers, the same as Sam did.

  “If you find out what she did to my memories…”

  Tray nodded. He looked as if he was going to say something but simply clenched his jaw and disappeared down the street.

  Sam watched, wondering if it might be the last time she would see Tray.

  Epilogue

  Alec waited in the decorative room inside the palace, an uncomfortable feeling making his heart race. Were it not for Sam, he wouldn’t be here. Everything around him was ornate, and he found his gaze jumping from statue to candleholder to painting, never resting. Everything here was incredibly valuable. Everything here would be more than enough to purchase his father’s shop once more.

  The door opened, and Sam entered. She moved slowly, still recovering from her injuries. The easar paper had helped, but he’d needed to use so much of their strength to keep her safe during the fight with Marin that not much was left to heal her fully.

  Despite his efforts, they hadn’t managed to catch Marin.

  Alec jumped from his chair and went to help her. She scanned the room before settling her gaze back on him. “Just you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve had Beckah with you lately. I thought maybe you’d bring her with you.”

  “Sam—”

  Sam shook her head. “It’s okay. I understand you have a connection with her.”

  “I do. But I have one with you, too.”

  Sam sank into one of the plush chairs and leaned back, closing her eyes. “I can’t challenge you the same way that she does.”

  Alec chuckled. “You always sell yourself short.”

  “I don’t sell myself at all. I know my limitations.”

  “You don’t have the limitations that you believe.”

  Sam sat silently for a moment. “What of the canals?” she asked.

  Alec had shared with her what Master Eckerd had told him about the eels. At least others believed they were real. She was tired of trying to convince everyone about what she’d experienced with them. It was still hard to believe the eels were helpful. The stupid creatures had tried to bite her!

  “The canals are cleansed.”

  “How?”

  Alec shook his head. “I’m not entirely certain. The masters who were involved in cleansing them are all still lying in the hospital.” That had been a surprise. Master Eckerd and Master Helen, along with three others, masters that Alec had very little experience with, had all been involved. If nothing else, they had revealed to him which of the masters were Scribes. “They are all still quite weak, but they’ll all pull through.”

  Sam rested her head, letting her eyes drift closed again. “Good. I still can’t believe they used the canals to protect the city and prevent Thelns from gaining access.” She sighed, and it seemed that she was simply exhausted. “Marin claimed that disrupting the canals was part of her task.”

  “When the masters recover, I’ll make sure they know.”

  “We have to find out what it was.”

  “The man you pulled from the university was the one responsible for helping Marin gain access to the university supplies of foxglove. The masters had kept him sedated until they figured out what he intended.” He fell silent, watching Sam’s reaction for a moment. “How is Bastan?”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s angry the tavern was attacked again, but he’ll get over it.”

  Alec nodded. He leaned forward, twisting his hands together. What he needed to tell Sam would be difficult, but she deserved—and needed—to know.

  “My father thinks he knows what happened to your memories.” Sam’s eyes opened, and she bit her lip. A hopeful expression came to her face. “He doesn’t think it’s the result of any augmentation.”

  “Your father isn’t a Scribe so how would he know?”

  Alec had begun to realize that his father had more connections than he had ever known. He had questions for him, and he would find out the answers, but that would have to come in time. “He tells me that the only way to disrupt memories the way that yours were is by using the Book of Maladies.”

  Sam stared at him, saying nothing. Both of them knew what that meant. If the Book of Maladies were involved, there would be no easy way—or possibly no way at all—of reversing the effect.

  “How certain is he that’s what happened?”

  “It was the first thing that came to mind for him. He said the power required to disrupt memories that way called for more magic than an augmentation could provide.”

  Sam stared at her hands and breathed out a long sigh. “Then I’m going to have to find it.”

  “Find it? Sam, there’s no way to reverse it short of—”

  Sam leaned forward. “Short of destroying the page. I know. Marin said that not everything is what it seems. I can’t trust her, but there is more going on than what we have learned. Which is why I need to find the Book of Maladies. And you’re going to help me.”

  Pick up the next book in The Book of Maladies: Tormina

  Finding the truth means risking everything.

  While trying to track down her brother, Sam discovers she isn’t through with Marin quite yet. An attack proves that a traitor sympathetic to Marin remains active in the city, but training prevents Sam from finding answers. With the Thelns once more in the city, Elaine doesn’t believe Sam should be involved in the search, which means she has to go off on her own. Doing so risks her position at the palace, but any other choice puts her brother in danger.

  Alec continues his studies and realizes how much he still has to learn at the university. Now that he knows some of the master physickers are also Scribes, he wants answers, but his search places him at odds with someone far more powerful than him. When Sam asks for his help with her quest to find the traitor, Alec has to make a dangerous decision and the fallout will change their lives in the city.

  Failure means more than another Theln attack upon the city—it means they might lose everything they have discovered about themselves.

  Names and Terms

  People:

  Aelus Stross: An apothecary and skilled healer. Alec’s father

  Alec Stross: an apprentice apothecary

  Bastan: a thief who essentially runs Caster

  Hyp: a moneylender in the Arrend section who frequents Aelus’s shopr />
  Mags: a painter with a unique talent

  Marcella Rubbles: owner of a stationary store in Arrend

  Marin: a thief who knew Sam’s mother

  Samara (Sam) Elseth: a thief

  Trayson (Tray) Elseth: Sam’s brother

  Places and Terms:

  Arrend section: a merchant section

  Balan Day: a day to celebrate the festival god

  canal eels: possibly mythical creatures living in the canals

  Callesh section: a merchant section

  Caster section: a lowborn outer section of the city

  Central Canal: the canal that separates the lowborn sections from the merchants and highborns

  Drash section: a merchant section

  easar paper: magical paper

  Farnum section: a merchant section

  Highborn: a term for the wealthier living in the center of the city

  Jaku section: a highborn section where easar paper was found.

  Kyza: one of the many gods worshipped in Verdholm

  Lostin section: a merchant section

  Lowborn: a term for people living in the outer sections of the city

  Lycithan: a southern nation. Known for their skilled artisans.

  Narvin Plains: east of the city, thin stretch of land

  Physicker: healers with specialized training at the university

  Piare River: connects to Ralan Bay and the canals

  Ralan Bay: a trading hub along the coast of Verdholm

  Sacred Alms: the healing religion Alec follows

  Sornum: Bastan’s tavern

  Thelns: dangerous brutes

  Valun: a country known for various artifacts, including the stout rope Sam uses

  Verdholm: an isolated city situated near the coast with canals running through it separating it into different sections

  Yisl: one of the many gods worshipped in Verdholm

  Author’s Note

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for reading Poisoned: The Book of Maladies. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.

  I’m also always happy to hear from readers! Email me at [email protected]. I try to respond to each message. Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook as well!

  Review link HERE.

  All my best,

  D.K. Holmberg

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  Also by D.K. Holmberg

  The Book of Maladies

  Wasting

  Broken

  Poisoned

  Tormina

  The Collector Chronicles

  Shadow Hunted

  Shadow Games

  Shadow Trapped

  The Shadow Accords

  Shadow Blessed

  Shadow Cursed

  Shadow Born

  Shadow Lost

  Shadow Cross

  Shadow Found

  The Dark Ability

  The Dark Ability

  The Heartstone Blade

  The Tower of Venass

  Blood of the Watcher

  The Shadowsteel Forge

  The Guild Secret

  Rise of the Elder

  The Sighted Assassin

  The Binders Game

  The Forgotten

  Assassin’s End

  The Teralin Sword

  Soldier Son

  Soldier Sword

  Soldier Sworn

  Soldier Saved

  Soldier Scarred