Trick of Shadows (The Duskhunter Saga Book 2) by Sara Roethle (free e books to read .TXT) 📕

a yellow daisy there. Steifan pushed into the room behind me and I lunged toward the bed, snatching the flower and crushing it in my palm behind my back. I whipped around as Steifan shut the door.

Steifan narrowed his eyes at me. “Why are you standing like that?”

I relaxed my shoulders, still hiding the crushed daisy. “I just realized I had wanted to check on the horses one last time before we rested. I’ll be right back.”

His continued gaze said he didn’t believe me, but after a moment, he nodded.

When he turned his back to fetch something from the saddlebags, I hurried out of the room, shutting the door quickly behind me. I looked at the crushed flower in my hand, fueling my budding anger, because I knew exactly who it was from. What right had Asher to follow me here? And to know which room I rented? He’d probably bespelled the innkeep into telling him while Steifan and I had been busy with our evening meal.

I hurried down the hall and down the stairs before Steifan could think to follow me. Once I was outside, I dropped the daisy on the ground, then headed for the stables. If Asher was around, he would find me.

I was checking over our horses when I sensed a presence at my back. I turned to find Asher leaning against a thick wooden post supporting the roof of the stable. He stood in profile, his face partially obscured by his long white hair draped over his black coat.

“You should know by now I’m not impressed by dramatic entrances,” I chided.

He turned his face toward me and smiled. “Yes, you are impressed by very little.” The light from one of the lanterns illuminating the stable hit his face just right, cutting across one silver eye and one high cheekbone.

I crossed my arms and leaned my back against my horse’s pen. “Why are you here? We are a long way from the mires.”

He pushed away from the post and closed the distance between us. “I wanted to ensure you wouldn’t get into any more trouble. You seem to attract it from all directions.”

I wanted to back up, but I had effectively trapped myself with the pen behind me. My horse nudged my shoulder, reminding me that it was there. “You didn’t come all this way just to keep me out of trouble. Why are you really here?”

“One of the ancients who maintained the old order was killed recently. I had hoped you could help me hunt the culprits. When I searched for you, I could hardly sense you. I didn’t expect you to travel so far.”

My breath caught at his words. If an ancient had been killed, that meant there were indeed other vampires carrying forth Karpov’s plan. I exhaled, then sucked in a sharp breath. “When did it happen?”

“Two nights ago,” he explained. “Quite the coincidence that you were sent to a far off city not long before, if my estimations of your travel time are accurate.”

I narrowed my eyes. “The Potentate sent me here. There was no way he could have known that one of the ancients was to be killed. I imagine you have ruled out the possibility of the kill being claimed by a hunter?”

He nodded slightly, his gaze intent on my face. “I smelled no humans around the corpse, nor did I recognize the scent of the vampires.”

“So what does this mean?” I pressed. “How close are we to a vampire war?”

He arched a white brow. “Dear Lyssandra, we are already at war, just a more subtle war than those waged by mortals.”

I wasn’t bold enough to think that me being sent away could have anything to do with the ancient’s murder. Was I actually thinking of the slaying of a vampire as a murder?

I scowled. “So you are at war then, we knew this was coming. Why travel all the way to Silgard to tell me? There’s nothing I can do to help you until I solve the murder here. Even once I return to Castle Helius, I may not want to help you.”

He splayed one palm against my horse’s pen near my shoulder, leaning forward but not quite touching me. He never seemed to touch me unless I was dying and needed to be saved. “For now, we are on the same side. We both want to prevent the slaughter of mortals. So I do believe you will help me, whether you want to or not.”

I tucked my arms in tightly against my body to keep from being too close to his hand. “You are insufferable.”

“You spoke of a murder here,” he continued like I hadn’t spoken. “Perhaps if I help you solve it, you can return to aid me more quickly.”

I stiffened. “I don’t need your help. You know nothing about being a hunter.”

“You are training that other hunter, the one you seem to be sharing a bed with tonight. Surely you can tell me enough that I may be of use.”

I ignored the subtle insinuation. If he wanted to think something was going on with Steifan, then so be it. It made no difference. I wanted to tell him to go drown in a swamp, then I realized that he might actually be useful.

“You have thought of something,” he said, watching my expression.

“There is something you could do to help, but you will do it only to help solve a murder, because it is the right thing to do. Not as a favor where I will owe you something in return.”

He leaned a little closer and lowered his voice, “Name it, and it will be done.”

I rolled my eyes to hide my discomfort, ignoring his cool breath on my skin. “I would like to find the murdered woman’s journal, but my worry is that if her husband finds it first he will burn it, if he hasn’t burned it already. If he has, search her room for anything suspicious.”

His brows raised and he leaned back. “You would