Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) by Jessie Eaker (best novels in english TXT) 📕

turned into a grin. The bracelets’ glow intensified one last time and then extinguished.

Zofie shifted beside me. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her head like she was feeling out her body. Her face came alive, and she smiled. “I’m back.”

A voice never sounded so good to me. I immediately took her in my arms, squeezing her tightly. She briefly hugged me back and then stepped away. She bowed to Yonge. “Thank you, Advisor. You have my deepest gratitude.”

He gave a small smile. “My pleasure.”

She leaned closer and took the key from Yonge’s hand. “Now, with your permission Advisor, I would like to complete our end of the bargain. Then you can go ahead with your plans to move the Forever Nexus Shadow. I’m sure your guards can lead me there.”

One of them immediately stepped forward.

Zofie patted me on the shoulder. “Coren, this won’t take long. Why don’t you and the others go back to our quarters and wait for me. Once I’m done, we can have a little party to celebrate my return. I’m sure the servants would be more than willing to help.”

I was a little disappointed that she wasn’t immediately coming with us. It seemed so out of character for her.

“Of course,” I hesitantly agreed.

She smiled and turned to Fumiko. “My friend, would you accompany me? I don’t want to have any misunderstandings while we do this. It’s a very delicate procedure.”

“Of course,” Fumiko smiled. “I would love to.”

As they stepped to the door, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I called after her, “A loved one’s return is like fresh honey...”

Zofie turned and smiled. “Why thank you, Coren. I’ll join you in just a bit.” She then followed the guard out of the room with Fumiko trailing. As I watched her leave, a tightness gripped my heart.

She hadn’t completed my quote.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Deception

 

Spraggel, Cabrina, and I were escorted back to our rooms to wait for Zofie and Fumiko’s return. Advisor Yonge had dismissed us with a single wave, and when we hesitated to leave, his guard wouldn’t take no for an answer. I did manage to get in a question about restoring Abe, but all he said was that he would continue to work on it.

When we got back, we found our uneaten dinner had been cleared away and replaced with several kinds of dried fruits and nuts. Not that I minded—my stomach was in knots over Zofie. In my head, I kept going over the quote and why she hadn’t completed it. I could easily rationalize that it wasn’t anything bad. Perhaps she had been preoccupied and missed what I was trying to do. Or maybe I had chosen a passage just a little too obscure. But I quickly dismissed that. She never missed completing one of my quotes.

Never.

I asked Yanmei about having a party, and she said preparations had been made. The moment the princess returned, festive food and drink would be brought out. So there was nothing left to do but wait.

And wait.

Spraggel, nodding off in his chair, finally gave up and went to bed. He asked that I wake him when Zofie returned. Cabrina chose a different route and decided she wanted another bath. I could hear bits of conversation from inside as she and her Avenyts talked to each other. I couldn’t help but wonder what our listeners thought of that.

And I waited some more. I stood watch at the window overlooking the dark garden. Where were Zofie and Fumiko? I began to worry that something had happened. I had asked Yanmei several times if she could take me to her but was politely declined each time. She explained that very few people were allowed close to the Crystal Vault, where the Forever Nexus Shadow was kept.

Just after midnight, Yanmei appeared and gave me a written note from Zofie. She then said she was retiring and left. A moment later, two of the huge guards took position outside the door. I suspected it was to prevent us from wandering during the night.

I frantically tore into the note. “Coren,” it read. “We have run into a problem. Opening the vault is taking longer than I thought. Sorry, I’ll join you as soon as I can—Zophia.”

I tossed the paper on the table in frustration and started to pace. Where were they?

I checked on Spraggel to find him snoring soundly, but Cabrina wasn’t in her room. I guess she was still in the bath. I circled back around, jerked up the note, and stepped to my room.

Hoping it magically said something different, I paused beside the bed and read the note once again. It wasn’t like her to ignore me. The signature at the bottom drew my eyes. She had signed it Zophia. She never signed her notes Zophia—it was always Zofie. Plain old Zofie. I wadded up the paper in my hand, convinced now more than ever something was wrong. And I needed to find her and get to the bottom of this. But how?

In my frustration, I blindly threw the wadded up paper toward the open door. Unfortunately, Cabrina chose that moment to step into it. The wad bounced harmlessly off her chest.

She frowned. “You could have just asked me to leave.”

I smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” I bent down and picked up the paper. “Did you need something?”

She entered and sat down on the end of my bed. “With Zofie and Fumiko gone, this place is too quiet. Plus those big guards out there are creepy. I was hoping you would play a game with me to take my mind off them.”

I frowned. I really needed to figure out how to contact Zofie. “I