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

lurched down the corridor, seeming to struggle with her load. When she reached the intersection, she turned toward the guards. We quickly moved to the corner and listened.

One of the guards barked something in their native language.

“He’s telling her to halt,” Fumiko translated. “That servants are forbidden.”

I looked around the corner. Cabrina immediately repeated the phrase she had just learned and tried to bow. Naturally, the pile of linens became unbalanced, and when she tried to catch them, managed to throw all of them up into the air. They seemed to go higher than I would have expected, so there was likely a little myst push involved.

They settled over the guards, who frantically began to pull them off, but had trouble due to their armor. Cabrina stepped up to them, continuously repeating, “I’m sorry.” But in her supposed aid, managed to keep them entangled.

Fumiko and I took the chance and slipped past the struggling guards into the vault. Behind us, Cabrina kept right on apologizing.

I couldn’t help but smile. Cabrina and No-name really made quite the team.

Fumiko and I carefully weaved our way through the layers of curtains. We finally came to the last of them and paused to take in the large room before us.

What we saw was totally unlike anything I had seen before. A colossal oval crystal floated in the center of the room. There were no strings or supports of any kind. It just hung there like it had forgotten to fall.

And it was huge. It had to be two or three times a person’s height and had what seemed to be millions of facets carved into it. They caught the light in the room and reflected it back, making it a dazzling display of twinkling light. I remembered looking at similar jewels when I had been shopping with Zofie. While I was not an expert by any means, I fully believed it to be a giant, perfectly cut diamond. I had only ever seen tiny ones, with the largest I had ever heard about being no bigger than your fist. So one that size had to be a myst construct.

It appeared to be almost perfectly clear—all except for a single darker facet at its center. It was a light gray, and unlike the others, did not twinkle.

A platform of dark wood had been constructed next to the jewel within easy reach of the grayish facet. It had a series of ramps leading to the top.

But that was not the only surprise. Zofie stood at the base of the platform, her expression slack and staring off into the distance. And along with her was Advisor Yonge reclining in a chair with wheels. He was saying something to Zofie, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Several of the huge guards were stationed strategically around the room. That was going to make getting closer difficult. The best I could think of was to sneak up on Yonge under Fumiko’s shadow and then threaten him to release Zofie. The plan felt a little weak, but it was the best I could come up with.

I quickly explained my plan to Fumiko, and she agreed. We were just about ready to leap out when I caught movement on the floor next to me. Glancing down, I saw a cricket—it’s antenna moving excitedly.

“Ah, Sir Coren and Fumiko,” it said, using Yonge’s voice. “Just the people I wanted to see.”

“Now!” I yelled. Fumiko and I sprang forward.

A dagger suddenly appeared in Zofie’s hand, and she held it to her throat. She grinned wickedly. It was so unlike her it gave me chills.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the cricket said. “One more step and she dies.”

We froze in place. It only took moments for a guard to pluck the knife from my hand. We were roughly shoved toward Zofie and Yonge. Then with a hand on our shoulders, we were forced to our knees. Those guards were incredibly strong.

“You’re the one,” I shouted. “Why did you do it? I thought you were going to help us.”

The cricket landed in front of me and spoke. “The answer should be obvious...”

Zofie took up the thought. “...Just look at my body...”

Yonge finished, “I’m dying.”

Then all the guards, Zofie, the cricket, and Yonge himself all said in unison. “And I don’t want to die.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Opening

The Vault

The talking through several bodies was unnerving. Likely Yonge’s intent. He was maintaining control over at least seven people inside the room, and Creator knew how many outside. If they wore one of his charms, then he could likely take over at any time and treat them merely as an extension of himself. I was amazed he could control so many at once. Or maybe not completely at once. I thought of the guard that had been in front of the dungeon’s entrance. Maybe he switched back and forth between them and put the ones he wasn’t actively controlling into a kind of sleep. And the switching wasn’t completely instantaneous. I had noticed a very slight lag in the time it took to go from one body to another.

I cocked my jaw. I couldn’t let his body-switching throw me off. “What’s your dying got to do with us?”

Zofie lowered her knife and stepped over to Yonge. She patted him on the shoulder. “This body has a wasting disease. One the healers are unable to correct. I have now reached the point where I can barely move, and if it wasn’t for some clever myst devices, I wouldn’t even be alive now.” She looked over her shoulder at the crystal. “But all that ends as soon as I open this vault. And for that, I needed the key.”

It suddenly made sense. The charms Cabrina had put on us had been obtained from