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

eye. “If you ever get that good, then I’ll knock.” He turned to Zofie. “Forgive me for the late hour, Princess, but I have completed looking through my old friend’s notes. I thought you might want to hear the results before retiring.”

Zofie, ever composed, took a deep breath and returned her knife to her desk. “What did you find?”

“Well, I was able to confirm that the Griffin’s Key is indeed some kind of key.” Spraggel suddenly yawned. “Sorry, Princess. It’s been a busy day.”

He moved to a thickly padded chair before the fire and settled comfortably into it. It was Zofie’s. He was oblivious that he had just taken the favorite chair of the kingdom’s ruling monarch. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

“Spraggel,” I scolded. “Don’t sit there. That’s Zofie’s....”

She laid a hand on my shoulder. “It’s all right.” She gave me a weak smile. “I’m too wound up to sit anyway.”

She went over to the fireplace and poked at the embers before throwing another log on the fire. She looked tired. For that matter, we all did.

“How’s Fumiko?” Zofie asked as she paused a moment to warm her hands.

My old master didn’t answer.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Spraggel?”

The elder’s eyes shot open. “I wasn’t asleep. I was just resting my eyes.” He looked puzzled for a moment. “What were you saying?”

I frowned. “Zofie asked how Fumiko was. She was with you, wasn’t she?”

He nodded. “The young miss did join me for a bit but left earlier. She’s still upset over our visitor this evening.”

Zofie sighed. “I wish she would talk to us? She must be carrying a huge burden.” She looked at me sadly. “We might be able to help.”

Spraggel laid his head back. “Fumiko will tell us when she’s ready.”

I nodded. “So what about the Griffin’s Key?”

My old master didn’t answer. Zofie and I looked to him, and his eyes were once more closed. “Spraggel?” I asked.

He jerked upright. “I was not asleep.”

Zofie went to stand beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right. Just give us a quick rundown on the artifacts, and then you can go to bed. That’s an order.”

Spraggel looked at her sheepishly. He reached into his myst pocket and pulled out a book. It never ceased to amaze me when he did that. His pocket seemed to have an infinite capacity. I’d seen him pull out everything from books, clothes, and half-eaten meals. He claimed his sword was in there somewhere, but he’d never been able to find it.

Spraggel opened the book and took out some hand-written notes. “There is little information on the Griffin’s Key and absolutely none on where it might be. Not even a speculation. But what I did discover is consistent with what our visitor from the empire said. Apparently, it is the only way to open this vault he mentioned. It’s called the Crystal Vault, by the way.”

I nodded. “Sounds like the ancients hiding information again.”

Spraggel looked back at his notes. “As our guest alluded to, this key was supposedly held in this kingdom, and its whereabouts entrusted to the Xernow family with the location passed down through the royal line. However, I think there was a break in this chain when the princess’s grandparents died unexpectedly.” Spraggel rubbed his eyes. “The fastest way to find it would be to use the Wayward’s Finder, just like we did for the Mirror of Bygone Tears. I’m sure Lord Dewi Merrick would let us borrow it. Especially since you didn’t throw him in prison after regaining your throne.”

Zofie moved to stand beside me. She slipped an arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. “What about the artifact inside the vault?”

Spraggel shook his head. “There are references, but none currently at my disposal. The books seem to have disappeared. All I can tell you is that it’s called the Forever Nexus Shadow.”

She frowned. “My brother likely removed those books.” She thought for a moment. “Do you think this Advisor Yonge is telling the truth? That they don’t know the purpose of this Nexus thing?”

Spraggel shrugged. “Hard to say. They’ve been guarding it for a thousand years, and there have been a lot of changes since they got it.” He closed his book and tucked his notes away. “You see, at the time the vault was built, the east was a loose collective of twelve kingdoms.” He looked up. “But about three hundred years ago, Shun the Great consolidated them into what we know today as the Kuiojia Empire.”

Zofie put a finger to her lips in thought. “I’ll send Lord Merrick a letter in the morning. I’m confident he will let us use it.” She sighed heavily. While she said nothing more about it, I knew what that meant. She would have to deal with Galvyn. He had been her other primary suitor and been infatuated with her for some time now. He very nearly displaced me as her fiancé. However, Zofie saw through to his true nature.

I personally didn’t like the bastard. The fact he had punched me on two different occasions had nothing to do with it. (All right, maybe a little.)

“Anything else we should know about it?” I asked.

Spraggel looked down at his notes. “Well, apparently the Griffin’s Key can be used to unlock things other than the vault. But for the Crystal Vault, the princess has to be the one to use it.”

Zofie nodded. “We best get the key as soon as we can, whether we accept the Emperor’s offer or not.”

I looked at her. “Do you intend to accept it? His offer, I mean.”

The princess gave a heavy sigh. “I don’t want to, but I need to feed my people.”

I decided there was no time like the present to address the dragon