Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

Nava asked as Carina walked out of class to meet her. Classes were over for the day and it was time to leave.

Carina did not need to look back to check who Nava meant. ‘That’s Sommer Chevalier Garavain. She’s a little uptight about status and thinks you shouldn’t be associating with me.’

‘I’m aware of the Garavain clan’s attitudes.’

‘Oh, yeah, she said something about Courtney Martell yesterday. The captain lives with you, right?’

‘She’s living with us because her family decided to take away her allowance for “associating” with her boyfriend. He’s a Maynard House and too low on the social ladder for them to accept. Sommer Chevalier will have to get used to you associating with me. I’m not concerned with clan status unless it assists me in some way.’

Carina frowned. ‘That sounds a little hypocritical.’

‘If it stops me having to duel idiots, I’m perfectly happy with being a hypocrite. Come on, the others are waiting outside.’ Nava turned and then paused. ‘What do you think Sommer Chevalier would think if she knew you were about to meet up with the student president, a woman who happens to come from one of the most influential families in the Alliance?’

‘She’d probably have a fit of apoplexy.’ Carina giggled. ‘Maybe we should wait around outside until Sommer leaves.’

‘I think we won’t. Let’s get moving.’

~~~

It was a nice day outside. The sky was mostly blue and there was almost no wind. The temperature was cooler than Carina liked, but then Shinden tended to be cooler than Grimalkin year-round. She would be happy when she could get back to her apartment and change into warmer clothes.

Nava was less concerned about the temperature. She was not exactly concerned about anything, though her customary scan of the surrounding area as she left the building had more purpose than usual. She did not generally employ a cantrip to see invisible objects almost constantly, but she was now and, this time, it paid dividends.

The man she spotted in a dark bodysuit – possibly armour – was not especially tall. He was slim and fairly nondescript. Brown hair and dark eyes, and not particularly handsome. Someone you would fail to remember if you saw him in passing. Just the kind of man you might send to spy on people, in fact, though he was reinforcing his lack of visibility with the Invisibility spell, just to be sure no one noticed him. He did not appear to be armed, but he was a sorcerer with unknown combat capabilities. He was definitely looking their way; it was not a certainty that he was watching Carina, but it was fairly likely, given the circumstances.

Confirmation was required and, luckily enough, the plans her friends had would provide that clarification. ‘You two have a council meeting, right?’ Nava asked of Mitsuko and Melissa.

‘Yes,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘And I don’t need our secretary’ – she nodded at Melissa – ‘to tell me what the topic is.’

‘The fair,’ Melissa said anyway. ‘I never knew there was so much to coordinate to get it to happen. From the outside it looks like organised chaos, but–’

‘But once you are onthe inside,’ Mitsuko said, ‘you realise that it’s barely organised chaos.’

‘Francis Goretti is pulling his hair out?’ Nava asked.

‘Have you seen his hair?’ Mitsuko countered. ‘There’s so much of it he could lose half of it and you’d never know.’

‘A fair point.’

‘But he does look a little stressed,’ Melissa said.

‘We should get going,’ Mitsuko said. ‘We’ll see you later for dinner.’

‘Yes,’ Nava said. Turning, she started in the general direction of Carina’s apartment. ‘Come on, Carina. I know you want to get changed.’

‘When the true darkness comes,’ Carina said, ‘the cold will be so deep that no one will be able to bear it. But right now, it’s just me.’

Briefly, Nava thought the man she had seen was actually after Mitsuko or Melissa. He had moved and she failed to spot him for a couple of minutes. Then she picked him up again, partially hidden behind some bushes ahead of them. They walked within a couple of metres of him and Nava decided that his expression was… bored. Carina’s watcher did not really want to be doing this. Presumably, cultists tasked with watching a young adult walk around school would be just as bored as anyone else, so that did not say much. Still, Nava was not getting a ‘mad zealot’ vibe. If anything, the man felt more like a civil servant.

Nava waited until they had entered the building’s lobby and called the elevator before saying anything. ‘I’ve spotted one of your watchers.’

Carina turned to her with wide eyes. ‘You have?’

‘If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have said I had. You go up and get changed. I’ll take care of him.’

The elevator doors opened and, since Carina did not seem to be about to move, Nava pushed her in. ‘T-take care of him?’ Carina asked.

Nava held the door as Carina stepped into the car. ‘Yes. Hopefully, I don’t mean permanently.’ Then she vanished and, a second later, the elevator doors closed.

‘Nava?’ Carina asked. No answer came.

~~~

The man in the black combat suit suppressed the urge to sigh as he watched the front door of Carina’s building. His orders were to keep an eye on her, not to be a pervert. Every day after classes, she went to her room and changed. He did not need to see that.

The addition of the Greyling girl was a matter of concern. What did the Greylings want with Carina? Or did the Greylings even have anything to do with this? It seemed that Carina had sought out Nava Greyling, rather than the other way around, so maybe the question was what Carina wanted with a Greyling. He had bugged Carina’s apartment, so anything they spoke of there would be recorded. He could review that later rather than observing directly.

Besides, Nava Greyling was probably a danger to his mission. He had not been able to dig up much on her, but what he had found was that