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

to this girl’s house. She was standing outside, hanging out laundry for her mother when they approached her. They simply used a silence charm and then I perfected her.” She leaned closer. “It’s amazing what you can do between the sheets, even if they’re hanging up.” She chuckled.

“What are their names?”

“They never told me. It was a man and a woman. Their bodies were just a few years older than this one, but their exemplars seemed very experienced.”

“How about Wynn or Risten’s location?”

She shrugged. “No idea. I know of no Wynn other than the one that was the previous king, and I had not heard of Risten until you mentioned her.”

“You might know of her as Lilith.”

Cabrina frowned. “That name, I know. I was told to stay clear of her. No reason was given.”

“And your base of operations?”

“Don’t know. I came straight from the cross-world portal.”

Fumiko fixed her gaze at the girl. “This is getting us nowhere. Perhaps we should torture her a little. It might loosen her tongue.”

“We can’t take a chance on it hurting Zofie.” I rubbed my face. The day wasn’t that old, but I was already feeling exhausted. “All right. What do you want from us to remove these charms?”

Cabrina gave a quick shrug. “I wasn’t told to bargain. Besides, I don’t have a way to remove them. I was only told how to get them started.”

I stared at her in frustration and ran a hand through my hair. She was just being so casual about this. “Aren’t you at least afraid of dying? The other lords could decide it’s too risky to keep you around and kill you even if it meant it killed us too.”

She shrugged. “I’m not really afraid. I’ve had the chance to perfect a body far better than I could ever expect and in a land where everything is clean and beautiful.” She spread her arms to indicate the cell around her. “Even being in this dark, dingy place is better than my starting point. I would go content.” She lowered her arms and shook her head. “Although I would be sad that the girl would also die. She is a nice person.”

I thought for a moment. First, she was concerned about Maggie, and now about the body she possessed. This was totally unlike the others I had encountered. To them, we were nothing more than articles of clothing to be worn and discarded at their whim. But this one didn’t seem that way.

I had a sudden thought. “What is your name?” I asked.

“Cabrina.”

I shook my head. “Not your host’s name. Your name.”

To my surprise, she blushed and looked down. “I... I don’t have a name. I am of low cothe. We aren’t given names because we usually don’t survive that long.”

I blinked at her as what she said sunk in. She was disposable. I almost felt sorry for her. They never intended for her to survive, which meant she would not tell us anything useful. I didn’t think she was lying. She just didn’t know anything to tell.

Sighing, I turned to Fumiko. “We’re done here.”

She nodded and we turned to leave, with Rourke following behind.

“What are we going to do now?” Fumiko asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. But praying for a miracle is high on my list.”

I slowed as we entered the wing of the castle leading to Zofie’s quarters. As it does this time of year, evening had come quickly, and the corridor ahead was lit only with only a few myst lanterns. The dim light reflected my own dark mood.

I drew to a halt at the turn leading to Zofie’s room. “Why don’t you two go ahead,” I said. “I need a moment to think.”

Fumiko nodded sadly. She gave my shoulder a reassuring pat before turning down the hall. Master Rourke glanced my way, looking grim, and followed behind her. As I watched, the pair paused in front of the door—a guard on either side of it—knocked and then were admitted.

A big sigh escaped me as I leaned against the cold stone wall, a complete sense of loss coming over me. What was I going to do?

I rubbed my face. The simplest solution would be to cut the bracelets off and have Rourke and a healer standing by to treat us. But that was risky. There was no guarantee that they could treat us in time, and one or more of us could die.

Why had they done it? Was it to stop us from rebuilding the kingdom? Or perhaps it was because they were afraid of us stopping their invasion. But incapacitating Zofie and my curse seemed such an odd move. I couldn’t help but think this had somehow been botched. That the effects we were seeing were not what had been intended.

I looked down the darkened corridor. What were we going to do without her? Zofie was a genius of organization and leadership. Under her, the kingdom had started to rebuild. The people had begun to have hope. When word got out their ruler was unable to lead them—what would they do? And Zofie had no heirs, which could send the kingdom into chaos as the lords fought for control.

There was really only one answer. Get these bracelets off us.

And soon.

I gave another sigh and pushed myself off the wall. I couldn’t put this off any longer. I walked up to Zofie’s door, nodded to the guards, and knocked. Permission to enter made my heart jump into my throat.

Opening the door, I found Zofie sitting in her favorite chair with Fumiko standing beside her. The princess sat perfectly straight, staring off into the distance, with her hands neatly folded in her lap. I couldn’t count the times I had seen this familiar scene. She even still wore the