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

did, but it only shows a myst user’s memories. It doesn’t show how to find an inanimate object.”

She shrugged. “Then why don’t you ask it to show you the memories of the last person to visit the key’s location.”

I stared at her. “That’s actually a good suggestion. However, I have to use Abe to unlock it, and your charm has made him stop working.”

She looked puzzled. “Can I see your curse mark?”

I thought it an odd request, but I pulled up my jacket and shirt sleeve so she could see it. She examined it intently. “Your curse is very different from us, similar but different. But one thing I can say for sure is that it still operates.”

I looked at the curse mark myself. “How... how do you know?”

She shrugged. “Because I can smell him. The closest analogy I can think of is feeling a person’s breath, or maybe the scent of their body. But I can definitely say he’s alive, and at least on some level, is working.”

My eyes went wide. Then I might be able to start the mirror.

I took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you. I’m not sure why you’re helping me, but I appreciate it.”

She blushed. Deeply.

I turned to leave. “I have to try this out.”

As I was leaving, I heard Cabrina talking to herself. I guess it was actually to the girl inside of her.

“I told you he would make the better mate.”

I strode into Zofie’s study, brimming with an exuberance I hadn’t felt since she had been attacked.

Rourke was in his usual spot by the window while Captain Milner and Spraggel sat in chairs closer to the fire. Fumiko stood before them and seemed to have just finished explaining about our attempt with the finder. She regarded me coolly.

Spraggel brightened when he saw me. “There you are. I was wondering if you were going to join us.”

The princess sat to one side with that same blank expression I hated. I went to Zofie and knelt before her. I took her hand and gave it a kiss before turning to the others.

Spraggel rubbed his chin. “So the finder didn’t work. I’m not surprised. Otherwise, it would have been found by now. And our research came up empty.”

Captain Milner cocked his jaw to one side in irritation. “So what do we do now?”

I smiled. “I want to try using the Mirror of Bygone Tears.”

Rourke frowned. “But doesn’t that just show a myst user’s memories? We’ve tried it on other things, and you have to have the context for the memories to make sense.”

“True, but it might give us a clue.”

Captain Milner shrugged. “What have we got to lose?”

Rourke likewise agreed while Fumiko remained silent.

I held out my hand. “Spraggel, the mirror please.”

Spraggel frowned. “I hope I can remember where I put it.” He reached into his strange pocket up to his elbow and began to search around.

Rourke looked at me in disbelief. “You gave one of the most important ancient artifacts to Spraggel?”

I shrugged. “What else could I do? I thought it was a better hiding place than the bottom of my linen drawer.”

Rourke shook his head but said nothing more.

A moment later, Spraggel reached further down into his pocket. “Ah-ha!” he exclaimed. He pulled out a shiny black orb just slightly smaller than my fist. It was totally black—its darkness seeming to almost eat any light touching it. The mirror was considered one of the most powerful of the ancient artifacts. It could show any event from a living myst user’s life, whether the person granted permission or not. But it had serious limitations. Plus, there must be some way to block its effects since we had not been able to use it on Wynn or Risten.

I took it from him and then touched it to the curse anchor on my wrist. We all held our breath as we waited for it to start. But nothing happened. Disappointment flooded me as the mirror remained its lifeless black. I shoved it against my wrist harder. “Abe, you foul-mouthed, good for nothing curse. If you can hear me, please make this thing work.”

To all of our surprise, Zofie gave a soft groan. We all looked to her in surprise.

Suddenly, I felt it move of its own accord. I released the mirror, and it remained floating in the air. As we watched, it unfolded like a flower into a larger, bowl-shaped object of the same deep black.

I nearly danced. “Show me the last person to visit where the Griffin’s Key is kept,” I asked it.

It hesitated, but then I felt a rush of excitement as a pull of myst went through me. The world began to fade away, and I felt myself heading toward a dream. It was a shared memory. I had done this before with Zofie, but I don’t think I would ever get used to looking out through someone else’s eyes—

With the back of my wrist, I pushed a strand of hair out of my face being careful not to let the flour on my hands touch anything. That included my dress, which loved to become dusted in the stuff.

I added a few more drops of goat milk to the bowl and mixed it together with my hands. This was the last of the flour. After this, I wasn’t sure what we would do. I guess eat what was left of the cheese and drink goats milk until that too ran out. Poor old Nibbles had already been giving less milk.

I carefully mixed everything and then scraped every last morsel on to a mixing board and began to form it up into a loaf. I almost cried. It was so small, especially for four people. I sighed and