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

was tired, but if all went to plan, we would be at the gates of the Kuiojia Empire tomorrow. There wasn’t much time.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

Fumiko made a twirling gesture, and I realized she needed to put her tunic back on. I blushed and once again turned away.

Once dressed, she knelt beside my head as I lay on my mat and put her fingers on my temples. She had her back to the dim myst light in the room, so her face was nothing but a shadow.

“Coren, the skills I’m giving you tonight are tied to a memory you will not like. I beg your forgiveness, but I cannot change the past.”

I shrugged. “It can’t be that bad.”

I felt her myst gathering. “Coren, you severely underestimate me.”

And then I was sucked into Fumiko’s memory.

I paused in the dark corridor, my back to the wall, and listened to the small sounds around me. I heard the light steps of a guard in another part of the building, a light snoring in the room up ahead, and as expected, a much heavier snoring from one floor up. No one was close by. I quietly crept down the corridor—the placement of my feet deliberate and entirely silent.

It was three years since the sorting. After that event, our training had changed. The basics had been learned, so instead, we were taught how to apply them. To deadly effect.

After the sorting, I had received two things, both of which I was extremely proud of. The first was a small tattoo in the upper corner of my back—a butterfly, beautifully done in reds and blues. The second was a pair of daggers of unsurpassed beauty and utility with blades of an unusual dark forging—to better hide with the weapons drawn. I kept them sharp enough to cut your finger if you lightly touched them. And this night was my first mission. I would be handsomely rewarded if I completed it successfully. Or killed if I didn’t.

My deadly blades were now strapped to my back within easy reach, but so they wouldn’t move as I walked. It would be only a few more minutes before I needed them.

I made my way to a set of stairs and silently climbed them, flitting from shadow to shadow as I moved. This opened into another corridor, which unlike the one below, was lit with a dim myst lantern.

I could see two guards standing at the room’s only door. Up until this point, the map I had memorized and the information I had been given had been completely accurate. That information had said there was only one guard at the door. Unfortunately, it was doubly wrong. I wondered what other pieces of information were incorrect.

But I could not afford to hesitate. I used my myst to cloak myself in shadow and crept forward. I pulled my knives and before they knew it, slammed both blades into their throats. Neither made a sound as I eased them to the floor.

Being careful not to step in their blood, I listened at the door. There was only snoring. But listening closer, there was also another even fainter breathing. Another piece of information omitted. I had not been warned that he might have a bed partner.

I silently lifted the latch on the heavy door and slowly, oh so slowly, pushed it until its opening was barely large enough to admit me. I slipped inside and quickly stepped into the shadow offered by the lee of the door. Then ever so quietly, I eased the door shut.

The inside of the room was almost totally dark. There were no windows, and the walls were of dense stone. The only way in or out was through the door behind me.

I pulled out my special myst light, which provided a dim but narrowly focused illumination. I used it to quickly scan the interior.

My intelligence had been vague on the room. Not many people were allowed inside. I had been assured there was a large bed, a high ceiling, and a door leading to a bath. But that was all they had been able to discern. Even the servants had been tightlipped. Of course, it was because if they revealed any details of the room, they would be executed. And they were tested regularly.

Clothes had been carelessly thrown about the room. I frowned. One was a ripped woman’s blouse—someone had certainly been eager.

I stepped toward the bed, careful of the soft carpet I tread on, and using my light to closely watch for any sign of a trap. It would have been easy to hide a myst alarm within its plushness. I froze. Something didn’t look right. I reversed the step and went to one knee to look closer. And indeed found something. While it used a myst concealment, a tiny ridge ran the perimeter of the bed.

I stared at it. If I crossed it, it would likely set off all manner of alarms. I swung my light back and forth over it. The carpet was indeed plush, and my feet sunk into it. But if I looked closely, I could tell there was a path where the fibers were trampled just a bit more than the others. It was a path that led from the bed toward the bath. I smiled. Someone liked to come straight to the bed after their bath.

I moved to that path and noticed there seemed to be a gap in the bed’s protection. I followed the path exactly and came to the edge of the bed.

Peering down, I could see my target. I knew he was a powerful lord, but otherwise, I knew little else. All I had were my orders. It was all I needed.

In one smooth stroke, I put a hand over his mouth and slit his throat. He died quietly.