Shadowguard

"There's an idea," Mayor Ashburn said, laughing again.

The doors opened into another hall, this one lined with black marble statues set atop pedestals of the same material. A bright red rug spanned the middle of the floor, jagged runes and harsh lines stitched into the carpet with golden thread. The torches were more plentiful here, set perfectly between narrow alcoves carved into the walls, where the statues stood.

"Arden, do me a favor and don't open your mouth again until we're out of here," Everna said as soon as the doors closed behind them. "I might actually stab you."

"Sorry, Ever. It's as disturbing for me as it is you," he said, turning to look at her over his shoulder, "but it's an unfortunate necessity if we're to pull this off."

"This is a stupid idea," she muttered.

"It was your idea," Wil snorted.

"And what a fine time you all picked to listen to me."

She spun the ring on her finger, its magic settling over her.

The hall continued for some hundred feet before opening into a large circular room. A large chair of blackened metal woven into something resembling wicker dominated the small dais on the far side of the chamber. Padded cushions, red as the carpet that draped the floor, covered the back and seat of the chair. In it sat a man in black leather, a thick cloak thrown over his shoulders and the hood pulled up. Only his eyes, dark and cold, peaked out from beneath the mask that covered his face.

Several agents knelt around a glowing circle of runes carved into the center of the chamber. Magic permeated the air, but it felt much different from the magic that bled from her ring and dagger. Colder than the frigid winter air and as thick and smothering as a weighted blanket, it dove beneath her skin, trembling within her bones. The warmth fled from her, her blood ice and her breath frozen in her lungs.

As Arden led Wil and her mother to the center of the room, she crept along the edges of the chamber. A series of thick marble pillars, black and veined with glowing red, spanned the outer edges of the room. She passed more statues pressed into more alcoves, horrible depictions of a strange and terrible creature with ruby eyes that seemed to follow her as she crept towards the chair.

"To think such a little girl's caused so many problems for us," Godwin said. He stared down at her mother with fiendish delight. "I see why so many feel converting you is a waste of time. You don't look like much at all."

Her mother remained silent, eyes cast to the floor and her hands fisted in her robe. Everna rolled her eyes. A firm "Piss off" would've sufficed. She might have spit in his face if he were close enough.

"But that's why I'm the one in charge of the decisions and not them," Godwin said, laughing. "See, I know something they don't."

When he stood and started down the dais, Everna bit back a curse. She hurried as much as she could towards the furthest column before the chair and took a sharp turn and doubled back towards the middle of the circle. The agent nearest her shifted, the movement almost unperceivable, their hooded face twitching ever so slightly in her direction. She froze, her breath still in her throat.

If the agent noticed her, they made no indications of it.

Godwin reached down and took her mother's chin into his hands, squeezing until her cheeks hung over the edge of his fingers and her lips smashed together. "I know your mother. She used to be the best of us. As cruel and vicious as she could be. Her and her brother both."

Everna pursed her lips. Her father had mentioned Shroud owned Pendel in its entirety and her mother was a town native. Everna had always known she was an assassin, though the confirmation of Everna’s suspicions that she’d worked for Shroud left a bad taste in her mouth. Her father, however, claimed that Arden evaded Shroud. Had he lied about that as well? Or did her mother have another brother no one bothered to mention?

With how much they kept from her, that seemed the most plausible conclusion.

Godwin chuckled and released Evelina’s face to turn to Wil. "And I see Prince Cian has finally come out of hiding. I heard there was a prince poking about our affairs, but to think it was you. Perhaps Pendel wasn't an absolute waste after all. Your brother will be delighted to see you."

She paused mid-step. While the rest of the royal family was inconsequential — scattered bastard children too far down the line to amount to anything more than elevated nobles — there were two names everyone in the kingdom, from street urchins to the highest of the nobility, knew. Cian was one of them.

Wil was one of the two princes contesting for the throne.

"Oh, I'm sure he would be," Wil — Cian — hissed. Though he remained impassive, there was a flicker of something dark in his eyes. It was the same look he'd given her when she turned her blade on him. "I'm sure he's just waiting for another chance to stick a knife in my throat."

"He is, so I've heard," Godwin said. He stepped back to observe the two of them, the corners of his eyes crinkled with wicked satisfaction.

Steeling her nerves, she crept closer, the dagger clutched firmly in her hands. She was less than five feet behind him now, nothing but a thin cloak and a few inches of padded armor in the way. Killing him wasn't the priority; it would be all the better for her if they took him alive. He was the orchestrator of this entire ordeal. If she threw him at the mercy of the Courts, she was as good as free.

She closed the distance. All armor was weakest at the joints, her father once told her. She'd strike his armpit, where the leather gave way to black fabric. The dagger's enchantment should do most of the work for her, just as it had with Landen. Weaken him with the dagger and, if necessary, take his throat.

She could do this. She had to do this.

"To think I have all four of my biggest headaches in one room," Godwin chuckled. "You never were good at illusions, Fiadh."

His arm shot back, his hand clamping around Everna's wrist. He yanked her forward, throwing off the invisibility, and wrenched her wrist to the side. Her dagger tumbled from her hands and landed on the floor with a dull clatter.

Godwin stared down at her, his eyes alight with smug satisfaction. "You're Fiadh's daughter, alright. Just as stupid and reckless."