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Chapter 9
Lily
Iread over the letter one more time, trying to gather more intel from its words. Annoyance flares in my chest as I read again about a lord needing help to retrieve items stolen by a man from Fati. There must be better use of our time.
Nyx sits across from me in the council room, waiting for my decision. He already knows I’m going to approve the quest. The payment for this request is double our usual rate. Also, at this point, I’m sure he only shows me the ones he knows I’ll accept.
It’s the same process with every quest that comes in. Nyx receives them from our messengers throughout the realm, reviews them, and brings the letters to me to have a final say. We receive countless requests to help with different issues in other kingdoms.
Now that we have a choice, we only take quests that will benefit us. King Oren accepted any paying quest, regardless of merit, and loved to unleash Asher on any unsuspecting victim, guilty or not. Now that Oren is dead, I choose the quests we accept, and we only request King Asher’s involvement when it’s absolutely necessary. “What’s the risk with this one?” I ask Nyx.
He props an ankle on his knee, getting far too comfortable in his chair.
“There isn’t one I can find,” he answers.
“Why such a large payment, then? Is the man we are hunting dangerous or wealthy?” I ask, needing to calm the voice telling me something isn’t quite right.
“Maybe people are finally paying us what we are worth,” he replies with a shrug.
I pinch my lips into a thin line, unamused.
“I’ll check into it before we go, if that will make you feel better,” Nyx says, reading my thoughts.
“Go ahead and accept. We’d be foolish to say no. Just send in some spies before we head out. Asher will intervene if things get out of hand,” I say, folding the letter and placing it back in its envelope.
I catch Nyx rolling his eyes, and I grin at his annoyance.
“I’ll tell the crew that we leave in a few days,” he says, getting up and snatching the letter from my hand. “You tell King Asher to be ready,” he taps me on the nose with the envelope.
I swat him away, fighting back a smile before he turns and leaves the council room.
Dead grass crunches under our feet as we make our way through a wooded area on the outskirts of Fati. The seasons are slowly changing, but it appears summer wants one more round before it succumbs to autumn.
It hasn’t rained in weeks despite several storms rolling across the realm. Astra hasn’t felt us worthy enough to shower us with much-needed water. She’s punishing mortals for something and is ignoring our pleas for forgiveness. Many people have resorted to old rituals to appeal to the gods to end the drought before it causes too much damage. Harsh conditions have been threatening the winter food supply, causing great concern among the kingdoms.
The gods never listen. They haven’t in generations, and I doubt they are going to start now.Selfish pricks.
There’s no smell of wet soil as we walk, which is unnerving. I silently thank Thalos for the endless supply of water in Umbra. We’re the only kingdom that does not have to rely on rain to grow our crops.
We move silently through the trees. Nyx is beside me, ensuring he is between me and the scattered houses. Dressed head to toe in black with a hood covering my red hair, we are invisible as we move. Hiram and Kira have gone ahead to secure our mark.
Light flicks through the windows of our target’s worn-down house. The hard smack of Nyx’s bow across my chest stops me in my tracks, knocking the air from my lungs and causing my hood to fall back.
“Ouch! What was that for?” I choke out.
“Neither Hiram nor Kira is outside. It isn’t safe to approach yet,” he replies, not even bothering to look at me or apologize.
I pull my hood back over my head and survey the scene before us. To my dismay, Nyx is right, and neither of our spies are in their all-clear positions.Where are they?The house is silent, so either they are gone, or the target is.
