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“Regretfully, your cousin.”
Hakkan’s mouth twitched, and his eyes flashed with murderous intent. Then his puffed up warrior charade deflated. “Seems we have a lot in common. Both of our fathers tried to kill us.”
It didn’t make a difference if Hakkan was family or not. He was the Ruzgorn that stood in her way of power.
“Well, are you declining my challenge?” Tenah asked.
Vesara’s wide eyes cut to her, but Tenah said nothing as Hakkan sized her up. When his scrutinizing gaze came to rest on her ruined hands, he didn’t even bother hiding his grimace. Blood rite was an honor to Ruzgorn, and there was much honor to be gained from slaying the Corrupt relative of another barbarian clan.
“A death match it is, cousin.”
Chapter26
Renton
Renton’s blade cleaved though the training dummy in one solid thwack. He exhaled as the sack of hay hit the ground.
Visions of Aeyis’s toxic storm in Brinedale still haunted him. When he closed his eyes, he saw pulses of black through his brother’s temples, eating away at his insides. He saw Mias’s lifeless body, face down on the street. He saw the burst of green orb light right as Boedworth escaped consequences, just like he always did.
Unless Izral managed to outsmart him in court. How much sway did Denoden’s king actually have with the High Court? Or would this all come back on Renton, adding to his lengthy record of misdeeds?
All of these thoughts had swarmed him the instant Tenah had left him in the shower. Suddenly, he’d struggled to suck in air. How did he explain that to her? That his mind was beyond wounded and sometimes it succeeded in convincing him that he couldn’tbreathe. He’d hurried from her bedroom and sought out Gireth to distract him with his incessant chatter. Then he’d slept for almost an entire day, as if his body had been waiting for a culmination of stressors to attack. Once he’d purged them, he could finally rest.
When he’d stirred, he’d hunted down an abandoned training field atop the central plateau in the city where he proceeded to tear his body down all over again. His lungs ached in protest, but he didn’t care. He needed it, thepain.
Hours passed under a starry sky, Denoden’s golden spires reflecting the lights from another round of wild evening antics. Renton ditched his sword for pushups, beads of sweat dripping down his face and splotching the dirt.
It wasn’t that he cared for Mias. That brother had been dead to him for years. It was what that death represented. The state of Aeyis’s mind. His little brother needed help. It was another internal clock ticking down, interwoven with about ten others.
As thick, gray clouds threatened to rain him out, Renton grabbed his shirt from the fence bordering the field and tugged it on. He strapped on his blades and started down the steep path cut into the side of the plateau.
Suddenly, the shard jerked him to his knees.
It had been acting up more than normal, and he wasn’t ignorant as to why. The stupid thing thrummed with energy whenever Tenah was near. Practically sang for her Chaotic touch.
Fat droplets of rain tumbled from the night sky. Water slithered down his head and under his light T-shirt like cool snakes. Tipping his head up, he closed his eyes and melted into the pattering of rain on his sweaty skin until the shard released its death grip on his body.
Rising, he blinked the rain from his eyes. Concern nagged at him when Tenah didn’t appear as expected. He’d planned on admitting why he’d left her without explanation. No part of himwantedto reject her.
If she wasn’t nearby, why was the shard paining him?
A streak of black, low to the streets, darted into an alleyway. The reek of Chaos scorched Renton’s nostrils.
Gritting his teeth, he stalked after it, knowing full-well the risk after the shard had just robbed him of control. It pulsed out of rhythm with his heart, the sensation like that of a second heartbeat, guiding him down a dilapidated, dead-end street. He wasn’t certain these buildings were suitable for inhabitants. Their fragile, leaning bones had boarded windows and missing roof tiles.
He caught a nimble, fox-like beast slinking through the busted door of the last house tucked against the city’s wall. The shard rumbled in approval as he approached the porch steps. A viscous haze of dark magic filled the interior hall and connected living room.
At least he could be certain it wasn’t Boedworth, come to exact revenge. The councilman harbored no magical talent, a fact he strived to hide.
Renton studied the decrepit furnishings and decaying boxes of clutter. Plates of rotting food were piled atop empty crates and a makeshift bed. Candles puddled in chipped bowls on the dusty floorboards. Quiet as Aeyis when he didn’t want to get caught snooping, Renton combed the first floor. He kept a hand on the hilt of his blade as he snuck into each room along the way, shutting doors behind him to mark them cleared.
It was impossible to detect the source of the magic when it blanketed the house evenly in a potent, thick layer. He crept up the staircase to the second floor. Streaks of moonlight poured through holes in the ceiling. The only other light came from a closed door at the end of the hall. He nudged the final door open and staggered into the doorframe.
Boedworth lay face down in a puddle of brackish, Chaos-tainted blood.
The councilman wore the same suit from the night in Brinedale, as if he’d never made it back to his den. From the wrinkles and dirt stains, it looked like he’d been dragged all the way here to be dumped.
Pulse thumping, Renton scoured the room and found nothing out of the ordinary, save for black scorch marks fanned out around the councilman’s body.
