Empire of Ashes

Chapter LXXIX - Pick Your Poison

You know, you guys have been asking for more chapters. Asking for updates. You should probably ask yourself ... do you really want more chapters? REALLY? YOU SURE? 'Cause if so, you're gonna have to remember that you literally asked for it.

Also, welcome to the newbies! Don't know where y'all came from all of a sudden but you're just in time for the ending! (PS. Leave while you still can — it's not too late!!)

I went down two flights of stairs then headed into the south of the keep. There were lots of doors, but I knew to keep going, somehow. Ren would have given me instructions if it had not been obvious. It was only when I came to the end of a narrow, dingy corridor that I found two doors opposite each other. One of them smelt like smoke and salt, the other like spice and leather.

I knocked on the second. It took a minute for Saqui to open the door. He was wearing his nightshirt, and he had to blink at me a few times before he frowned. I pushed back the hood of my cloak.

"Lyra...? What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to thank you," I said loudly. So loudly that my shadow, wherever they were lurking, could not have failed to hear. "For your advice on how best to kill the king."

The surprise on his face was gone in the blink of an eye, replaced with furious bewilderment. He knew I was being followed, and he knew that I had just thrown him in the fire. What he didn't know was why.

I took a step closer, smiled at him and whispered, "Oh dear. How careless of me. I think you had better go and kill my tail."

"Ark was right about you," he muttered. "You are a bitch."

"Gods, has it taken you this long to notice?"

Saqui did not deign to answer. He was already pushing past me, heading off down the corridor on silent feet to catch my shadow. He rolled his shirtsleeves up to his elbows as he walked. I did not wait to see the result — I just slipped into his chamber, sat myself down at his table and helped myself to his grapes. I had eaten nearly a dozen before he returned dragging someone by the collar.

I froze with a grape pressed to my lips. Slowly, I lowered my arm and set it on the table. I swallowed once, twice. Because I had not been expecting to see Ren. The shock of it smothered all my careful indifference in a single heartbeat.

"I hope that you have a damn good reason for being here," Saqui told me sharply, "because your little excursion comes at the cost of her life."

And then his hand wrapped around the girl's neck, and he braced himself to twist even as she thrashed—

"Wait," I said, the word coming unbidden.

She was not a child. But she was a slave, and I was sure she had suffered at the king's hand, and killing her did not feel right. To make matters worse, she was trying to say something, over and over, silent but frantic.

"Wait?" he demanded. To Ren, he added, "There's no point in pleading, girl. We can't understand you."

"I can," I corrected, watching her lips. He swore softly.

"I didn't tell him," she was saying, then, "Please, I didn't, please."

I repeated as much to Saqui, and he only shook his head. "You believe her?"

"I would like to," I admitted. It was the truth. I would like to believe that she had kept my secrets, whether they were real secrets or not, but the more calculating part of me knew that the king wouldn't have set this girl to following me unless he was absolutely certain of her loyalty. "Must we kill her? Is there no alternative?"