A faint rustle of feathers sounded to her right and she could feel Seth crouched beside. He lifted her hand from her lap and slowly pulled her glove off. The sensation of warm skin against her own flesh was almost enough to pull her back from sleep. His fingers traced a gentle path across her palm and her breath caught in her throat for a moment. It was the first time she had ever felt flesh against her own without her wretched curse killing someone.
“I am a bastard in every sense of the word. At the moment, however, I am your best hope for survival. Jala is talented with magic, but she has limits on what she can or will do. I don’t, little Undrae. Remember that.” His voice was as gentle as his touch as he lowered her hand back to her lap and slowly removed her other glove. “We are each other’s salvation,” he added softly as he stood and moved away from her chair.
Chapter 9
Sanctuary
Everywhere Hemlock looked, his city was changing. For centuries, he had been a power player in Sanctuary, and now the Fionaveir and their wretched Empress were destroying it all. More screams erupted from the street below and he leaned forward on his roof top perch for a better look. The Copper Penny was as good as gone. For years, the Tavern had functioned as a safe haven for thieves and cut-throats and now the Fionaveir were cleansing it. Three members of the Ravens guild already stood in manacles while the Fionaveir still fought inside to bring more of the rogues out. It was the third district of the city that had been purged in less than a week. It wouldn’t be long before Empress Symphony was looking in the direction of his own guild.
With the Justicars, Hemlock had known everything. That organization had been so corrupt that infiltrating their ranks was child’s play. The Fionaveir, on the other hand, were impossible for him to infiltrate. Everyone knew everyone among their ranks and the damned tattoos they wore couldn’t be duplicated. He was just as clueless about what was going on in his city as the average citizen, and he hated it. The only advantage he had over the commoners was his talent with Time magic. That was chancy at best, though. The future was constantly changing and while he could look forward to see the possibilities, he had to guess which future was most likely. It had been days since he had even bothered to use his magic, though. The last three visions he had called had been unsettling, to say the least. In two of the three he had died; in the third he had been stripped of his powers. So he was stuck gathering information the old fashioned way, by sitting on roof tops and watching.
With half a night wasted watching petty thieves suffer, the only truly useful information he could say he had gathered was the fact that certain key people were missing. Hemlock made it a point to know the power players of every organization. It was simply good business when you never knew who you might have to kill. The Fionaveir had several people that were on his list to be wary of, and several of them had been missing from the city for weeks. Vaze being the foremost of his concerns, and Charm a sharp second. Both men were dangerous, and both seemed to have vanished from the city entirely. There were others as well: Isador, Remedy, and Lex. The last two could have been incredibly useful if the gossip that was circulating was correct. By the rumors, Lex was, in fact, the younger brother of the Empress and Symphony was apparently in love with Remedy. Either would have made an excellent bargaining chip, if he could manage to find them.
Even his gift with Time magic hadn’t helped him locate those that were missing, however. Vaze was always elusive and Charm was completely out of the picture. His luck with the others had been equally disappointing. All in all, life was not going in a direction he liked.
We need to talk. The voice was a whisper in his mind, but Hemlock was moving before the words were fully spoken. It wasn’t often that Kali contacted him through links, and he never ignored her when she did. Kali was dangerous, and somewhat unstable. Most importantly, though, Kali was the only ally he had. With Symphony purging the city and his visions showing his death, he needed Kali now more than ever.
*
It took only minutes for him to reach the portal stone to her home, and she still looked annoyed when he arrived. It was obvious she had been pacing, which meant she would be extremely irritable tonight. Silently, he stepped fully into the room and gave her a questioning look. find my home.” Her tone was filled with irritation and Hemlock knew exactly how she felt. The Fionaveir were destroying his city one district at a time and it seemed that not even Kali would escape their notice.
“They raided The Pits last night. Close to thirty of Grave’s people were arrested. It’s possible the mercenaries will take a stand in retaliation,” Hemlock offered with a heavy sigh.
“After the losses Graves suffered in Avanti, he is likely kissing the Empress’s ass right now,” Kali snapped. “What do you see for us in the future, Hemlock?”
The question caught him off guard and he knew he flinched at the mention of his visions. Kali rarely showed interest in his talent with Time magic, and now when she did have an interest, he didn’t have anything pleasant to share.
“Death, mostly,” Hemlock admitted quietly as he moved to sit in a chair. With a sigh he pushed his hood back and leaned back in the cushions as she returned to pacing. “The Veyetta are coming back and I don’t know how. It’s not Jala, I’m sure of it. In fact I believe Jala may be our only hope at standing against them.”
“Jala, the one we prodded through the war and tormented. Ahh, yes. I’m sure she is very inclined to help us,” Kali purred as she shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“It was better to prod her than allow Myth to win,” Hemlock retorted.