Page 91 of Daughter of No Worlds

I could hear Max’s unspoken response, visibly thrashing behind his teeth:Well, she would have made it here a hell of a lot sooner if you had—

I gave him a Look — capital L — before it could escape, and he turned his face to the ground, scowling.

And then, my most sparkling gaze firmly planted back on Zeryth’s lovely face, I finally asked the only question that really mattered: “Do you have any news from Threll?”

Zeryth’s expression stilled in a way that made my stomach lurch. “Yes. We need to talk.” He gestured to a small door off the main room, then turned to Max. “If you’ll excuse us, Maxantarius. I promise I’ll bring her back in one piece.”

“I’m not worried. She already had you on your ass once today.”

Gods, Max.

But Zeryth just let out a low chuckle. “We can’t argue with that, can we?”

Then he turned to me and beckoned. “Follow me, Tisaanah. Let’s talk.”

* * *

We wound down white halls,narrow and empty. Zeryth was significantly taller than me, certainly well over six feet, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him as we walked.

“I apologize for my slow response to your requests,” he said, casually. “I was, you see, preoccupied with quite a lot of travel.”

“Of course.”

“I was quite surprised when I first stopped at Esmaris’s estate to find—” He let out a breath. “Well.”

Every muscle in my body tightened. “Tell me.” My saccharine facade was beginning to melt.

“Things there were in… significant disarray. Esmaris, as I’m sure you know, was dead.” He glanced at me. I wondered if he knew or suspected what I had done. If he did, he didn’t say anything about it. “His son was there to take his place.”

“Ahzeen.” I had met him only twice, and intensely disliked him. He looked just like Esmaris, and had inherited every bit of his father’s ruthlessness, though none of his charm.

“Yes. Not a very friendly person, it turns out.”

I shook my head. That was an understatement.

“While I was there, he was in the midst of a ruthless manhunt for his father’s killer. And when I say ‘ruthless’… I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

I could only imagine. No one did manhunts quite like the Threllian Lords did — all of those impeccable white outfits switched out for blood red. There was a ritualistic quality to bloodshed that they embraced, inhaled. And Ahzeen had a greater reason than any to throw himself into the bloodiest possible path. Esmaris had all but disowned his son. The final time he came to the estate, he and Esmaris got into a very loud, very public argument that escalated to such brutality that it ended with Ahzeen being dumped at the gates witha missing eye.

Ahzeen’s reputation and respect would always be hampered by his father’s very well-known distaste for him. But in Esmaris’s death, he would have an opportunity to earn back the respect that came with the family name — without the inconvenience of Esmaris himself. That is, as long as he proved himself to be strong and committed enough.

“I was there twice,” Zeryth went on. “Once on my way out, when I arrived shortly after Esmaris’s death. And then, once on my way back, after I wrote back to you last.” We rounded a corner. “The first time, Ahzeen and his men were still frantically carving a path through Esmaris’s enemies, slaughtering anyone and everyone who could possibly be connected to his death.”

The hair stood up on the back of my neck. A perfect opportunity — excuse — to show dominance over rival families. That was a very dangerous game.

“But then, when I was there again a few months later, that wasn’t the biggest concern. The estate was facing serious retaliation from the other Lords. I was hearing about it all over Threll.”

My hands were trembling. With every new piece of this story, my vision flashed with another way that Serel could be killed — slaughtered in the initial bloodshed or rooted out in the internal manhunt or sent to his death on a bloody, impersonal battlefield in the name of a man he despised.

We came to a door and stopped. I put my hand on Zeryth’s arm, at first for emphasis, and then left it there because I needed the stability. “Tell me. Did you find him? The— the person I asked for?”

Zeryth gave me a serious, unreadable look. He reached for the doorknob but didn’t turn it yet. “I did everything I could. I know this is important to you.”

Important to me?I wanted to scream.Important to ME? You think this is about ME?

As if this wasn’t so much bigger than I was? As if this wasn’t an imminent danger hanging over the heads of thousands and thousands of people?

My fingers tightened. Clenched until I could feel the muscled flesh of his forearm beneath my fingernails.

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