Page 80 of Jeweler to the Blessed
My gaze darted to the storage closet and the history books that Alaric had made me study. “This city is only officially two hundred years old.”
“Alaric taught you everything, didn’t he?”
“Not everything.” The sting of his voluntary abandonment lingered. I wished he’d taught me about whatever drove him to leave Kavios.
Hart stepped toward me, reading too much on my face. “I know the feeling. Come on, Chaos. I need to stop by the tavern before we go.”
The memories from last night came rushing back in. Even the ones I’d tried to repress as I thought about my hands exploring his chest. That was one mistake that would haunt me for years to come.
As much as his body tempted me—our conversation had given me hope. Not the misguided hope the Blessed foist upon the citizens of Kavios, but something real. There was something in this settlement he wanted me to see. I wanted to understand what it was and decide if it could help change my course—give me an alternate path besides giving more adamas to the Blessed.
Hart and I walked to the Eastern Gate less than an hour later. A smell unlike anything I’d experienced made my nostrils flare. The measly breakfast I’d eaten that morning roiled in my gut as my other senses caught up with what my nose already knew.
Bodies hung on both sides of the gate.
The smell of the rotting corpses was too much for me totake in. My knees weakened.
“What—”
Hart stepped closer, cursing under his breath. “I didn’t think he’d?—”
“Who are th—” I was going to vomit. The pieces fitting together. “Those aren’t …”
Hart nodded. “The group I killed yesterday trying to ambush you? They are.”
There were six of them hanging. Three on each side of the gate. Throats slit, knife wounds to the chest, each body was more brutally executed than the last.
“Did you …” I wasn’t sure what I was asking.
Hart’s face contorted. He held himself rigid, like he wanted to step closer, to keep me from falling. I settled a gloved hand on his arm to put him out of his misery. That it steadied me as we passed through the Eastern Gate was a bonus.
“Close your eyes, Chaos. I’ll guide you.”
I shook my head, putting more pressure on his arm as we walked.
Hart cursed again. “I didn’t think he’d dispose of them this way.”
My breathing was steadier now that they were no longer in view. “I didn’t even think of what happened on the street after we left.”
“I don’t disagree with the message Elias is sending. They weren’t going to stop.”
I waved my hand callously behind us, toward the vicious display. “They appear to be stopped.”
He chuckled. Actually laughed.
I swatted at him. “What is wrong with you?”
His face held no remorse. “They were going to kill you. They deserve worse.”
Did I regret their deaths? I wasn’t sure. Mostly, I was glad itwasn’t me. Seeing the bodies of those who meant to kill me wasn’t something I’d considered my position on. “You said it wasn’t the Feared?”
“It wasn’t anyone I recognized,” Hart said. “But what does that matter? After the display at the festival and the half-assed attempt to reassure the city at the Cornucopia, Elias needs a good story. And that”—he gestured—“is a great story.”
“Those are dead men and women,” I said dryly.
“Who were going to kill you, Chaos. Has that still not sunk in?”
I hmphed, unable to determine where I fell on the matter. My brain said they were trying to improve Kavios, removing the Blessed’s ability to source adamas. My gut said they were trying to kill me, and maybe Hart was a little too easy on them.
