Page 106 of Master of Storms
“Nothing.”
Probably a damned cat. She let her dagger ram back home into its sheath, before something caught her eye—
There was a green glow emanating from within the cottage.
“Klara,” she whispered, her heart dropping to the soles of her feet.
No time for stealth. Solveig tried the door, but it was locked.
“I’ll go around the back!” Marduk said.
“Not alone!”
But he was already gone. She darted after him.
The back door was ajar.
Marduk skidded to a halt, and Solveig shoved past him so she could see.
Klara gasped on the floor, breath rasping through her withered lungs. She’d already been old, but this was….
“Klara?” She was still alive. Solveig slid to her knees beside the older woman. “Klara?”
Klara gasped, a ragged breath running through her.
“Fetch help!” She hissed at Marduk.
Another horrible breath rattled through Klara’s lungs. Solveig held her desiccated hand. “What happened? Who was it? Was it one of ours?”
The older woman tried to turn her head toward a nearby chair.
And then the breath wheezed out of her chest, and her hand slumped into Solveig’s.
Gone. She was gone.
And they’d brought the killer right to Klara’s door.
The killer.
She’d sent Marduk out there alone.
“Marduk!” She hurled the thought toward him. “Get back here. She’s dead. We need to get out of here.”
Thought tugged along the line. He might have heard her.
Pushing to her feet, she caught sight of a cloak hanging over Klara’s chair. Despite the need to flee, Solveig lifted it to her face, breathing in the scent.
Andri.
Every inch of her went still.
They couldn’t be caught here. If they were, then the tension between the clans—already terse—would boil over.
She bolted for the door, slamming into Marduk.
He caught her arms. “There are threeZilittuwarriors coming! Hurry! We need to get out of here!”
And so they did.
