Darkblade Justice: An Epic Fantasy Murder Mystery (Hero of Darkness Book 7) Read online

  Ilanna growled and leaned all her weight onto the knee. “And you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with her death? To send a message to the Night Guild that you would not give in to our demands?”

  “What?” Confusion twisted the Baronet’s face. “No…I swear! “Apprentice’s truth, you can check my coat and find a withdrawal slip to pull a sizeable sum from my account at the Coin Counter’s Temple. More than enough to make this go away! I would never harm Chantelle.” Something akin to genuine sorrow filled his eyes. “I…loved her.”

  “And what of the Hunter?” Ilanna demanded. “How much did you pay him to bring down the Night Guild?”

  “The Hunter?” The Baronet’s confusion turned to genuine bewilderment. “Of Voramis?”

  “He killed one of my men less than five hours ago.” Ilanna pushed the dagger’s edge into his thick-muscled neck hard enough to draw blood. “You expect me to believe that did not happen because you hired him to come after us?”

  “The Hunter?” Again, the dumbfounded amazement, mingled with shame. “I…could not…afford his services!”

  Ilanna pondered the nobleman’s words, then let up the tension on her dagger and climbed to her feet. Baronet Wyvern let out a gasp, drawing in a deep breath, and moaned as he rubbed the cut on his neck and the bruise forming on his chest.

  “The Night Guild will be watching you, Baronet Wyvern.” She fixed him with a hard gaze. “Even the slightest hint that you played a role in Chantelle’s death or the Hunter’s presence in Praamis, and you can expect a less friendly visit from us.”

  Baronet Wyvern gulped but nodded.

  Ilanna turned to go, but paused in the doorway and cast a glance over her shoulder. “And the price of our silence on the matter of Lady Riandra just doubled.”

  “Doubled?” Baronet Wyvern’s voice rose in a panicked shout. “But that will ruin me!”

  “Then perhaps it’s time you stop wasting so much coin on drink and drugs and find a way to put your inherited wealth to profitable use.” Ilanna gave him a syrupy sweet smile. “After all, your continued prosperity is of the utmost importance to the Night Guild. We will be coming to collect, Baronet. Until then.”

  She swept him a mocking curtsy, then turned and strode from the room.

  A moment later, Aisha slipped out from the shadows of an adjoining corridor. “You believe him?”

  “I do.” Ilanna nodded. “About Chantelle, I can’t be certain, but what he said about the Hunter being too pricey, that had the ring of truth.”

  She’d spent a small fortune contracting the Hunter to eliminate Lord Damuria, the Voramian nobleman responsible for coordinating the Bloody Hand’s trafficking operations in Praamis. It had been coin well-spent, but a far larger sum than even she had expected.

  Darreth had used his bookkeeping magic to dive into the Baronet’s wealth—something the Night Guild did with every nobleman they intended to blackmail—and had returned less than impressed. The Hunter had charged an exorbitant rate to kill Lord Damuria, so she could only imagine how much he’d demand to eliminate the Night Guild.

  Yet another dead end. Her frustration grew with every step.

  “Aisha, get a couple of Hounds to trace every route Chantelle would have taken to return to The Gilded Chateau.”

  “You want them searching for anything out of the ordinary?” Aisha asked. “Anything that could hint at Chantelle’s killer.”

  Ilanna nodded. As clever as Ria says, it seems.

  “It’s been nearly a week since she went missing, but maybe they’ll find a hint of something that would explain why Chantelle was killed.”

  “Yes, Master Gold.”

  Despite her acquiescence, Aisha made no move to leave. Ilanna felt the girl’s hesitation. “What is it?”

  “Ria entrusted me with your protection.” Aisha’s voice was stubborn, determined. “She told me I was not to leave your side under any circumstances.”

  Ilanna ground her teeth. “Remember who you’re talking to, Aisha. She may be your House Master, but I am Master of the Night Guild.”

  “You are, but I have my orders.” Aisha’s voice held a note of humor. “And you know how displeased Master Phoenix will be if I disobey and something should happen to you.”

  “Nothing will—”

  “I’m certain Chantelle thought the same.” Aisha’s quiet tone spoke volumes. She respected Ilanna as much as everyone else in the Night Guild—perhaps even feared her a little, given her attraction to Kodyn—but that wouldn’t stop her from following Ria’s orders. She’d weather Ilanna’s anger rather than fail to do her job.

  Interesting. Ilanna’s lip twitched upward into a smile. I can see why Ria likes her.

  That didn’t stop Ilanna from feeling a hint of frustration at the girl’s stubbornness. She needed the Hounds to get on Chantelle’s trail as soon as possible, but if Aisha wouldn’t leave her…

  “Then we return to the Night Guild together,” Ilanna said as they entered the ballroom where the party was in full swing. “Let me say farewell to our hosts and Lord Beritane, and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Of course, Master Gold.” Aisha nodded. She hung back just far enough to stay within protective range without appearing to intrude on Ilanna’s conversation with the nobleman.

  Lord Gileon Beritane seemed all-too relieved to see her go, though he put up an admirable showing of appearing disappointed at her departure.

  She cast one last glance over her shoulder before leaving. She hated these events, more for the people than the ambience. Here, people hid daggers in their words and concealed hatred behind polite smiles. At least on the streets, she knew where the threat was coming from.

  Good riddance to the lot of them. If she had her way, she’d never return to one of these events again.

  * * *

  Ilanna sighed in relief as she strode through the Guild tunnels. She’d ordered Lord Beritane’s carriage to drop her off at The Grey Stallion, a Guild-subsidized inn and tavern, and had gleefully abandoned that monstrous dress for the comfort of her dark grey Hawk’s clothing and soft-soled boots. An open upper-floor window provided easy access to a hidden rope ladder, which led onto the Hawk’s Highway.

  Her trip across Praamis had taken less than twenty minutes, and Aisha had surprised her by keeping pace as they raced over the rooftops and clambered down the Perch. The moment they left House Hawk, Aisha peeled off down a side tunnel in the direction of House Hound to carry out Ilanna’s orders.

  Ilanna had spent the return trip puzzling over Baronet Wyvern’s words—the latest in a string of apparently useless clues. She still had no idea who was behind the murders in the city, or why anyone would want Chantelle, Arashi, or the other child from Old Town Market dead.

  Darreth—who seemed to live behind his desk these days—stood at her approach. “You have visitors. Master Serpent.”

  With a nod for her aide, Ilanna hurried into her office. Errik, Master Serpent, lounged on one of her chairs, sharing a friendly drink with Ria. Both of them looked up as she entered, but neither bothered to stand.

  “Uh oh.” Ria’s smile turned into a frown. “I know that face.” She held out her goblet to Ilanna.

  Errik nodded. “That’s the one that says Ilanna didn’t get what she wanted.”

  Ilanna glared at the two of them, but accepted the goblet from Ria. She drained the chilled, fruit-forward icewine and stalked around her desk. “He swears he didn’t harm Chantelle. She was still alive when she left his place.

  “Damn!” Errik shook his head.

  Ria let loose a string of curses in her native Ghandian.

  Ilanna sat in her chair with a sigh. “And he insists he doesn’t have the coin to hire the Hunter.” She fixed Errik with a stern gaze. “You’re certain it’s him?”

  “Without a shadow of doubt.” Errik’s face hardened into an expressionless mask. “I spoke with Tassat.”

  “What?” Ilanna bolted upright in her armchair. “You spoke with him? He’s
alive, after facing the Hunter?”

  Errik nodded. “All of them are. Halleck of the Foxes, both Hounds, even Journeyman Moraban of House Bloodbear. He took them down, but left them alive.”

  Ilanna’s eyes narrowed. What in the bloody hell? That makes no sense!

  If the Hunter had been hired to carve the Night Guild to pieces, why wouldn’t he kill Tassat or any of the others as he had Kindan?

  “What did he say?” Ilanna demanded. “Tell me everything Tassat told you.”

  “They found the Hunter in the sewers, over by the old brewsters’ access tunnels.”

  Ilanna arched a curious eyebrow. “What was he doing there?” Those passages—once used by the Night Guild to smuggle beer into Praamis during an era where all liquor had been outlawed by King Ohilmos’ great-grandfather—hadn’t been used in at least a decade. Not by the Night Guild, at least, and she knew of few others in the city that would risk incurring the Guild’s wrath by using their tunnels.

  “Not sure,” Errik said, “but when Tassat and the others confronted him, he seemed enraged by the accusations that he’d killed children. Indeed, he actually blamed us for the murders.”

  Both of Ilanna’s eyebrows shot up. “He thinks we killed our own apprentice?”

  Errik shrugged. “He didn’t seem to know about all the murders. He just spoke of children being killed, and that seemed to put him in a mood to kill.”

  “So why did he leave them alive?” Ria asked.

  “I don’t know.” Errik sipped from his goblet before continuing. “He told Tassat he wanted to speak with you, the Guild Master, and that if you answered his questions, no one in the Night Guild needed to die.”

  “He asked to speak to me?” Ilanna’s mouth pursed into a pensive frown. “He’s not exactly famous for his witty conversation. He’s more of the ‘stab first, ask questions when you’re dead’ type.”

  “I’m simply relaying what Tassat told me.” Errik drained the last of his wine, placed it on the table, and stood. “I’ve dug up every scrap of fact and fiction I could find about the Hunter—which isn’t much, mind you. If he wanted to kill us, he’d have carved through Tassat and the others to get at us. Bloody hell, Tassat said he took a guayoc-laced dagger to the kidneys and it barely slowed him.”

  Icy fingers of fear clutched at Ilanna’s heart. Impossible! No one should be able to survive guayoc—a poison derived from a particularly venomous frog that subsisted on an exclusive diet of poison strangler vines—much less a knife to the kidneys. Even if the dagger hadn’t severed the renal veins, the poison should have seeped into the Hunter’s bloodstream and killed him well enough. Yet Errik showed no sign of doubting Tassat’s words.

  How can we fight a man—no, not a man, a creature—like that?

  “But he didn’t want us dead, not after speaking to Tassat, at least.” Errik shrugged. “Might be he’s not the one we’re looking for.” A wry smile played at his lips. “Maybe we’re better off not pissing him off, says I.”

  Ilanna snorted. “If only someone had shared such wisdom earlier.”

  Errik nodded. “Good night, Ilanna. Ria.”

  “Be well, my friend,” Ria called after the Serpent’s retreating back. When the door closed behind Errik, Ria turned to Ilanna. “The Hunter of Voramis, eh? Errik’s never sounded afraid like that. Ever.”

  “Me either.” Ilanna shook her head. “What do you think about the rest? About the Hunter being the murderer?”

  “He’s a killer, no doubt about it,” Ria said. “But do I think he’s murdering children for the fun of it? No, that doesn’t sound like what I’ve heard about him.”

  Ilanna sighed. “I know.”

  The Hunter’s legend had spread from Voramis to all of southern Einan, and it had only grown since his brutal dismantling of the Bloody Hand. He was brutal, ruthless, and a force of death and destruction, but never a wanton murderer. He killed those he’d been hired to, only dropping additional bodies when necessary. If Baronet Wyvern hadn’t paid him to kill Kindan or the Fox apprentice, she couldn’t be certain he was behind the murders.

  But if not him, then who? Ilanna sipped at her wine and found it turning to vinegar in her belly. Another dead end, another frustrating setback. All she had to go on right now was the strange plaster masks and the symbols carved into the corpses’ chests.

  She slammed her goblet on the table and stood.

  “Where are you going?” Ria asked.

  “To find out about that damned symbol.” Ilanna stalked toward the door and tore it open. “Darreth!”

  Her aide leapt to his feet, at once fully alert and at her service. “Guild Master?”

  “Get to House Scorpion and see what you can find out about those strange symbols we found on the victims.”

  “This symbol?” Darreth held up a parchment depicting the rune-looking symbol she’d found carved into the dead victims’ chests.

  Ilanna nodded. “Yes.”

  “I’ve already got a few leads, though nothing concrete yet.” Darreth’s mouth drew into a frown. “It’s definitely ancient Serenii, but that’s as much as I’ve uncovered.”

  “Keep digging,” Ilanna said. “Once we know what that symbol means, it’ll give us a better idea who’s leaving them.”

  Darreth bowed. “Of course, Master Gold.”

  Ilanna stepped back into her office, worry roiling within her. The burden on her shoulders grew heavier with every new death.

  She pulled the door closed and turned—only to gasp, thoughts dashed. Ria was waiting, just visible through the door to their room, waiting with a smile on her face. No armor, tunic, or breeches. Clothed only in a tight wrap around her breasts and her panties, her athletic, toned body was on full display.

  “Even the Guild Master needs to rest,” Ria said in a husky voice. “I know you won’t listen to rational arguments to join me in bed, so I decided it was time to use less conventional means of getting you to heed.”

  Before Ilanna could protest, Ria crossed the room with the predatory grace that made her such a dangerous fighter. Ria’s fingers locked in her hair, her hips pressing against Ilanna’s. Pressed back against the door, Ilanna's thoughts drowned beneath a rising wave of desire.

  “I like these less conventional means,” Ilanna whispered when she came up for air. Lust burned within her, a need so raw that it still shook her, even after a decade together.

  Ria's kisses were confident, possessive, claiming Ilanna with her tongue, one hand on her hip, fingers of the other sliding into her hair. Ilanna moaned, but just as her arms slid up to embrace Ria’s strong shoulders, the woman stepped back, breaking the kiss with a roguish smile.

  Despite herself, Ilanna laughed. "You don't get to pick when to start and stop. I’m your Guild Master!"

  “Not in here you’re not.” Ria moved deeper into the bedroom. “In here, you’re just the woman I fell in love with all those years ago.”

  She held out a hand, and Ilanna came to her, heat burning through her body like a wildfire sparked by Ria’s beauty and the passion sparkling in her almond-colored eyes.

  Ria scooped her up with ease, Ilanna's legs wrapping around her waist.

  "Take me to bed," said Ilanna, voice thick with desire.

  "As you command," said Ria, still smiling that insufferable smile. By the gods, her strength was amazing. Ilanna could drink in the definition of her arms alone forever.

  Her arms encircled Ria’s neck and pulled the woman down for another passionate kiss. All of Ilanna’s worries faded away in that moment, and she lost herself in the warmth of Ria’s embrace, the softness of the woman’s lips. The worries and cares of being Guild Master would wait outside the closed door—here, now, she was simply a woman in the embrace of one who loved her more than anything else in the world.

  Ria finally set her down, and Ilanna’s fingers made short work of the cloths encircling Ria’s body. She smiled in delight as her eyes roamed Ria’s well-muscled frame, her rounded shoulders, her firm breasts
, and the soft swell of her hips. A warm flush seeped through Ilanna’s chest, down to her stomach, and still further downward at the sight of the beautiful, naked woman before her.

  “Don’t keep me waiting,” Ria commanded.

  Ilanna nearly tore off her simple tunic, trousers, and boots in her haste. Ria peeled off her underclothes slowly, tracing Ilanna’s body with gentle kisses, until the two of them stood naked and exposed to each other. With anyone else, Ilanna would have tried to dominate, to take control for fear of being vulnerable, but with Ria, it felt right. She trusted the woman with her life, her son, and her heart.

  Ilanna melted into the woman’s embrace and, for a few passionate, heart-pounding minutes, she could forget everything and simply be in the moment—more delicious, ecstatic moments than she’d ever believed possible.

  * * *

  Ilanna lay in Ria’s arms, enjoying the delicate scent of Ria’s hair—gardenias, her favorite perfume. She felt safe, warm, protected in the woman’s embrace. Here, nothing could harm her. The world could crumble outside her door, but Ria’s presence beside her made their little bastion of peace utterly impregnable.

  Yet, inevitably, her mind returned to the events of the day. Her efforts felt fruitless, but she couldn’t get too frustrated yet. Less than a day had elapsed since she started the hunt for the murderer. Duke Phonnis would be sharpening his knives and tying his hangman’s knots even now.

  Most disturbing of all was the discovery that the Hunter of Voramis had come to her city. Why, she didn’t know, but she worried what would happen when she found out. How many bodies would he leave? Doubtless Duke Phonnis would blame her for the inevitable deaths.

  But if she tried to stop the Hunter, how many of her people would die? Could she risk letting the Hunter run amok in Praamis if it saved the lives of the Serpents, Hounds, and Bloodbears she’d be forced to send after him?

  It felt like hours, but finally she came to a conclusion. As long as he isn’t the one killing the children, we leave him alone. No more of mine will die facing him if we don’t have to. She would weather Duke Phonnis’ displeasure for the sake of her people.