Whisper of Blade | ✓ (Crimson #1)

Chapter 24: Shoot the Messenger

858 A.G.M.

Present Day

Minerva pressed the soldier's eyelids shut and sank back onto her heels. "Thank you for your sacrifice," she whispered to the woman.

"Her name was Mori," Kaolin said from where she directed members of the guard to load their dead comrades into a cart. "She had a sweetheart who came to visit her in the barracks every week. He brought her flowers."

The storm lessened to a light drizzle, but Minerva bowed her head and let the tears flow freely. There was no shame in a soldier's mourning. She understood and honored this tradition more than the noble conventions she'd been raised with. The tears meant that their death had not been empty—that their life mattered.

The practice struck true within her because this was who she was. Not a noblewoman who excelled at politics, schooled in the subtle maneuverings of power and succession. Not an assassin who shed blood for the coin and passed through the world as a lone shadow. At least, she'd only ever wanted to be a soldier.

She was not free of her other roles. Not yet. The burden of responsibility still rested on her shoulders. Upon it piled regret after regret. If she hadn't hesitated, Mori and two others would still be alive.

Squeezing her crying eyes shut, Minerva ground her fists into the pavement. Seconds meant lives in combat, yet she'd held back. Set up straw men to knock over and she'd do it. But give her a real opponent—one capable of bringing her down—and the true colors of a coward would show.

Despicable.

Compared to Mori, she wasn't a real soldier at all.

"Are you going to mope in the dirt there until someone builds a house over your head or what?" a voice said from above her.

Minerva swiped her sleeve across her nose and accepted the hand offered to help her stand. Mori's body had been taken and laid in the cart. "Thank you," she said.

Kodak bent sideways to peer at her face, his dark hair plastered to his forehead from the rain ... or his sweat. Maybe both. "For what?"

A flush crept up Minerva's cheeks as she stammered, "For—you saved my life and I'm ... grateful."

Kodak laughed. "Someone needs to work on her speaking skills. But don't mention it. We're even now." He squeezed her hand before releasing it.

"What was the ... Divinity-sealed saying to you?" Minerva asked. She'd been blocking out the screeches coming from behind her as the guards shackled Dai.

The Hydro prince's face clouded as quickly as the sudden storm had hit. "Nothing," he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away from her.

Minerva frowned after him, but instead of following, she strode over to the chained assassin. She needed answers. Her mind flashed back to Sol with her cryptic words. They'd faded from her memory over the years, along with much of the circumstances surrounding the latter part of that night. She'd never encountered another assassin gone berserk since.

Until now.

Both of Dai's arms ended in a bloody stump, cut off at the elbow. Yet he still retained his strength, thrashing and cursing while Kaolin secured a chain around his torso. It cinched both his feet together before being hitched to the back of the wagon.

Kaolin shied back when Dai tried to bite her hand. By her glare, she looked like she'd rather his head had been lopped off. "Why are we bringing the lunatic with us again?" she growled, joining Minerva a few steps away.