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SORCHA HAD JUST FINISHED assassinating a shifter when two new letters arrived for her. Ignoring them for now, she teleported away from the apartment complex. She appeared in an empty building a few blocks away. It was pointless to try to avoid the letters. They would find her no matter where she went, so she waited for them to arrive. It only took a minute for them to appear and slither beneath the door.
She grabbed them both and held one as she read the other one. The order to kill a fairy maiden in the Fae District became embedded in her head. The second letter squirmed in her hand until she tore the envelope open. Her second mark was a male fairy. The address she’d been given was an office in the Magic Guildhall. The two spells instantly started fighting each other for supremacy.
“This sucks so bad,” Sorcha muttered as the letters and envelopes vanished. The one and only time she’d visited the Magic Guildhall had ended badly. She’d waited in Onvier’s office with the intention of speaking to him in private. While she’d been hiding, she’d overheard a conspiracy plan between the elf and Azazel. The pair were attempting to create another triumvirate so they could attempt to overthrow their leaders. She had no desire to return to the guildhall, but she didn’t have a choice.
It would take all of her concentration to sneak into the guildhall where the magic users worked. The assassin decided to take out the woman in the Fae District first. She already had a headache from the insistent poking and prodding from the twin spells. Sorcha decided not to waste time taking a carriage. She teleported to one of the abandoned houses in the Fae District where the middleclass fairies lived.
Assuming a disguise, Sorcha hurried to the stone house where her first target lived. The spell locked onto her prey. It indicated she was in a room on the first floor near the front of the house. The assassin made sure no one was watching, then entered the property through the gate. A high stone fence surrounded the house. It hid her from view as she hurried over to a large window. Up this close to her mark, the spell increased in intensity, urging her to kill the fairy. The second spell also became stronger as it tried to usurp its rival.
Sorcha squinted through a gap in the drapes, trying to ignore the pounding in her head. She saw a beautiful, weeping fairy sitting on the couch. An agitated male fairy sat beside her. She could just make out what they were saying. “Who hurt you, my beloved?” he asked.
“If I tell you, he’ll kill us both,” she replied in a devastated tone. Sorcha recognized the despair and self-loathing in her yellow eyes. She thought she knew exactly what had happened to her target. She’d seen the same look in Eden’s eyes every time she’d been called to one of the Immortal Triumvirate’s beds. Her best friend hadn’t had anyone to turn to for help against her rapists.
“Tell me who it was and I’ll ask the Immortal Triumvirate to order the Guardian of Nox to execute him,” her boyfriend insisted.
The target uttered a harsh laugh. “Xiara Evora won’t kill the man who did this to me,” she said in despair. “No one can stop him from doing whatever he wants to women like me. This will keep happening over and over and it’ll never end.”
Rage pulsed inside Sorcha as her hunch was confirmed. The target hadn’t named which Immortal Triumvirate member had raped her, but she fit Lord Dallinar’s preferred type.
“Is there anything I can do?” her boyfriend asked helplessly.
“Some tea would be nice,” she replied, but the assassin thought it was just a ploy so the target could have some time alone. The boyfriend patted her gently on the shoulder, then left the room.
“I’m so sorry,” Sorcha whispered guiltily as she pointed at the distraught woman. “You don’t deserve this, but I don’t have a choice.” The twin spells would drive her insane if she didn’t obey her orders. She sent a shard of razor thin air through the window and into her target’s brain. The spell ceased along with the maiden’s death, which ended her headache. She teleported away before she had to see the boyfriend’s devastation at losing his beloved just after she’d been through a horrific ordeal.
Sorcha’s head was still throbbing slightly as she appeared in an alley near the City Square. She looked around to make sure Kade Sinclair wasn’t in sight, then joined a group of witches and wizards as they made their way to the Magic Guildhall. Sorcha kept her face hidden as best as she could, just in case the courier was somewhere nearby. He had a habit of turning up when she least expected it. She wanted to get this mission over with before another assassination order arrived.
The sorceress could feel her target somewhere above her and headed for the staircase. It carried her up to the fourth floor, then down a series of hallways to a door. She could only sense one person inside the room. The door wasn’t warded and she opened it without knocking. Her target looked up from his desk with an inquisitive look. “Can I help you?” he asked.
He still had his wings, which meant he was powerful. Sorcha had been poised to eliminate him, but hesitated. “Do you know how to use black magic?” she asked as she stepped inside and closed the door.
His brow furrowed in confusion. “Black magic is used like any other type of magic,” he said. “If you’re asking whether I would stoop to using it, then my answer is no. I don’t use the dark arts.” His tone was haughty and he managed to look down his nose at her even though he was seated.
If he couldn’t use black magic, then he was of no use to her. “Why would Lord Dallinar want you dead?” she asked out of curiosity.
His face immediately drained of color. He pushed his chair back and shot to his feet as he figured out who she was and what she was doing there. He reached for the wand that was sticking out of his pocket, but the assassin struck before he could draw it. A shard of air sliced through his heart and he dropped dead to the floor. She hadn’t gotten an answer to her question, but it probably didn’t matter. Two more of Lord Dallinar’s targets were gone and her head was free from assassination orders. “For now,” she said sourly, then teleported out of the office.
Killing someone in the Magic Guildhall had been risky. Instead of teleporting to her apartment, she made several jumps to the Shifter and Fae Districts before heading to the Vampire District. If she’d left any traces behind, they would dissipate before anyone could follow her trail all the way to her location.
As she prowled the wealthy suburbs in search of Sebastian, she wondered why Lord Dallinar had summoned the fairy woman to his bed. As far as she knew, he couldn’t even perform anymore. “Maybe he found someone to make another male enhancement potion,” she murmured, but she couldn’t dredge up a snicker. There was nothing funny about the fairy lord abusing his victims. It was just one more thing he needed to pay for, along with the rest of his crimes. The lengths he would go to satiate his needs was sickening.
