A Charm for Draius: A Novel of the Broken Kaskea (The Broken Kaskea Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

grandmother’s advice. That seemed so long ago, so many deceits ago.
    The Sea Serpent’s common room was crowded. It was Fairday and everyone was celebrating the last working day of the eight-day. Tomorrow there would be little, if any, business done in Betarr Serasa.
    The barmaid plunked down another pitcher. She’d forgotten the soup and Draius opened her mouth to mention that, but the barmaid whirled and waved at someone at the top of the stairs.
    Draius looked up over her head to see Councilman Reggis leaning out from the gallery that accessed the upstairs “meeting rooms.” Reggis made signs for the barmaid to join him in the third room off the gallery. The barmaid responded with a toss of her blond curls that could mean either yes or no, and she moved to other tables before Draius could mention the soup.
    Draius turned her attention to the group of mixed guard members across the room. Sitting next to Jan, Erik put away another dark ale and slapped her husband on the back. A life of excessive drinking was taking a toll; Erik’s puffy face displayed a spider web of red veins spreading outward from his nose, and he was only starting his fifties. He’d been promoted from deputy commander to OIC of Investigation a year ago, and so began her own slide into professional darkness.
    “Draius, what do you think?” Berin asked.
    She jerked her attention back to her own table as Wendell repeated the latest news: the Horn & Herald was extorting loyal Tyrrans to boycott Groygan silk to protest their privateering and piracy.
    “Only a fool believes the H&H . There’s no proof the Groygans are financing privateers, or that they’re connected to Rhobar.” She raised her voice to be heard above the din.
    “Groygans can’t be trusted. Those skirmishes near the Saamarin—“
    Berin’s deep voice was sliced apart by the shriek from above, a high shrill sound that went on and on. Babble in the common room died down, overwhelmed. Wendell’s face went white and he glanced at Berin, who looked up at the gallery, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise.
    Draius sat closest to the foot of the stairs. She grabbed her sheathed sword, took the stairs two at a time and ran toward the barmaid standing at the last door on the gallery. She stopped so suddenly at the doorjamb that Lornis bumped into her. The lieutenant gagged, and Draius gritted her teeth at the smell of blood.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Third Fairday, Erin Two, T.Y. 1471
    Powerful men make fatal misjudgments because they underestimate everyone but themselves. The traitor had realized his deadly mistake, when he first felt the drug.
    “Why?” he whispered as he lost control of his cup. Wine soaked his vest and the hammered goblet ended up on the floor planks, lightly ringing as it rolled from side to side.
    I called my apprentice to catch him because I alone couldn’t handle his weight. Then, after we moved him between rooms, I needed help to lay him out. The boy blanched when I drove nails to fix his hands and feet to the floor.
    “Don’t worry, he’s already dead,” I lied. There was no need to expose Nherissa’s secrets to my apprentice. “And there’s so much noise below, no one can hear. Go stand watch at the window.”
    After the boy left the room, I answered the traitor’s question. I leaned down to his ear and whispered, “We know you sold the lodestone to the Groygans; we’ve checked on the ship. Now you’re our next experiment in Nherissa’s art.”
    A quiver was his only possible response. The combination of drugs I’d used had paralyzed him and started slowing his breath and heart. I opened his vest and shirt and made my first cut, according to the instructions I’d read. Since I’d planned everything and rehearsed each surgical procedure, I barely had time to appreciate the results before we were out of the room and down the ladder.
    I can savor the details now. An hour later, my hands still tingle from the sensuality of the procedure. There was