Stormcaster (Shattered Realms #3)(36)

Destin studied Evan’s face, the heat of his scrutiny bringing the blood up under his skin. “It seems what I’ve been hearing about you is true.”

“That depends,” Evan said. “What have you been hearing?”

“I am the spymaster for the king now, Pirate. I have eyes and ears across the Indio. They call you the Stormcaster of the Desert Coast and the Scourge of the Wetlands. They say you’re the only one who still defies the empress in the east. They say you are ruthless.”

Evan half-shrugged, oddly touched that Destin had been keeping track of him. “I suppose you could still call me the lord of the ocean, but Celestine has gobbled up nearly all the land. Sooner or later I have to put in to a port, and the only stronghold I have along the Desert Coast is Tarvos. Even that’s becoming more and more dangerous.” He paused, then forged ahead. “When you called me here, I thought maybe you intended to cash in.”

“No,” Destin said, “but it does have to do with the empress.” He released a long breath. “You see, a few months ago, my king sent me to Delphi to hunt down a girl with a magemark.”

Evan listened with growing alarm as Destin told his story. He’d always known this would happen—sooner or later the empress would run down her quarry and add another weapon to her armory. But to know it was actually happening was like a bolt to the heart.

“Her name is Jenna?” Evan found himself wishing that he’d accepted Destin’s offer of a drink.

“That’s the name she goes by now. Jenna Bandelow.”

“Bandelow,” Evan repeated, as if that would deliver some insight. That was not a name that Celestine had mentioned the day they’d first met, but then again, she’d only named the ones she’d already found. “You’ve seen her magemark?”

Destin nodded. He pulled out a folded paper and handed it over. “This is the sketch the king gave me.”

Evan studied it. “The jewel in the center—?”

“It appears to be a ruby. And there’s this.” Destin reached under the table and retrieved a black leather case. Setting it between them, he opened it, revealing a curved Carthian blade like the ones carried by Celestine’s horselords. “It was left to Jenna, supposedly by her mother. She killed one of the King’s Guard in Delphi with this blade.”

When Evan reached for it, Destin gripped his wrist, hard. Evan looked up, startled, all but undone by the pressure of Destin’s fingers against his pulse point. For a long moment, they stared at each other.

“Careful you don’t cut yourself,” Destin said. “It’s magicked. Jenna stabbed herself with it and nearly died.” One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Then he let go.

But it was too late. Destin had shown his hand. It had been a huge risk to contact Evan, to hold this meeting, to commit treason against the king he served. It proved that, despite his claims to the contrary, the connection between them remained. Destin hadn’t moved on, either.

Evan swallowed hard, undone by the gratitude that welled up inside him. He wrenched his mind back to the conversation. “Jenna nearly died—but she is alive?”

Destin nodded. “She’s recovering. The king has sent word to the empress, but I took steps to make sure it would take a long time to get there. Still, at best we have a few weeks before Celestine comes to collect. Maybe less.”

Evan was ambushed by a mixture of hope and dread. A few weeks. They had a few weeks. He had to find a way to . . . “You’ve questioned this . . . Jenna?”

Destin nodded. “I used persuasion on her, but it doesn’t seem to work. As you’ll recall, it doesn’t work on you, either. Still, I’ve interrogated a lot of people, and I think she was telling the truth when she said she had no idea what the magemark means.”

Hope diminished, just a bit. “What are her gifts?”

Destin frowned, as if trying to remember every detail. “As I said, she’s resistant to magery. She claims to be clairvoyant—that she sometimes sees images of the future, sees people as they really are, or can tell when someone is lying. She claims that her senses are sharper than most—vision, hearing, sense of smell. She heals quickly, and is resistant to flame. In fact, she develops a kind of armor for protection.”

Evan shook his head, bewildered. He couldn’t put those details together into any kind of theory that made sense. But, maybe, together they could—

Destin rolled his glass between his hands. “If worse comes to worst, I could kill her before the empress arrives, but—”

“No!” Evan all but shouted.

The door banged open, and Brody, Jorani, and Teza crowded into the doorway. “My lord?” Teza said. “Is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine,” Evan said. “I’m sorry. We were just having a . . . political discussion.”

Jorani gave Destin the evil eye, and then they withdrew.

“Back to Jenna,” Evan said. “I don’t want to kill her! I want to save her if I can. I have to talk to her. I’ve never met anyone else like me. I just—”

Destin raised both hands. “Calm down, Pirate. I guessed that you would. So. I do have another plan. It’s a terrible, foolhardy, hastily made plan that will probably get us both killed. It involves the weapon I asked you to bring with you.” He paused. “You did bring a weapon, didn’t you?”