Death Sworn(61)

Karyn knelt by the blond man’s body, and Ileni thought she was going to say something, or close those staring blue eyes. Instead she slid both her arms under him, lifted the corpse, and without any sign of strain dragged it to the river and heaved it in.

The splash sent a spray of water against Ileni’s face, making her flinch away. By the time its echoes died, Karyn had gathered their cups and flung them into the boat, then pushed it into the dark water. A jagged stain marked the rock where she had dragged her friend’s body.

“Wait,” Ileni gasped. “You can’t—”

“I know.” Karyn gave the canoe a final shove, sending it into the river, then leaped in. “You can come with me.”

That was the last thing Ileni had expected. “What?”

“You’re not dead—yet. Wouldn’t you like to stay that way? You can jump overboard as soon as we’re out of the caves and return to your own people.”

Your own people. People who wouldn’t be trying to kill her, or turn her into a killer. Her teachers. Her fellow students. Tellis. Ileni shook her head, her hair whipping into her eyes. “Why should I believe you?”

“I don’t care if you do or not. You can risk coming with me, or you can stay here and die for certain.” She lifted the oars.

The canoe picked up speed. The stretch of water between it and Ileni was now too wide to jump; she would have to swim. Ileni strode to the water’s edge, then stopped.

“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t leave. My people sent me here for a reason.”

Karyn snorted. “What reason? To die?”

“Yes,” Ileni said.

Karyn shrugged and began turning the boat. The canoe raced forward with the current, turned around a bend in the river, and was gone.



When Sorin returned, he was alone. Ileni heard his feet thudding against the cliffside as he flew down the rope, but didn’t turn around until he had leaped to the ground and was standing a few feet away from her. He looked completely unruffled except for a faint smudge of dirt on one cheekbone.

“Where’s Bazel?” she asked sharply.

Sorin ignored the question. He frowned at her, a crease between his eyes. “I thought you wouldn’t be here.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Ileni knew her bitterness should be directed at herself—stupid, stupid kept going through her mind—but she couldn’t help aiming some of it at Sorin. She hated him for making all of this happen, for the blood on the white rock, for the dead man in the water, for the canoe racing away down the river. “Don’t worry. I’m sure your master will figure out a better way to have me killed.”

Sorin went on looking at her. Ileni leaned down and scooped river water into her mouth, spitting it out along with the acrid taste of vomit. Then she turned and stalked across the slick stone, giving the puddle of blood a wide berth. She started up the path.

“Why didn’t you leave with her?” Sorin asked.

Ileni whirled, putting one hand on the white rock to steady herself. She had a sudden feeling that she had miscalculated badly. “Wouldn’t you have stopped me?”

“I was up on the rocks. How could I have stopped you?”

That was why he had gone after Bazel. To give her a chance to escape.

The door to her prison had been wide open, and she had turned away.

Ileni felt her lips twist as she gave him the truth, knowing he wouldn’t believe it. “I was sent here for a reason. And I’m certainly not leaving until I find out who killed Absalm and Cadrel.”

Something passed swiftly over his face, something that wasn’t disbelief, before it went blank again. “Or until you become the next victim?”

She turned away from him. “Or that.”



Sorin had left Bazel bound hand and foot on a slippery, tilted rock, using a section of the rope they had climbed up on. There was, Ileni saw instantly, a practical reason for that cruelty: Bazel was so busy struggling not to slide off that he had no opportunity to try to get loose. But she doubted that was the only reason, and she shot Sorin a glare as they approached the trussed-up assassin.

Sorin had no attention to spare for her. He reached out with one hand, grabbed Bazel’s tunic, and hauled him to his feet. Bazel stopped struggling immediately, his entire body limp, his face miserable with resignation.

Sorin looked at him, just looked. Ileni shrank away. The implacable menace on Sorin’s face was terrible, and it wasn’t even directed at her.