Whisper of Blade | ✓ (Crimson #1)

Chapter 24: Shoot the Messenger

"I wanted to talk to him first," Minerva answered softly.

"What's the use? He's insane."

Watching Dai foam at the mouth and lunge against his fetters, it was difficult to disagree. And yet ...

"Partially insane. The monster with a human soul is the worst monster to face because you cannot ignore the remnant of humanity in them," Minerva quoted.

Kaolin grimaced in childish disgust. It appeared she recognized Nola's saying. "Fine. Talk to him if you must, but I'm going to cut his tongue off if he starts worming his way into your brain."

Minerva nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

She took a couple steps forward and waited for the cursed man to notice her. His screams buffeted her ears as he continued writhing in a wretched attempt to free himself.

Then, he stopped, lying face down in the dust of the road.

Minerva shifted on her feet. Could it be a ruse intended to draw them to him?

He groaned and sat up, crossing his legs in an ironic imitation of a temple holy man. Red sparked in his eyes as he spat at Minerva's feet.

"Do you prefer to be addressed as a son of Phoenix?" Minerva asked, ignoring the glob near her boots.

Dai's laughter grated on her ears like salt in an open wound. "My, how you've grown," he crooned like an aged grandmother.

Minerva locked her legs against the temptation to run away. "What were you hoping to accomplish here?" She forced her voice to be level. All eyes were on her, the most cutting of which was the priestess holding Phoenix's flame.

She had too many suspicions, nothing solid. Like watching lines being drawn in invisible ink, but before she could connect the words to form the whole thought, they would fade from sight.

"Not to kill you, or you would already be dead." Dai's eyelids drooped. "You must understand that invoking the name of the Three does not mean that they are, in fact, One."

Three ... One? What? "I'm not certain that I understand you. Speak plainly."

The assassin sighed, for once appearing serious. "There is no room for plainness. You are playing a dangerous game, daughter of Nemesis. One for which you do not know all the rules."

Minerva glanced at Kaolin, but her maidservant's brows were furrowed in thought. An abnormal weight seemed to be present in Dai's words, so that all present listened. His brevity was more perilous than his previous insanity.

"What if I don't want to play the game?"

"You must." He stated it as an absolute.

"How do I win? What are the rules?" Desperation and anger choked her throat as the bite in her neck throbbed with heat.

"We can't" —Dai strained and bent double as if an incredible load threatened to crush him— "can't break the terms." He gasped in pain. "She's too strong."

Kaolin stepped forward and drew her bow on Dai. "Who is?" she snapped.

Dai chuckled even though beads of sweat paved lines in the grimy ash on his face. Spots of black now stained his teeth and the corrupted veins spread past his jawline. "Don't shoot the messenger," he whispered.

Unblinking, Kaolin kept her arrow trained on him. "Then answer me."

"The Pyroline knows. She was claimed by her," Dai said, grinding his teeth.

Minerva's heart went still in her chest.

Kaolin stepped back and lowered her bow. "If you have a message, hurry up and give it. We don't have all day."