Weapon of Blood Read Online Free PDF

poisoned weapon was as lethal as a dagger to the heart.  She was
more proficient than he had thought if she could kill two attackers with no
harm to herself.  Even though they had initiated the attack, he regretted the
deaths.  They had only been following orders.  He knew what it was like to have
to follow orders, and he knew that someone would mourn them.
    Family, friends, lovers …
    The dead were beyond fear and pain; it
was the living who would suffer.
    “This attack could have been prevented,
Mya.”
    “You’re right.”  She cast him another vicious
grin.  “I should have killed Horice months ago.”
    “That’s not what I meant!”  He bit back
his temper and forcibly calmed the tone of his voice.  A deep breath returned
his heart to a slow, easy cadence.  “You ignore the council.  They retaliate. 
If you paid them more heed…”
    “They are old and irrelevant.  They don't
understand me, and I refuse to kowtow to their whims.”  She gave him an
impatient glare; they’d had this discussion before.  “I’ve tried to make the
guild a less-brutal organization at your request, and I’ve succeeded
with my own faction.  By opposing the other masters, I’m trying to force them
to change their ways.  If I cooperate, the guild stays as bloody and brutal as
always.  You can’t have it both ways, Lad.”
    “I know, but the violence is only
worsening.”
    “There’s no way to make lambs out of
lions.  Things change slowly or not at all, and change threatens the way
they’re used to doing business, which threatens their power.”
    “They wield enough power, Mya.  If you
cooperated on some things, they might—”
    “You mean submit!”  She gave him a short,
humorless laugh.  “No, Lad, if I give them a taste, they'll take the whole
larder."
    “Very well.  You know these people better
than I do.”  That was true enough.  Lad understood human nature, and had even
managed to grasp the intricacies of bantering speech patterns, irony, and
humor, but the machinations of the Assassins Guild were beyond him.  He knew
one thing, however, and voiced it as plainly as he could.  “They’ll continue to
try to kill you if you continue to alienate and ignore them.”
    "Ha!  Let them try.  That’s what you’re here for, my friend.”
    She gripped his shoulder, and he forced
himself not to slap her hand away.  He knew it wasn’t an attack, but Mya’s touch
made him tense, which was odd, considering what they’d been through.  She’d
once cut a crossbow bolt out of his spleen, refusing his pleas to let him die. 
He’d never thanked her for that.  Maybe he should have.
    “We have the perfect relationship, Lad. 
You protect me…and I protect you."
    Lad tensed again.  You protect me…and
I protect you .  From Mya, it sounded more like a threat than a promise.  He
protected her from harm.  In exchange, she kept guild Enforcers away from the Tap
and Kettle , and kept his head out of a noose.  Lad had blood on his hands,
and as unwilling as his actions might have been, the Royal Guard would still hang
him if they ever discovered he had killed more than a dozen nobles five years
ago.
    Their agreement was simple, but as with
any agreement with Mya, it worked to her advantage.  To Lad, it was a trap he
couldn’t escape without breaking his word twice over—his promise to Mya to protect
her, as well as his promise to himself not to kill—for he knew she would never
let him go until one of them lay dead in some back alley.  He was too valuable
to her, and she would never give up an advantage.
    Finally, they approached the Golden
Cockerel .  Warm light glowed from the two large windows in the front of the
bar’s ground floor.  Two men lounged on the porch, and one of them opened the
door as Mya and Lad approached.
    “Evening, Miss.  Hell of a night for a
stroll.”
    The two men were Hunters, and they were
on duty.  They didn’t look like assassins, of course, but that