Weapon of Fear Read Online Free PDF Page A

the room.  Blademasters took position around
him, forming a five-pointed cordon as they matched his stride.  Five
blademasters—the emperor’s contingent .
    I’m
going to be emperor . 
The thought was nothing new, but had always been suffixed by “someday.”  Now
the inevitability of his future came rushing in, and with it, one more dreadful
realization.  I’m not ready for this !
    Ready
or not, he had no choice in the matter.  As he mounted the stairs, Arbuckle
swore to all the Gods of Light that he would be a better emperor than Tsing’s
last.
     

     
    Mya
toweled her hair dry, barely able to keep her arms aloft, so weak was she from
the evening’s trials.  She cast the towel aside in frustration, and sat on the
bed.
    “Quit
bitching, Mya.  You’re alive.”  Few people could survive being stabbed in the
gut— Twice !—nearly eviscerated, and hacked from shoulder to chest.  Blood
loss had left her weak, but her runic tattoos had healed her wounds.  Only an
injury to the heart or decapitation could truly end her life.  Her heart ached,
but not from a sword thrust.  “Alive…and alone.”
    Forcing
herself up, she grabbed her wrappings, the long strip of enchanted black cloth
that she wore under her clothes.  She used them to hide her tattoos, her secret,
but the magically self-repairing cloth had saved her life only hours ago,
holding her chest together long enough for her to heal before she bled to
death.  She submerged them in the murky water filling the tub, and began to
scrub.
    It
had cost her a silver half-crown to convince the proprietor of the Prickly
Pair to send up a tub and a meal at this late hour.  The water and the food
had been tepid, but plentiful.  She was still a little light-headed; it would
take time to recover from the blood loss.  The memories of the fight, she was
sure, would take much longer to banish.
    Sitting
back on her heels, she focused on a pleasanter memory…kissing Lad in the
carriage.  Mya closed her eyes as she remembered the warmth of his lips, the
scent of him.  A little smile twitched her lips, then fell.  He had kissed her
back, just a little, but it was a kiss goodbye.  Lad was out of Tsing by now,
and out of the guild, headed back to Twailin and his family.  She doubted that
she would ever see him again.  Her heart ached anew.
    Don’t,
Mya !  Love was a
weakness, and weakness would only get her killed.
    Pulling
the wrappings from the tub, she wrung them out and draped them on the back of a
chair to dry.  Better to focus on their other kiss, on Lad’s betrayal.  Her
cheeks flushed as she remembered how he’d tricked her, letting her think that
he shared her feelings, then slipping the Grandmaster’s ring on her finger.
    Mya
held up her hand and examined the ring: obsidian dark against her pale skin,
filigreed gold bright in the lamplight.  It was beautiful, she had to admit. 
More distinctive than the band of unadorned obsidian that she had worn as
Master Hunter, and more ornate than the black-and-gold ring that Lad had worn
as Twailin Guildmaster.  There were six guildmaster’s rings scattered across
the empire.  This ring was unique.  There was only one Grandmaster of
Assassins.
    And
that’s me .  With a
scoffing laugh, she leaned wearily against the tub and closed her eyes.
    “Godsdamned
Grandmaster…  Lad’s crazy if he thinks I can do this.”  She tried to be angry
with him, but knew she couldn’t lay all the blame at his door.  She’d chased
power her whole life.  To a frightened girl on her own, joining the Assassins
Guild made sense.  Strength, skill, and power meant safety.  She had been
ambitious and ruthless, prepared to sacrifice whoever got in her way.
    Until
I met Lad .
    “You’re
the perfect Grandmaster”, he had told her.  Mya didn’t believe it for a
second.  “You think like an assassin, but you have a good heart.”  Lad was
naïve.  That was one reason she’d fallen in love with