Rhea wants nothing more than to kill her father. But not just because he's any run-of-the-mill scumbag. No, he's a god. And he's the one who cursed her with being a goldblood -- half human, half godling. Good for her, she's willing to do anything to...
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I TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO CALM DOWN IN THE STABLE.
I couldn't take all those accusing stares in the cavern. As if I had done something to hurt him. I wasn't even in the compound when he hurt himself. And he would have had to plunge the dagger in himself to cause an injury of that extent. There was no way a boy his age didn't know not to be on the business end of a knife.
I shake my head. There will plenty of time to think about that later.
It's dusk now, and the sun is starting to set. I can see torches being lit outside homes and the warm light of candles flickering lazily through window panes.
The closer I get to the town, the more tiny fires I see, dotting streets.
I haven't been in the city for a while. I pull my hood lower, so it covers even my eyes.
I curse at my shortsightedness. I had been so angry that I hadn't even thought about how dangerous it would be for me to come into town -- Rozi territory. No, Mistress' territory.
I slink closer to the shadows. It isn't dark enough for them to offer me the cover I want, but being in the middle of the street would be more conspicuous now that most people were home for supper.
I don't know which apothecary the gold bloods went for their medicine runs, but there was one that I know of from a past assignment.
It thankfully isn't terribly close to the Rozi house.
The area the apothecary is in was a rather wealthy one. Our assignments were almost always as blue blood as they came, and this one had been no different.
Broken cobblestones and pesky weeds, poking through the stone cracks give way to sleek white stone, neatly tucked into one another to create a smooth, unmarked road. Tall, grand houses line either side of the street. Some have courtyards with flowing fountains. Others lead directly into the street from the front door, which boast gaudy animal knockers. They leer at me from their perch on the door, as if trying to remind me that I had once frequented this district recently for another reason.
To take lives, not save them.
I turn away from the main road and head down an alleyway. It is wide and well-lit, and is more like a side street than the alleys of my childhood.
The apothecary is a humble, but well-built brick building near the end of the street. A wooden sign swings slowly in the dying evening breeze.
I had been sent here two years ago, to kill the master healer. An irony, that he had been killed by the very things he was selling. Goldenseal leaves. A herb used for ailments of the stomach and eyes. Poisonous in high enough doses.
The master's unexpected death made his apprentice the sudden owner of the apothecary, years before he thought his time would come.
He was a small, thin thing, but a few years younger than me.
