Page 61 of Esperance

About the time everyone was arriving at Esperance.

Ford continued. “While beheading is something the nomadic peoples of southern Xerra practice, I don’t think this was the work of locals—or that these people were locals themselves. One reason being, the locals avoid Esperance; no settlement is built too close to the compound, and Esperance is self-sufficient—they don’t have need for deliveries of any kind, so why would locals have been here?”

Those were fair deductions. Carver frowned toward the bones. “They could have been some of the soldiers the high cleric evicted from the temple.”

“Who would have ambushed them?” Ford questioned. “And why?”

“Nothing was left behind,” Hugo pointed out. “There’s not a coin or jewel on any of these bodies, and no signs of supplies—not even a basic pack with food or clothing. Maybe the attackers were thieves.”

“Why only attack this group, though?” Ford asked. “Why not attack one of the entourages of the Empire’s Chosen? They represent some of the wealthiest people in the empire. The rewards would have been far greater.”

“Thieveswouldhave attacked one of the Empire’s Chosen,” Carver said. “And we would have heard about it, or we would have been short one of the delegations. So the attackers weren’t simple thieves.”

Ford was scanning the pile of bones again. “No, but they did steal. Hugo’s right, these people should have at least had basic supplies. And there’s nothing left but bones.”

“Burnedbones,” Carver said quietly. “Someone was trying to hide the identities of the dead.”

The knot that had been tightening in his gut since arriving here clenched. He met Ford’s gaze.

His friend looked unusually solemn as he whispered, “I don’t think Cora was the first murder victim here.”

Hugo’s brows pulled together. “What are you thinking?”

Ford twisted back toward the road. “There are tracks in the road—wagons have used this route. Possibly a carriage. And when we count those skulls, I think we might find seven to eight people were murdered.”

Just the right number for a couple of servants, some guards, an escort . . . and one of the Empire’s Chosen.

Hugo breathed a prayer and touched his heart, a sign of reverence to the Divinities.

Carver muttered a curse. If they were right . . . “Someone in Esperance isn’t who they claim to be.”

There was an imposter living among them.

Ford’s eyes narrowed. “How could a stranger fool everyone?”

“We don’t all know each other,” Carver said. “Not even the emperor knows all of us personally. Or what we look like.”

Ford swore. “This is insane. You really think someone ambushed one of the delegations on their way into Esperance, killed the entire party, and replaced them with guards and an escort? That an impostermarriedone of the Empire’s Chosen?”

Itdidseem ludicrous. And yet . . .

Carver pinched his eyes closed, his mind racing. “You need to ask my father who he knew personally at the weddings. I’ll ask the emperor, Argent, Jayveh, and Rivard.” Between them all, they might account for each of the newlyweds and dispel this entire idea of an imposter. At the very least, they would narrow down their list of suspects.

He looked to Ford. “I also need to know if any of the escorts don’t make it back to their homes.” If someone reported them missing, that could tell them which kingdom these murdered souls had come from.

“We might not hear anything for a long time,” Ford warned. “Especially if they came from one of the more northern kingdoms.”

“That doesn’t matter. Just ask my father to verify all the escorts are accounted for.”

Ford nodded. Then, “If thereisan imposter, do you think they killed Cora?”

Carver’s jaw firmed. “Maybe. Especially if she discovered their secret.”

Chapter 17

Amryn

The female cleric grunted as sheheaved the wooden crate onto the scuffed table. “Here you are, Lady Vincetti.”