Page 10 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Mikail

City of Quu, Khitan

Ambassador Zeolin is a tall, thin man with dignified gray hair who I currently have hanging from his office window.

“It was a rather cold greeting, Zeolin,” I say as I lean on the sill. I’m getting wet, but the cold rain is rather refreshing.

He’s screaming. Well, he’s trying to scream, but he’s gagged. His fingers are constantly slipping on the slick stone. I tighten my grip on his wrist, but only slightly. I don’t want him to feel safe from falling. The picture window of his office is high up on the mountainside. It’s easily a hundred-foot drop to the rocky ground below.

Khitan does love its views.

“Your villa has scenic vistas,” I say. “You can see nearly all of Quu from here, but I find it hard to believe you spotted me arriving at port today. Are you ready to cooperate?”

He tries to speak, but he can’t because of the gag.

“Afraid I’ll need a yes-or-no headshake,” I say.

He vigorously nods yes.

“You’ll tell me everything you know?”

Another enthusiastic nod. He, of course, wound up out the window because he claimed to know nothing and then had the nerve to order me out of his office.

I let his wrist slip. “Are you sure?”

He’s screaming so loud that I can hear it even with the gag. The rain causes my fingers to slide as I go to tighten them on his wrist. He slips out of my grasp.

Fuck.

Diving forward, I reach out and grab his shoulders, then retake his arm.

Stars, I almost dropped the bastard.

But I don’t let the surprise show. I pretend it was another part of this game.

“This is what is going to happen,” I say, my voice even. “I’m going to pull you inside, and if I don’t think you are being fully truthful with every answer, I will skewer you slowly to your desk. You will wish I had let you fall. Do we have a deal?”

More nodding.

Coward.

I’d take my secrets to the grave with me, but I am a different type of man.

With a sigh, I heave him inside. I toss him into his leather chair and take down the gag. Down, not off. The second these men feel safe, they believe they’re in control again.

I stab his fine wood desk with my dagger, then lean against the side of it with my arms folded.

“All right, I’m listening.”

He’s shaking and crying, and he might’ve soiled himself. It’s hard to tell with the rain. Really, for a man in his late fifties, this is a rather pathetic display. He’s a nobleman, a diplomat, a patriarch. He should have some dignity. But the nobility live soft lives. They are at a severe disadvantage when status doesn’t matter.

I look around as I wait for him to calm down. Everything in his office is expensive and designed to impress. Sculpture, awards… Is that a medal of valor on his wall?

I yank the dagger out of the desk and walk over to the glass case. Stars, it is a Yusanian medal of valor. This couldn’t be more out of place. I smash the glass with the hilt of my blade, grab the medal, and toss it out the window.

He gasps at my lack of decorum.

“Zeolin,” I say, “I’m getting bored. If you don’t start talking, I will find a way to entertain myself.”

I spin the dagger in my hand.

His eyes widen, and he sounds like a large dog, the way he’s breathing and whining. There are advantages to being thought of as a demon. He believes every word I’m saying despite the fact that I really don’t intend to kill him right now. Too many people saw me come in here. He would be replaced by the week’s end by another self-important noble anyway, so it wouldn’t be worth the mess.

At the moment.

No one is untouchable. You just have to be willing to deal with the fallout. And I have other things to do.

“General Salosa said to eliminate you,” he cries. “That you had betrayed the king—tried to kill him. I didn’t believe the part about you trying to kill King Joon. You know as well as anyone that he’s immortal with his crown. But I believed you’d changed allegiances.”

“And Salosa also told you to eliminate Quilimar,” I say.

It’s a guess, but I suspect between Zeolin tipping off the spies and the incredible timing of the assassin that Yusan was behind the attempt on Quilimar’s life a week ago.

A look, just a fraction of a second long, passes over the ambassador’s face. A bead of sweat begins to roll down his temple.

It was him. General Salosa is the head of the palace guards at Qali, which means Joon was behind the attempted regicide. Stars, we are never going to get close to the throne with Yusan to blame. The question is why the double effort? Why go through all of the trouble to assemble and send us and at the same time try to kill her?

The sweat drops off his jaw. Maybe Zeolin’s motivation will shed some light on this.

“What was in it for you?” I ask.

He swallows hard, the lump in his throat bobbing. “H-he told me that if the queen dies and I help bring him the Golden Ring, I will be made regent for the Count of Tamneki.”

I smile. “The king seems to be recruiting quite a few people for the same job opportunity these days.”

Once a snake, always a snake. He was never going to give me Tamneki, very simply because he can’t make both of us counts and he would inevitably choose this sniveling diplomat. A dog is an easier pet than a jaguar. Joon’s plan had to be for me to die first. So why not just kill me then? I was at his mercy in the throne room. A flick of a blade and it would’ve been done. He needed me alive for some other, more important purpose.

“What else do you need to tell me?” I ask.

The ambassador shakes his head.

I turn and stab the armchair, splitting the leather. I purposely miss his right hand by the width of a hair.

Zeolin shrieks and then whimpers.

I lean closer to him. “I asked nicely because I am a patient man, but you are testing the limits of my benevolence. Let me point out that you are still alive after plotting against me this morning. I’ve been more than fair. I can be less polite if you draw this out.”

The whimpering continues.

“Zeolin. Zeolin…” I tsk. I straighten up and draw back my blade to strike.

He lifts his hands to shield himself. “There’s a rumor…”

“Fantastic. I love rumors. Do go on.” I perch on his desk, facing him.

He looks bewildered, blinking hard. The baggy skin around his eyes crinkles.

Switching interrogation modes quickly is a favorite tactic of mine. Your subjects can never get a sense of your true mood and intention, which prevents them from feeling at ease.

“The rumor is that Joon left Qali,” he says.

Zahara was being truthful. Or they are spreading the same lie—but to what end? “And where did he go?”

He blinks. “I don’t know. I swear and I vow it!”

He’s telling the truth.

“All right then. How do I get an audience with Quilimar?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “It’s not possible.”

I sigh and stare meaningfully at my dagger. I butchered three people with it today and yet it’s clean—amazing how the most gruesome acts wash right off steel.

“It’s impossible!” he insists. “No one has gotten an audience with the queen since the assassination failed. She must have used the ring, though, because the assassin’s shirt was solid gold during the piteua. The only person she meets with now is Vikal.”

He’s being truthful, and the answer is angering me more. Vikal being the only way in is not great. The general is as competent as she is clever, not to mention that she’s in love with Quilimar. She won’t let people like us get within a hundred yards of the throne.

“Vikal is still meeting with petitioners?” I ask.

“Not since the attempt. But there is the Banquet of the Sky King tomorrow. She will be there. Quilimar is supposed to be there, too, though I doubt she will attend.”

That’s right. Khitan celebrates the arrival of the monsoons as a gift from the Sky King. In Yusan, we say Sun King. Same shit. The gods abandoned Gaya long ago.

“What else?” I ask.

“Nothing else.”

I silently stare at Zeolin. He’s back to playing dumb, and he needn’t try this hard.

His eyes dart all around. “There… It’s nothing.”

I spin my blade again. “You know, a less patient man would’ve taken your head clean off by now. Do you think your body would still run around like a chicken? I think it would. At any rate, it would be amusing to find out…”

“There’s a rumor that Count Seok is in Khitan!” He says it so eagerly he spits. A glob of saliva lands on his fine shirt.

I nearly raise my eyebrows. Nearly. I never show my surprise when talking to sources, but that is interesting. If the southern count is here, he likely doesn’t know that Tiyung is in Idle Prison. Or he does, and that is why he is here. Either way, I can’t let Sora find out. She’ll lose focus. We’ll deal with Seok later.

“Why?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I thought he fled the realm when the eastern count died before the celebration. He arrived a few days ago.”

It’s possible. He might’ve seen the writing on the wall. I would think Seok was involved in Joon’s plot, but he wouldn’t have put his only heir in harm’s way.

I decide to change subjects.

“Have you ever heard of Oosant?” I ask.

His brow wrinkles. “You know I have—it’s a city in the old borderlands.”

“The very one.”

“What about it?” he asks.

I study him for a moment. He doesn’t know. A million mun of illegal drugs in a shitty warehouse, and no one has heard about it. My gut is telling me that the drugs are somehow tied to all of this, but I haven’t found the right source yet. I switch gears and ask my final question.

“What do you know about the Temple of Knowledge?” I don’t expect miracles, but he may have heard something about accessing the temple.

He looks to the side and then shakes his head. “No one knows who killed him.”

This is news. Someone killed a Yoksa ?

“Why is that?” I ask casually.

He shrugs. “It’s hard enough to figure out who the Yoksa are—you know how secretive the priesthood is. Figuring out who murdered a secret priest in Trialga Square is nearly impossible. All three realms claim to have had no hand, and the Outer Lands wouldn’t care. It violates all their edicts, though, to harm a priest of the God of Knowledge. Someone must not like what was written. Quilimar has ordered piteua of anyone involved and has offered a hundred-thousand-mark bounty.”

A hundred thousand. A fortune for the capture of someone who killed a commoner is awfully suspicious. But the priests aren’t ordinary people. Even in Yusan, the Yoksa are left alone. The treaties and edicts guarantee their safety. A war of the realms is supposed to occur if any ruler sanctions the murder of a priest. I don’t think Joon is behind this, although I don’t put it past him. With a bounty that large, it was likely Quilimar herself. I simply need more information, and the ambassador has nothing left to give.

“It’s always good to see you, Zeolin.” I slap his shoulder, and he cries out like I stabbed him.

He will miss that medal of valor, I’m sure.

I put my dagger away. “You’ll be bringing two guests with you to the banquet tomorrow. I suggest you keep them safe.”

He nods so hard I’m surprised he doesn’t snap his own neck.

I walk out of his office with more questions than information, but with a lead I just stole.