Page 14 of The Dragon King’s Claw (The Dragons of Serai #17)

Frowning, the King bent his head and sniffed. Then he jerked back, his nose wrinkling. “Fuck. How did I not notice that earlier?”

“We were a little distracted,” I muttered. “Now, you understand why I need you to leave.”

“Do I?”

“For the sake of all that's holy!” I leaned forward. “You just smelled the evidence.”

“Yes, it reeks. So what?”

I pressed my lips together and sought calm before I spoke. “Look at where we are, Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

“Now, think! I know you are not a stupid man. Prove it.”

“I am unfamiliar with that odor, Claw Shinkai!” the King snapped. “So, just fucking tell me what it is.”

“Oh.” My irritation drained. There I was thinking he was an idiot, when it was I who was behaving like one. Of course, the Dragon King wouldn't recognize the scents. I rolled my eyes. “Yes, sorry. Uh, these odors are emitted during the tanning process.”

The King looked around. “Ah. I see.” He looked back at my shirt. “It must have been on his hands.”

“Yes. And I was just about to discover which of the many leather shops in the district are owned by Brujai when you dashed up and scared away my informant.”

“ You dashed out of the carriage without telling me why!”

Around us, citizens relaxed enough to go back to their business, but they still gaped at us as they passed by. And listened. I lifted a brow at a Tyasmoran who was being obvious about it, and he hurried along.

“And therefore you shouldn't be investigating with me!” I pointed at him. “I need to move on a moment's notice, not have to explain myself as I'm doing now. We are wasting time! The murderer could have noticed us by now. This commotion you've caused is impossible to ignore.”

“I did not cause this. If you had only taken three seconds to tell me you were chasing a lead, I wouldn't have reacted so aggressively.”

“Ugh! You need to leave!”

Instead of leaving, the King looked at his knights. “Sir Vasren. Sir Gilhu. Find out which leather shops are owned by Brujai.” To the driver, he added, “And you, park the carriage a block down.” He pointed down the street.

The knights jumped off the carriage and dashed down the sidewalks.

“Gods damn you!” I snarled. “That will alert the murderer!”

“How?” The King crossed his arms.

“You don't think people will notice two Dragon knights making inquiries?” I shook my head and dashed down the sidewalk. The best I could hope for was that I got to the shops at the end before the rumors did.

“Don't run away from me!” The King joined me, keeping pace and clearing the sidewalk with his presence.

“Go away!” I hissed at him.

“No!”

“Fuck me,” I muttered. Then I realized what I said and added, “That wasn't an invitation.”

The King snorted a laugh.

“At least go on the other side of the street. Maybe we can herd the murderer toward your knights.”

King Tor'rien scowled but then dashed across the street to the opposite sidewalk and resumed running, keeping pace with me once more.

Glancing at him, a sliver of bafflement joined my irritation.

Why wouldn't he go back to his castle and leave me alone?

Why was he inserting himself in my investigation?

It made no sense. If anything, he should have sent a representative with me.

He certainly shouldn't be running down a sidewalk like a newbie talon, hunting a murderer. Without his guards.

Fuck. I was leading the Dragon King toward a murderer who may or may not be plotting to kill him.

On the heels of that thought came a contradictory one. The murderer couldn't be after the King. If he was, he wouldn't have commissioned a fire weapon. Dragons are immune to fire. That tube was useless against the King. So, if he wasn't plotting against the King, what was he up to?

I reached the end of the district and dashed into the first shop.

No Brujai. Out I went. Into the next and the next and the next.

Then, as I was exiting a shop, I heard a commotion.

On my side of the street, the crowd rippled like water.

Someone had dashed out of a shop and onto the sidewalk.

I saw the horns—little horns that graced the temples of every male Brujai.

Then the man looked over his shoulder, and our stares met. His eyes narrowed, and then he ran.

Toward me.

It startled me momentarily. Then I got my brain working again, and I ran toward him.

If he thought he could intimidate me, he was about to learn how wrong he was.

As I ran, I reached for my dagger. Every claw carried a weapon.

We didn't use swords like talons, but we weren't about to go around defenseless.

Daggers could be hidden. That meant there was less of a chance of upsetting anyone we needed to interview.

Holding the dagger upside-down with the blade running along my forearm, I wove through the pedestrians who were quickly getting the message that this was not the place to be.

The sidewalk cleared. Nothing between me and the murderer.

Closer. Close enough for me to see the anxiety on his face.

That would have been appropriate if he'd been running away from me.

But as it was, he should have been showing aggression.

I assumed he was coming to confront me and finish what he had started.

But he wasn't afraid of me.

The Brujai gasped, stumbled, and fell to his knees.

People screamed. The entire district cleared in seconds.

Meanwhile, I dashed the remaining feet between us and caught the Brujai as he fell forward. In his back was an arrow.

“Damn!” Dagger still out, I searched the rooftops and open windows. Nothing. No trace of whoever had fired that arrow.

The Brujai gasped.

I folded my legs, going to the ground to cradle him on my knee. My dagger clattered to the stone sidewalk. My hand now free, I clutched the Brujai's shirt. “Where's the weapon?!”

He shook his head. “Not me.”

“Not you? You're not behind this?”

He nodded. “Supposed to lead you.”

“Me? Why? What's the goal? Are they trying to kill the King?”

He shook his head. Gasping, blood on his lips, he lifted his hand and pointed at me.

Well, that couldn't be right. I must be misinterpreting that point.

“Me?” I asked. “It's about me?”

The Brujai gurgled.

“Who is he? Why is he after me? What is this about? Damn you, give me something! A name at least. Who. Is. He?”

The Brujai's eyes fixed on my face. He was slipping away. But he managed to whisper one last word, “Hallaxgral.”

“Hallaxgral? Is that what you said? What race is he?”

But the Brujai was already dead.

“Son of a bastard!” I growled.

“Tek! Tek!” The King crouched beside me and shook me by the shoulder. “Are you all right? Were you shot?”

“No,” I muttered and sat back on my heels. “It's his blood.”

“That's the man who attacked you.”

“Correct.”

“So who killed him?”

“Good question, Your Majesty.” I snatched my dagger off the sidewalk as I looked around again.

“Sire!”

“Your Majesty!”

Two Dragon knights crowded in around the King, forming as much of a circle of protection as they could.

As he scanned the rooftops, Sir Vasren said, “We need to get you out of here now, sire.”

“Oh, for fuck's sake, Vas'” The King pushed the knights away. “The killer is gone. And they weren't after me.”

“Or me,” I whispered in revelation.

“What's that, Tek?”

“Please, for the love of all that's holy, stop calling me Tek!” I stood up, dropping the corpse without care—I mean, the Brujai didn't care either. I put my dagger away and glared at the King.

He got up. “Sir Vasren, find the nearest talon and send him for a unit to recover the body.”

“I cannot leave you with only one guard, Your Majesty.”

“Go!”

Vasren's face shifted through irritation and then into blankness. He inclined his head and then ran off.

As surprised as I was that the King's presence had finally benefited me, I was still thinking about the Brujai's last words.

It hadn't surprised me to learn that whoever was behind this—and it certainly wasn't that Brujai—wasn't after the King.

It only confirmed my suspicions that the rumors of betrayal had been fed to the King on purpose.

But why me? And if they were after me, why not shoot me instead of their minion?

The only answer was that they didn't want me dead. So, in what capacity did they want me?

A dead Chelli, a weapon of fire, a Brujai murderer, and a mastermind named Hallaxgral who was interested in me.

What did they add up to? For the first time in my life, I was utterly baffled.

No direction. No ideas at all. As if following the theme of my day, it made no sense.

But there was a huge difference between this puzzle and my issues with the King.

This was fascinating!

Yes, yes, two men were dead, and that was terrible.

And yet, my brain couldn't help but be stimulated by a knot I couldn't immediately untangle.

Hallaxgral. The name was unfamiliar to me.

He was not a known criminal. Never had his name been whispered in this city, not in connection with any crime.

Which meant this was either his debut as a villainous mastermind or he was so brilliant that he had never been so much as suspected of any misdeed.

I was betting on the latter.

Then I remembered I was standing in a crime scene.

“Your Majesty, please step back,” I said.

The King scowled at me.

“I need to search the body.”

The King crossed his arms.

“For the love of . . .” I gave up on the King, knelt beside the Brujai, and turned him on his side.

First, I pulled the arrow out of his back and inspected it. Pale wood for the shaft. Black feathers for the fletching. A nock carved from the shaft. The tip was steel. I smelled it. Nothing noticeable.

After setting the arrow aside, I examined the Brujai's head.

Adorning his main temple horns were wide gold bands.

The engravings upon them marked him as part of the Ke-len tribe.

Short hair was typical on males from that tribe, so his haircut was normal.

The Brujai's transparent scales—a protection against the drying desert winds—covered dark brown skin.

Again, this was typical of the Ke-len. His eyes were blue and bloodshot.

He hadn't been getting much rest recently.

I inspected his neck. Nothing unusual there.

Down to his chest. I opened his jacket and searched the pockets.

Nothing in them but a lock of dark hair tied with twine.

Odd. I looked closer at the hair. Fine. Silky.

Smelled of flowers. I concluded it was a love token and put it in an evidence bag.

My inspection continued until the talon carriage arrived to take the body.

The talons may not have recognized me, but they saw my badge and so they stood to one side and waited for me to finish.

When I did, I had more questions than when I'd started. But I also had some answers.

I nodded at the talons. “Take him. And let the Hall know to be on alert for any reports of missing Brujai.”

“Missing, sir?” A Hulfrin talon looked from me to the body. “Ain't he found?”

“Not for him, Talon. For females.”

“Females?” The Hulfrin's tale twitched.

“Yes, the opposite of males.”

The other talons snickered.

The Hulfrin growled at them.

“Cease!” I snapped. “Have some decorum! Do you not see the King standing there?” I waved behind me to where the King leaned against a shop wall, his guards (Vasren had returned) standing in front of him.

The Hulfrin gaped at the King.

“That answers that,” I muttered. “Why does no one else look? I mean, you look, but you don't see . You are talons! Look with more than your eyes. Take note of everything and then interpret what you see with your mind. Be aware at all times!”

“Yes, sir!” The Hulfrin saluted me, suddenly all manners.

I rolled my eyes. “Take the corpse back to the hall.”

“What should I tell the Chief?”

“Tell him I'm searching the suspect's shop.”

“Yes, sir.”

The talons got to wrapping the body for transport, and I headed down the sidewalk.