Chapter 1
The rain fell like ash over the battlefield, washing the blood from Yakira Venn’s blade as she stood among the dead, wondering if vengeance had finally made her hollow.
She moved through the carnage, stepping lightly around the corpses. Her boots sank slightly into the mud as she walked, the air thick with the scent of steel and sorrow. She stopped and sighed, taking in the bloody battlefield as an assassin crept closer, gaining ground on her.
She didn’t move or make any indication that she heard the light steps behind her. As they drew nearer, her eye twitched and she shifted her weight, slamming her sword backward. The blade slid cleanly through the assassin’s armor and flesh. His gurgle as he choked on blood was insignificant against the raging storm. Yakira’s face remained unchanged as the body slid down to the cold, hard ground.
A low hoot broke the silence. Her messenger had arrived with her next mission. He hooted again as he perched on a broken spear jutting from the ground.
“Back so soon, my friend?” She smiled slightly as she petted the small, pure white, fluffy owl. He cooed in approval, and she gently untied the message from his leg. She had always wondered how the guild knew when she was finished, but that was none of her business, so she stayed out of it.
She opened the letter and read it. The ink had smudged a bit from the rain, but she could still read it clearly.
Next Target: General Corren Fascienne.
She scowled. This job she could do with a smile—after all, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
She would be the one to kill her husband’s murderer.
