ZANE

Zane surveyed the docks with cold satisfaction.

Deckhands hauled boxes of freight up the long ramps that led from the dock to the ships rocking gently in their berths along the inner harbor. Merchants scurried around piles of goods, issuing orders, while the ships’ captains called out commands to check rigging and move lively.

At the mouth of the dock, where the weather-beaten planks met the crushed seashell road that edged Nakdasha, his domain in AnDràz, the harbormaster stood with a schedule of departures and arrivals in his hands.

Not a single city guard in sight.

The sun crept higher, tearing through the early morning mist with pale fingers. Flocks of seabirds cawed as they swooped over the golden waves of the sea, diving to snatch fish with their sharp beaks.

Zane allowed himself a small smile. Like a seabird, he was prepared to descend on his prey without warning.

Without mercy.

And now he no longer had to account for interference from the crown. With the new king of AnDràz firmly in his debt, he could conduct his business out in the open.

His would be the name whispered in secret by a kingdom too terrified to speak of him in broad daylight. He would be the cautionary tale parents told their children at night and the clarion call of hope for those desperate enough to bargain their lives away. He would do as he pleased with relentless force; and by the time he made a move for the throne, there would be no one left to dream of opposing him.

Once upon a time, he’d served a crown with no desire to wear one himself.

But that was before the betrayal.

Before his exile.

Before the fear of another human uncovering his secrets turned his dreams into nightmares.

When he was in power, when the kingdom was cowering at his feet, he would force every subject to sign a contract in blood. A promise that if they ever asked questions about him—his present or his past—they would immediately pay for it with their lives. He’d finally be untouchable.

He glanced around once more, meeting the eyes of Mori, his debt collector, and the handful of enforcers who were scattered about, blending into the busy rhythm of the dock until the time came to spring the trap.

A flurry of activity at the mouth of the dock caught his attention, and his eyes narrowed as a woman carrying a small child on one hip and a worn satchel over her shoulder shoved a piece of parchment into the harbormaster’s hands and gathered her other four children close while he read the document.

A shipping order. Confirmation that she’d scraped together her meager coin and purchased a berth for herself and her miserable brood aboard a large Elphian cargo ship bound for the remote port of Delphy.

She’d been careful. Secretive. She’d trusted no one.

It didn’t matter. Zane had spies everywhere, including the dock. Cold rage filled him as she took the parchment from the harbormaster with shaking hands and urged her children onto the dock and toward the ramps.

Humans. Greedy, easily manipulated, and unfaithful to their last breath.

He eased behind a merchant who was loudly ticking off the items on his cargo list and waited while she rushed her children past his hiding place. She was muttering desperate pleas for them to move faster. Be quieter. Hurry.

As the last child, a boy who looked maybe ten years old, moved past Zane, pushing a younger girl ahead of him and glancing around the dock with worried eyes, he left his place of concealment. Lunging forward, he grabbed the boy’s arm and spun him around.

The boy’s eyes grew big, and he pulled back, but he was no match for Zane.

“Oh, Mila, I believe you’re forgetting someone,” he called, his voice cutting through the dockside clamor and bringing the woman to a halt.

She spun, and terror flooded her face at the sight of her son caught in his grip.

“Please.” She dropped the satchel and raised a trembling hand toward Zane as her other children clustered around her, their eyes fixed on their older brother.

“Please, I’m begging you!” She fell to her knees and clutched for her children as the enforcers dragged them away from her.

“Beg all you want.” His voice was soft as he stepped toward her. “Plead. Grovel. Promise me anything if only I won’t take what you already agreed to give.”

She reached for his boots with trembling hands. “Not my children. They aren’t part of this. Please. Take me, but spare them.”

He crouched beside her.

“And if I do that, what will my other debtors think? Why would they not also try to defy me?”

She choked out her children’s names between sobs.

Zane raised his voice to be heard above her cries. “Ghlacadh anam de Mila Ragris agus mianach a dhéanamh.”

Strands of brilliant white streaked through her veins to gather in her chest. Somewhere behind him, a child wailed. Mila’s eyes rolled back in her head, and Zane stood, holding out the flask as the light slowly separated from her body and hung in the air before gently winding its way into the mouth of the bottle. Mila’s body hit the dock with a thud, and her children screamed.

He pushed the stopper back into the flask and returned it to his pocket.

Another soul captured and ready to join the hundreds that had come before it and be turned into Caldoni, a new drug of his own creation that was lining Zane’s pocket with enough coin to make a lesser man happy.

Zane, though, wasn’t happy. Coin didn’t protect you. It didn’t save you from your secrets.

Only absolute power did that.

He looked around the docks, smiling grimly at the shocked, terrified faces of those who were close enough to have seen Mila’s soul exit her body.

Still not a single city guard in sight.

Power was telling the king to leave the docks unprotected and having him obey.

Power was knowing when his debtor was going to betray him.

Power was the fear he saw on the faces of those who dared to meet his gaze as he stood over Mila’s body.

Leaving her corpse crumpled on the dock, Zane turned on his heel and walked away.

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