Read Online Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 07 - Ghost in the Ashes by Jonathan Moeller - Free Book Online Page B

foot raised above her head, or gripped a rope set into the bedroom rafters and pulled herself up by the strength of her arms over and over again. 
    When she finished, her breath came fast and quick, her heart pounded, and sweat soaked her thin shift, but she felt better. Even if the knowledge of unarmed combat had not saved her life again and again, she would still practice the unarmed forms for the clarity they brought to her mind. 
    After she bathed and dressed in another red gown. It was going to be a hot day, so she picked a gown with a neckline lower than she would have liked, but at least it was cooler. The sleeves and tight bodice were adorned with black scrollwork, and she put a black leather belt around her waist.
    She clipped her sheathed ghostsilver dagger to the belt. The curved blade had been fashioned by from ghostsilver, harder and lighter than normal steel. The weapon also had the ability to resist almost all forms of sorcery. 
    That, too, had saved her life more than once. 
    She paused one more time to check her jewelry and her makeup – she wore too much of both – then donned a pair of high-heeled sandals and left the bedroom. 
    Corvalis awaited her in the front hall, working his sword through a number of forms. He wore his usual black coat, boots, and trousers over a white shirt, and looked very good.
    He saw her, grinned, and slipped the sword back into its scabbard. “You look lovely.”
    Caina laughed. “I look like I have poor taste and spent too much of your money on ill-suited jewelry.”
    “Well,” said Corvalis. “Technically, it is your money. You may spend it on as much ill-suited jewelry as you wish.”
    “How gracious,” said Caina. She touched her hair. “And on bad dye.”
    “I would say it suits you,” said Corvalis, “but I know you hate it, so I will not.”
    She laughed. “You listen to me so closely, then?” 
    Some of the amusement drained from his eyes. “As I should have done.”
    “You should stop blaming yourself for that,” said Caina.
    “It was my fault,” said Corvalis. “What happened in Catekharon.”
    “It was,” said Caina, “but it was just as much my fault. If I had not gone after Sicarion by myself, if I had gotten help from Halfdan or Kylon first…maybe I would have been killed anyway.”
    Odd that she had never blamed Corvalis for the near-disaster in Catekharon. But he had been listening to his sister, to the only family he had left. If Caina’s father had still been alive, if he had told her to do something against her better judgment, she would have heeded him. 
    “Corvalis,” said Caina. “I could have died a hundred times in the last ten years. And I could die of a hundred different things today.” She shook her head. “Maybe this damned dye will poison me for all I know. So we must use the time we have as well as we can.”
    She leaned up and kissed him. 
    “Aye,” said Corvalis. “Let’s go meet the Lord Ambassador.”

    ###

    Crowds of nobles, merchants, magi, and priests lined the stone quay.
    A portion of Malarae’s vast complex of docks was reserved for warships of the Imperial navy. Many of the quays were empty, since Kylon Shipbreaker had sent most of the Emperor’s warships to the bottom of the western sea. The notables of Malarae stood on the empty quays, watching the Lord Ambassador’s ship maneuver to the docks. Some commoners stood watching from the streets leading to the warehouses, held back by lines of black-armored Imperial Guards. 
    For a moment Caina remembered Rezir Shahan’s ambush in the Great Market of Marsis, remembered the screaming people fleeing from the Immortals, and went cold despite the hot sun overhead. 
    She shivered.
    “Are you all right?” said Corvalis.
    “I’m fine,” lied Caina. Malarae was not Marsis, Tanzir Shahan had come to make peace, not to start a war, and Nicolai and Tanya and Natasha were safe at the foundry. Some of the dark memories faded away.
    But they did not go