25. Taldesa
Taldesa
Tala shouldn’t have been surprised that she forgot to message Avie.
It wasn’t intentional—despite Tala having every damn right not to message her.
Tala wasn’t the one who ditched her best friend to bone some guy in GloomsDale instead of just telling her the truth.
In fact, it was kind of ironic the more Tala stared at the opal on her bedside table.
She was pissed at Avie for fucking a guy and forgetting about her…
and here Tala was, having done the same thing, but with two guys.
Two guys I’m responsible for.
There were a ton of bullshit reasons Tala could have used.
She had been recovering from poison, she had been distracted with thinking herself into an impasse over that mystery ring.
Hell, even patrolling would have been reason enough not to.
The magic in those matching opals weren’t discreet in the slightest. If Tala continued to carry it on her hip, surely Avie would blow her cover at some point.
No, the truth was Tala had been preoccupied with making up for her nonexistent sex life with two bards that were way too good at said sex.
When she wasn’t making the rounds around the Golden Manor or keeping watch as Seira gave the pair feedback on their songs, Tala was being fucked within an inch of her life.
Ameriden and Casimine were insatiable and Tala’s training had ensured she had enough stamina to meet them thrust for thrust.
When they weren’t wrecking havoc on her body, the pair were overly affectionate.
Casimine would nuzzle against her side in the middle of the day, lost in much needed slumber afterward.
He still wasn’t sleeping well, even on those rare occasions Tala stayed the night.
Ameriden would hold her like a damn stuffed toy while Casimine would read his smut novel to them.
It was all terribly domestic—as if they had known each other for years—and Tala was more certain than ever that she was thoroughly screwed if the Valiant Circle ever found out.
She crossed a line—one that stuffy Cercel would have kittens over if he ever found out.
Her task was to protect Cashmere Fantasy, not become their third.
The violation of ethics alone would have gotten anyone kicked out of the Archive.
Tala frowned, her hand outstretched toward the opal. If she could just reach out to Avie…
But why?
If Avie didn’t care enough to tell Tala the reason she was leaving Eshorion, then they weren’t as close as Tala had previously thought.
Everything Tala had worked so hard to keep—even with her surly disposition—that had all been for one reason alone.
To stay in Eshorion and to stay close to Avie.
But if that had all been a lie, if Tala had looked too deeply into their relationship—well, did it even matter if Tala stayed in the city?
She wasn’t attached to it, despite the years spent within the ivory walls.
Yes, the Valiant Circle provided food, shelter, and the clothes on her back, but Tala wasn’t without some skills.
Fuck, she could easily become a fighter for hire.
She had laid out her unknown assailant after all, granted Tala failed to mention it to Ameriden and Casimine and they hadn’t asked.
Besides, neither of those babies need to know about how I killed that guy.
Death in Ordia was comically normalized.
Tala had thought as much as a child, but when you lived in a world that was literally made of monsters and all-knowing gods, life became more about survival.
He wasn’t the first guy she had killed—for all of the Valiant Circles preaching about fairness, they weren’t above taking lives when it was theirs on the line.
That was about the only difference between them and the Moon Maidens, as the former was very willing to get their hands dirty.
Tala sent her stalker over the wall with a hard kick to his sternum, and as he fell, something shiny came loose onto the edge of the wall.
Tala had snatched it, tucking it away as the effects of the poison started working its way through her body.
The boys had somehow missed it when they stripped her naked and dropped her ass in the bathtub.
A metal piece with the engraving of an open-mouthed snake and deadly fangs that sat beside the opal.
The point was, Tala knew she could take care of herself. It was more a question of what she would do when the job blew up in her face. Either Cercel or some undercover monk would make her or she’d find some way to fuck up the job that wasn’t just hurt feelings.
“Fuck.”
She had a friend who ran away, a mystery ring to solve, and a dead guy who tried to kill her—and Tala couldn’t stop thinking about Amer and Casi.
That just like Avie, Tala was thinking way too highly of them and their affection.
They didn’t even have a name for whatever was happening with them—mostly because Tala kept shrugging away from it whenever the pair would use the word lover.
The word was still somehow more intimate than the sexual acts themselves.
She might have been theirs, but Tala was damn sure they weren’t hers.
I’m going to fuck this up, just like everything else.
Without meaning to, Tala balled up her fist and cracked it against the wall behind the bedside table. She didn’t have enough strength to cause structural damage, but throwing a punch always made her feel better.
Sometimes, Tala wondered what it was like for everyone else.
Cercel rarely got angry—or if he did, he was way better at hiding it than Tala was.
Avie would get mad whenever she would see something unfair occur, but she looked more like a cranky bunny than an asshole.
All puffed up cheeks and furrowed brows forming into one of the most pathetic glares Tala had ever witnessed.
Yet, both of them handled their anger like normal people.
No urgency to get into someones face, no clenched fists ready to knock some random guy’s lights out.
Normal people don’t yell at their childhood tutor because they tell them to do their homework.
Normal people don’t defy their parents just because they asked their child to brush their hair.
Normal people don’t cuss out their best friend because they traveled to GloomsDale for a hookup.
Normal people can express their emotions without having to destroy things!
Tala rubbed at her eyes, trying to refocus at the task at hand. She had to push Casimine, Ameriden, and Avie out of her mind. Personal relationships were bullshit and Tala could deal with the harsh fall out later.
Within a pocket of her traveling pack, Tala pulled out the ring and swapped it for the metal piece.
The origin of the mystery ring was cold at that point, but the metal piece was a puzzle Tala could solve.
While she wasn’t familiar with all of the different factions with the thieves guild, Tala recognized a criminal organization symbol when she saw one.
The Red Vultures motif was painted all around the dark alleys of the lower districts.
The Valiant Circle knew they were distributing illegal contraband, but with the protection of the thieves guild and bullshit laws, they had never really been brought to justice.
“This hiss mouth is new,” Tala frowned at the metal.
A new faction usually only came about because someone in the old faction was vying for a power grab.
Yet, Tala couldn’t recall hearing anything about it back home.
The Valiant Circle was less concerned about the thieves guild and more about the growing tension between King Oryin’vel Vyrthsalis and the neighboring nations—especially where IronGarde was concerned.
Vyrthsalis greatest export was the abundance of rich iron found in the desert just outside of IronGarde.
But the continent was relatively small in comparison to others. Some people even called it the bed of a new nation because of how much it developed over the past few hundred years due to the iron reserves.
Amazing how progress works when you get rid of all the giant ass monsters, Tala thought. But that still doesn’t explain who the fuck that guy was.
Maybe petty crime was too obvious—
“Shit,” Tala swore.
Fuck, she was so dense. That fucker had found her in the middle of the market after she had left the jeweler.
While she couldn’t confidently link the ring to that guy, there was no way it was coincidence that he just happened to be there.
No, he knew she was going to be there. That meant he had likely been tailing her for a while.
It could have been days, maybe even weeks depending.
“Why’d I have to kill that creepy guy?” Tala grumbled.
If she had just managed to bind his hands and haul him back to the hotel.
It wasn’t like anyone would have stopped her.
Whether people knew it or not, she was still a part of the Valiant Circle and they had authority in the city.
A simple flash of her iridescent sash, and the guards in the city would have left her to her business.
Dropping her head into her hands, Tala let out a angry groan of frustration.
She’d fucked up.
Again.
All because she lost her gods damn temper.
All because Tala couldn’t keep Cercel’s words in her head.
Because she couldn’t hold back from beating up her problems, because she had to prove to the world that she wasn’t a coward.
That even though she was angry and defiant, she still fucking mattered, and violence was the only way Tala could show it.
“Come on, Valay,” Tala took a deep breath. “Wallowing in self pity is pathetic, even for you. Think. That guy wanted to hurt me… why?”
The thieves guild only ever hurt people who got in their way of making coin. Poison was slow, agonizing. It was also considered contraband unless you were a doctor, healer, or—
“Shit,” Tala cursed, snatching the ring and metal from the table.
She fled the Golden Manor in minutes and dashed across the city.
Tala dodged carts and carriages, traveling merchants and city folk with one destination in mind.
By the time she reached the base of the city, Tala felt her muscles protest with how fast she ran.
Her eyes scanned the crowd past the statue of the Sun Bringer and toward the entrance.
Standing at the gate in their shiny armor were the king’s guards.
There were always four—two at the edge of the entrance tasked with keeping a watchful eye while the other two reviewed parchments.
“Hey,” Tala said as she approached the guard standing to the left.
He spared her an acknowledging glance, but didn’t say anything.
Tala rolled her eyes. “I’m Tala of the Valiant Circle. Here on official business on behalf of High Conservator Aelidon.”
It was a bold face lie, but one that finally pulled the guard’s full attention.
“How can I be of assistance?”
“We’re investigating any individuals that may be carrying poisons into the city. Specifically individuals who may be carrying this on them.” Tala flashed the metal piece.
“We can’t say we’ve seen many folks pass by with poisons. It’s mostly been good noble folks.” The guard’s eyes squinted at the metal piece. “But that piece, I recognize that. Seen it on a few folks passing through the gate not too long ago.”
“Do you remember when that was?” Tala asked.
“Ah…” the man frowned as he searched his memory. “Must have been a week or two ago. Though I could have sworn I’ve seen that before then.”
“Do you remember what they looked like?”
“Ah, simple gentlemen. Human. Had dark hair and eyes…think he might have had a mole on—”
“The right side of his cheek!” Tala crowed.
“Um, yeah,” the guard looked confused, “how did you—”
“Do you remember what his reasoning was for coming to the city? Do you know where he was coming from?”
“Yeah, he said he was here to take care of some business,” the guard replied. “Said he was coming from GloomsDale and the weather was bad.”