Free The King's Ring (The Netherworld Gate Book 2) by Sam Ferguson Page B

so only the counterpart in Blundfish remained with his crew. That is, the Blundfish crew, and at least one of the Rangers. My sister was nearly retaken by the group in Kobhir before Captain Ferryl got involved. If the criminals had corrupted one of the Rangers, I knew the only way to keep my sister safe was to completely dismantle the trafficking organization. Together Captain Ferryl and I took down the last of the Kuscan brothers. Then Captain Ferryl inducted me into his unit.”
    “That is quite the ordeal,” Liloriel said.
    “It isn’t done yet,” Kai said. “If you want to know everything I have done, there is something else you should hear.”
    Liloriel nodded and gestured for Kai to continue.
    Kai’s expression turned to one of extreme sorrow and frustration. Rubbing his hands over his eyes several times as though to drive away the reality that came with his next words, Kai continued with great effort, as if the words stuck in his throat and refused to come out. “During the course of the investigation in Blundfish, two of my former comrades, Rangers Jimik and Gainer, found me and attacked me. They wouldn’t listen to me. They were so angry about Captain Lador, thinking I had betrayed them, that they offered me no quarter. I tried to explain the truth to them, but they wouldn’t listen. They had already decided to kill me. We fought. A mark I had been sent to protect as part of my undercover role with the traffickers in Blundfish was caught up in the battle and killed.”
    Kai shook his head and looked to his feet. “I begged them to listen to me, but they wouldn’t stop. Everything happened so quickly. I… I killed them.”
    Kai closed his hands into fists and closed his eyes tightly. He held his breath for a moment and twisted his head to the side as though he had eaten something extremely bitter. Finally he sighed deeply and opened his eyes, looking back to the ground. “There you have it,” he said quietly, his jaw set. “Those are my sins. Not a day goes by that I don’t question myself and what I did, but I have to press on.” Turning his eyes to Liloriel, Kai continued in a slightly more normal voice. “Now I am working under the authority of Captain Ferryl tracking the assassin who killed Gandle. I believe he killed Lador too, and I want more than anything to take him down.”
    To their credit, Liloriel and Seldaric were not quick to judge Kai as he explained where he had come from, and what he had done. As he had come to the part about Gainer and Jimik, Seldaric had moved away from Kai, moving toward the bench they had been sitting on earlier, and folded his arms. He stood there now, his eyes staring out at the water, occasionally shaking his head angrily. Liloriel stepped in close to Kai then. The ex-ranger didn’t look at her, glancing instead between Seldaric and the wooden planks of the dock that stretched out in front of him, his hands hanging limply at his sides.
    “I didn’t want to kill Gainer or Jimik,” he said quietly, closing his eyes again. “They didn’t have anything to do with my sister’s kidnapping.”
    “They gave you little choice,” Liloriel said. “On the other hand, had you not killed them, perhaps the smugglers in Blundfish may have lived. They might have escaped from Blundfish, thinking they had been found out. Then the human traffickers would still be free.”
    Kai nodded. “After Kelden brought me into his secret group, he asked me to investigate the cube. It was only chance that I ran into the assassin again in Bluewater.”
    “Perhaps not chance,” Liloriel put in quickly. “Sounds as though the webs of fate have brought you here.”
    “Let me go after the assassin, and then you can take me in, if you wish.”
    “I have no intention of arresting you,” Liloriel assured him.
    “Nor I,” Seldaric said, turning back to them just then. He covered the three paces back to where Kai stood and put a hand on his arm. “But we do things differently here