Free Blood of the Watcher (The Dark Ability Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg Page B

what might have happened to Alyse, or even that he intended to find his mother to see if she knew anything about what happened?
    He’d tried using the lorcith Alyse wore, the chain that their father had forged for her, to find her, but had so far discovered nothing. Until he knew about Alyse, he wouldn’t be settled. Only after he understood could he begin to move onto the next step that needed to happen, whatever that might be.
    Only, he began to suspect that the next step involved finding out more about who targeted him in the city, and then he would need to find a way to deter them, however he could. A part of him feared what that might require. If he wanted his friends to be left alone, if they were to be allowed peace, then it might take a more aggressive stance than he’d taken so far. Jessa didn’t understand that, but he’d seen the lengths that the Forgotten would go; he’d seen the way that Venass had sought to use him. He began to think he needed to do more than deter them; he needed to frighten them. Maybe that started with Sarah and Valn.
    “Jessa doesn’t agree with what I think needs to happen,” Rsiran said.
    Brusus tipped his head to the side and studied Rsiran for a moment. “You need to be careful, son. She’s the type that doesn’t react well to being excluded. And I’ve seen the two of you together. You have abilities. Damn, but the Great Watcher knows that you do. There are things that you can do that I can’t even begin to fully understand. But that doesn’t mean that you can close out those who care about you, especially when they share your bed.”
    He smiled and patted Rsiran on the arm then led them down a narrow street. They wound into a part of Elaeavn that Rsiran wasn’t familiar with. That was one downside to his ability to Slide everywhere. He never learned the streets, not like Jessa or Brusus did. If he needed to travel somewhere, he could simply take himself there, missing all the parts of the city along the way. It shielded him in some ways.
    The muted sounds of the waves crashing along the shore carried to him, and the smell of salt cut through the other stink of filth along the street. They encountered no one else. Rsiran wondered if that was because of the time of day, or whether that was due to something else. The two of them might not look terribly imposing, but Brusus walked with purpose. In this part of the city, anyone moving as quickly as he did likely had something unsavory in mind.
    “Are you sure this is the right area?” Rsiran asked.
    Brusus glanced over and watched him a moment before laughing. “Right area? You know this is no different from the area you call home? In many ways, this is cleaner .”
    They hadn’t passed any of the stagnant pools of water like were found near the smithy, which kept the stench minimized. All parts of the city were designed to drain back out into Aylianne Bay, but over time, many parts of Lower Town had become obstructed, the drains failing. When they failed in Upper Town, the Elvraeth made certain to send the city engineers to repair the problem. Down here, there was not the same urgency when the drains failed.
    The bright sunlight didn’t manage to pierce the space between buildings as it did higher in the city. That was by intentional design. When the city had first been built, the Lower Town buildings were the first placed, and they were set in ways that obscured the city from the water, attempting to blend into the rock. Rsiran had seen the city from above, and from a distance, and there were times when the illusion was better than others.
    A door opened, and a young faced peeked out, before closing quickly.
    Rsiran glanced at Brusus, and he shrugged. “You’re scary,” Brusus said.
    Rsiran smiled. Were that only true. Then he might be left alone. Then all of them might be left alone. It raised a question for him: how could he be truly frightening to those chasing him? What could he do that would make them hesitate