Free The Watcher's Eyes (The Binders Game Book 2) by D.K. Holmberg Page A

had experienced.
    Was Talia?
    That still troubled me. She was my friend—or had been, before she nearly died, killed for… something. Either for Carth or because of me, though neither Talia nor Carth blamed me for what happened. Talia had always been my friend. The confident owner of the Brite Pot, a tavern and inn where I could drink safely. Now that was gone.
    Talia was gone.
    “I don’t know,” the woman whispered.
    I made a show of putting the darts back into my pouch. “Tell me the assignment.”
    “Carth will—”
    “She will know what he is to you if you don’t tell me,” I said.
    The woman glanced down at the man, her face twisting through a series of emotions, the most she’d shown since I had appeared, and then she looked back over at me. “I was to retrieve a ledger from Benahg’s home.”
    “What was in the ledger?”
    “I didn’t see the contents,” she said. “When you were here, it meant my responsibility was over. You… you were a distraction so I could get the ledger out.” She looked over at the man and sighed. “You will tell Carth now?”
    “Tell her what? That you fell for your assignment?” I asked. “You wouldn’t be the first. But no. I won’t tell Carth now.”
    Besides, I needed to know what sort of ledger Ben would have kept that Carth would have found important enough to place her woman here, but I couldn’t come up with anything. But for me to get out from under the thumb of Orly and Carth, I had to learn what they knew. And this woman either didn’t know anything or chose not to share. Either way, I wouldn’t push her any more than I had.
    Watching how she knelt next to the fallen man, I wondered if it mattered.
    Chapter 2
    When I reached the part of Eban more familiar to me, I began to slow. It wasn’t very late, and the streets were surprisingly full of people. Surprising until I remembered that we neared the Eban Landing Festival. I’d lived outside of Elaeavn for many years and I still hadn’t become accustomed to all the festivals and celebrations that places outside my homeland enjoyed. Some, like Harvestfest or Summer’s Night, were sensible. Others, like the Landing Festival, one that I still hadn’t managed to get a reasonable explanation for, made less sense.
    Because of the festival, the streets were busy, and most of the people were intoxicated. Music came from the open doors of taverns, and shouts and song filled the night. A woman who reminded me of Carth appeared in the distance, and I trailed after her. Doubtful that it was her, but I let myself wander and follow.
    My other years in Eban at Landing Festival, I’d had jobs. With such noise and chaos, someone like myself could use the distractions and easily slip in and complete the assassinations I needed. Since working with Orly—and now Carth—my external jobs had declined.
    Not that I minded, not much at least. Mostly, I took the jobs for the coin, but Carth had seen to it that I didn’t need the money as I once had. And my supplies were well stocked, unlike other times when I was without work.
    It left me in an uncomfortable place.
    Attempting to find why Carth had used me to reach Benahg had yielded nothing other than the fact that her woman was more deeply buried than I suspected Carth knew. The information might be valuable, but I couldn’t think of any way that I would use it without putting the woman in danger, something I had no interest in doing. She’d done nothing to me, only used the distraction that I’d provided to get the ledger out of the compound.
    And if I were honest, I couldn’t deny that what Carth did had a certain value, especially if she opposed men like Orly, even if others were hurt in the process. How could I judge that when I had been the reason that so many had been hurt before?
    No, my frustration stemmed from my inability to find anything useful.
    I hesitated on a street corner, not surprised to note the Brite Pot in the distance.
    How had I ended up coming