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

this way?
    I had followed a woman who resembled Carth, but she wouldn’t have been out in the city, and certainly not on a night like tonight. I had been foolish and careless. After what happened, I needed to be more careful, especially in this part of the city. I’d been attacked, and Talia had nearly died, here before. These were places that the city guard didn’t patrol, places that the thief-masters controlled, where the occasional death—especially of one from Elaeavn—went unnoticed—or at least, not minded.
    Maybe something else had drawn me here. Once, I would have claimed it was the sense of friendship, and maybe if I were completely honest with myself, the distant hope of something more. Now that was gone, extinguished by the reality of life within Eban.
    As I turned, deciding to make my way to the river and take another chance to watch Carth’s ship before she left the city altogether, a familiar voice caught my attention.
    Without meaning to, I made my way down the street.
    There was agitation mixed into a woman’s voice as she argued with someone. I reached into my pouch, palming a few of the sleek darts that Carth had provided. Most were tipped with coxberry, the sedative enough to buy me time, but a few were terad tipped, the toxin quickly deadly.
    Down an alley, I saw Talia.
    And nearly dropped my darts.
    I’d never seen Talia like this before. A beautiful woman, with dark hair and dark skin she kept covered more than most in Eban, she moved in a deadly dance, knives flashing as she fought off five men surrounding her. With odds like that, I would never have given Talia much of a chance, especially after the way her throat had been split the last time I’d seen her, but she kept them at arm’s length.
    Had Talia gotten caught up in the remnants of Orly’s attempt to draw Carth out? That fool plan had involved a bounty on prostitutes, knowing how Carth and her Binders were organized, and too many innocent women had been hurt by it.
    The attackers weren’t accustomed to working together, and none had anything more than a sword, but even that inexperience wouldn’t matter with their numbers. Nothing I’d seen told me that they were pressing too hard, content to keep her bottled up, almost as if waiting…
    Damn.
    Talia might be in more trouble than I realized.
    Even after she had used me, or at least, allowed me to be used, I didn’t want anything to happen to her. She was—or had been—a friend. The Great Watcher knows I have few enough of them to let something as foolish as getting used get in the way.
    Stepping to the side of the alley, I flipped two coxberry-tipped darts at the nearest men. They stumbled back a step and fell before the others knew the situation had changed. Two more darts sailed on either side of Talia, hitting the two men there. They fell.
    That left one man.
    Talia glanced at me and her eyes narrowed. I couldn’t tell if she was thankful to see me or annoyed.
    She darted toward the man and knocked his knife out of his hand before he even realized what she had done. Then she slipped forward, the tip of her knife pointing underneath his chin. His eyes went wide but he had the sense not to move.
    “Who were you waiting for?” she whispered.
    I backed toward Talia, keeping an eye on the mouth of the alley, not wanting to end up with a sword in my back. Other than the festival revelry, I heard nothing on the street.
    But I knew that wasn’t the only way people moved in the city. At least, it wasn’t the only way that I moved, and I knew I wasn’t alone in using the rooftops.
    Looking up, I noted a dull reflection off a barbed crossbow bolt above me.
    Damn.
    I flicked the dart I had in hand without checking to see which one. It hit the only visible part of the person on the rooftop that I could see: the hand. A soft grunt told me the dart hit its target.
    “We need to move,” I told Talia.
    She pushed her knife into the man’s throat, drawing a bead of blood. “Who is