The Book of Never: The Complete Series
Page 66
Lady Cera and her captain shared a glance before she addressed her daughter again, her tones becoming honeyed. “Dear, are you sure? This is the man they caught by her body, in the street on our way from the harbour –”
“It’s hard to tell. I didn’t see him that well.” She met his gaze. “I suppose it could be this man.”
Captain Holindo withdrew the torch. “We have other witnesses, my lady. You’ve done far more than enough by coming here; it will satisfy the Justice. Furthermore, your own daughter identified the prisoner, that’s enough for any man of law.” Such a long string of words strained the man’s voice, and for the first time Notch noticed a long, faded scar crossing his throat.
She gave a short nod. “Truly. I’ve had more than enough of this stench in any event. Take my daughter back to the palace.”
“Of course, Lady Cera.”
He ushered the girl toward the exit. Lady Cera did not follow. “I don’t know the whole truth of what happened. But you are a criminal, of that I have no doubt.”
“Mercenary, Lady Cera.”
“Do you think there’s a difference?”
“There can be.”
“Well, Notch the Mercenary, I will ensure you hang for this. The girl might have only been a pale-skinned, half-blood brat, but I can ill-afford to replace her.”
Notch sneered. “That all she was to you? Something to be replaced?”
She raised her arm but he stepped back.
“Fool.” Lady Cera spun and stormed off.
Notch spat. He was already going to hang, what did it matter if some bone-headed noblewoman wanted him dead? Bren shuffled forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. Notch had forgotten him. “She knows what you are. What we are.”
“You might be right,” Notch said, sitting on the floor and scratching at a new, disturbingly persistent itch in his hair. “But I didn’t kill that girl.”
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Acknowledgements
If you’ve read any of the Never books you know that I like to thank those who help me most and the same people deserve my gratitude this time too - my wife Brooke, my editor Amanda and also David for the formatting, along with all of the Alchemists :)
As before, I also owe thanks to Lin Hsiang for the amazing cover to Imperial Towers and also Vivid Covers for that title work!
And to those of you who have followed Never on his quest across all the books and who still have questions, I hope to return to him one day soon!
Thanks for reading
Ashley
About Ashley
Ashley is a poet, novelist and teacher living in Australia. Aside from reading and writing, he loves volleyball, Studio Ghibli and Magnum PI, easily one of the greatest television shows ever made.
You can find him online at Twitter or on his fiction blog, City of Masks and at ashleycapes for poetry. As if that’s not enough, you can also sign up to his newsletter for free books, competitions, giveaways and sneak peeks of forthcoming titles!
Also by Ashley Capes
Fiction
The Fairy Wren
A Whisper of Leaves
Crossings
Somnus and the March Hare
The Book of Never: Volume 6 (coming 2018)
The Bone Mask Trilogy
1. City of Masks
2. The Lost Mask
3. Greatmask