Murderess by Moonlight: The Torvan Trilogy Book II (Sample Chapters)

Chapter 4: A Deal

When Selene emerged from her room just before noon, she was almost disappointed that Guard Raban wasn't standing outside her door. It was a different guard, who often stood outside her room during the day. It made sense. Guard Raban had to sleep too. And really, she should be grateful. The other guards were ridiculously easy to escape from; no challenge at all.

Selene climbed up the stairs to the dining room, trying to let the nightmares ebb away as she grounded herself in reality. She wasn't on a mission, staring into the glazed eyes of a corpse; she was here, safe in her house. The smell of freshly baked bread and cooked meat wafted from the room, washing away the phantom smell of blood. She inhaled more deeply as she crossed the threshold.

Rice-straw tatami mats cushioned her footfalls. A panoramic window swept across the wall to her left. The remaining walls were made of yellow screens with inky black swirls forming the slithering ridges of mountains and the plump tufts of clouds. Servants flowed in and out of the room via a door in the back.

She performed her second scan of the room. If she had rope, she could break out the windows and rappel down in an emergency. The plates would serve well as weapons, heavy enough to stun her opponent, and the glass shards could prove effective as well.

When she turned her attention to the people, she found four widening gazes meeting her own.

"Selene," her stepmother said, "you're up rather early."

Father leaned back in his seat with his hands clasped across his belly and a smile stretching his lips. He reminded Selene of a cat that had just lapped up the last of the cream. "I heard that Guard Raban successfully retrieved you last night."

Retrieved. As if she were an object to be fetched. Selene mentally smoothed her ruffled feathers. "Yes, he did."

She seated herself at the table, and a servant placed a platter in front of her. She picked up her pike and meal dagger before sawing away at a thick slab of fish.

Shonn leaned forward, his forearms on the table. "Did he happen to mention where she'd been going?"

Father shook his head. "I've only heard reports from the servants and other guards. Guard Raban is still within his chambers, as far as I'm aware."

Shonn's dark eyes pierced hers, but he didn't ask questions. He knew better; they all did. She would tell them that she'd wandered into the Howling Jungle or had walked to Octavya or had swum with a mermaid. The story changed, depending on how she felt.

The conversation veered to other matters, and Selene lapsed into her own world as she ate. She had to visit the palace tonight. Or... during the day, while Guard Raban wasn't on shift.

Selene tucked the last crumbs of Coran bread into her mouth. "May I be dismissed?"

Father nodded before returning to his conversation with her stepmother. Whatever the topic, they both must have found it enrapturing. Or perhaps it was each other they found enrapturing.

Selene rose and left, her stomach knotting. He'd never looked at her mother like that. She supposed she should be happy that Father had found someone else to love, assuming he'd ever loved her mother in the first place.

As she descended the steps, a faint creaking behind her announced that she was being followed.

She stopped at the landing to her room. "Do you require something, Shonn?"

"I was just going to inquire about your new guard."

"What about him?"

Shonn stopped at the landing by her side and made a point of looking up and down the empty stairwell. "I don't see him anywhere."