Assassin of Curses: (The Coren Hart Chronicles Book 3) Jessie Eaker (best reads txt) 📖

You can’t.

I watched as Zofie and Fumiko struggled with Cabrina. “Then how...”

Abe paused and spoke in an unusually subdued tone. To do it, you have to turn over control of your body to me. You’re going to have to trust me.

My eyes went wide. Evelend’s bindings prevented him from doing something like that unless I was directly endangered. But to willingly give up control? Who knows what would happen.

He might not give it back.

Cabrina gave another burst of myst, throwing both Fumiko and Zofie off of her. This time Cabrina kept her knife.

Fumiko always said I was too trusting. She might be right. Then again...

What’s a world without trust.

“Do it.”

Suddenly, I felt as if I was shoved aside, and my body moved by itself. It reminded me of being in the audience of a play where everything was happening, but I could do nothing to affect the outcome.

My body rose to my full height, arms at my side, and fists clenched. I looked at Cabrina and spoke. It was my voice, but yet it wasn’t. “Ye who has No-name! Attend me!” I yelled in an old dialect of Ellish.

Cabrina paused with the knife just in front of her throat. She jerkily turned to look at me. The conflicting directives making the knife quiver in her hands.

I pointed at her. “By the rights granted by the progenitors. Your seal, I do claim. Henceforth, no other may direct you, no other may shape you, and no other will be your master. From now until eternity, you will cease to be a No-name. You will instead be known as...” Abe paused.

“Hope.”

Myst flowed from me to Cabrina, and she was instantly surrounded by a deep purple glow, the same shade the clouds take on just as the sun is about to rise. She fell to her knees, and the knife clattered to the floor. She stared at me in disbelief.

It felt almost as if a door was opening between us. And through it, I could see a symbol taking shape—the lines twisting and turning as if they were having trouble deciding its form. Suddenly, the lines froze and then moved into position, forming the stylized image of a rising sun.

Then the door closed, but I could still feel the connection. I knew it would be there till I died.

The glow went out. Cabrina’s eyes rolled up, and she fell to the side.

I staggered, and my body was suddenly back in my control. Zofie and Fumiko knelt beside Cabrina. They turned and gave me a questioning look.

Then Abe surprised the hell out of me by what he said next.

Thank you.

He then seemed to catch himself. She will be out for a bit. We’ve adjusted her Avenyts, so she will need time to process. And monkey brains, when she does wake up, don’t abuse her. I know your pervert mind is already thinking of ways to take advantage of her.

“I won’t abuse her.”

Of course, you won’t. I won’t let you. She’s my apprentice, after all.

I couldn’t help but grin. But there was a question in the back of my mind. “Why did you name her Hope?”

That, my friend, is my secret. One day you’ll know. I’ve always hated those long names anyway.

I couldn’t help but smile. Creator, I can’t believe I missed this foul-mouthed, good for nothing curse. But I had.

“Abe, it’s good to have you back.”

He paused in surprise. Well... Don’t be getting all sentimental on me. I... He suddenly paused. Damn. We’ve got company. And not the kind you want to have tea with.

I heard swords clanging outside the entrance and turned to see a guard fall through the door with a hole in his chest. A moment later, the attacker strode into the room.

Lilith shook her sword in anger. “I missed him!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Jiaying’s

Lesson

“Damn him!” shouted Lilith. She swung her sword through the air in a sudden diagonal slice. I could hear it sing as it cut the air and felt the splatter of a few drops. I looked down to see a thin line of red splotches across my robe.

“How did you get in here?” Yonge asked, his voice breaking. His new body possessed a higher-pitched voice and obviously wasn’t trained to project authority.

“Did he get the Forever Nexus Shadow?” she demanded. “Did he leave with it?”

I gently lifted the unconscious Cabrina into my arms and then jerked my head toward the door. Zofie and Fumiko nodded. We then began to slowly back away. Lilith was too much of a wild card, and none of us were in a condition to fight someone of her level. But we didn’t get two steps before a small group of men entered and moved to guard the door. They were Lilith’s men, and among them was a particularly tall one—Wort.

Yonge dropped the man’s wrist and stood to his full height. “Yes, Wynn did. Now answer the question. How did you get in here?”

Lilith smirked. She sheathed her sword and shrugged. “It was nothing really. This place is like a kicked anthill. Everyone’s running around, but nobody seems to know what’s going on. So I thought it a golden opportunity to bring the boot down.”

Lilith glanced at the prone figure lying in his wheeled chair and then back to the body Yonge possessed. She smiled—only it was a deadly smile. “He showed you how, didn’t he?”

She put her hands on her hips. “You’re an illegal. An aberration. What he showed you was forbidden knowledge. Even the Collectivity is forbidden to use it.”

She glanced at one of the fallen guards and gave an amused snort. “Let me guess. He offered you the knowledge in exchange for the Forever Nexus Shadow. And he told you everything would