7 Deadly Instincts (The Sinfire Chronicles Book 1)

It was late afternoon when they walked into the snow-covered market. There was a festive feeling to the place, and at first, Gray wasn’t sure why. Then he looked closer. There were strings of lights hanging on the vendor stalls, glowing in the gloom. Those covered in ice were especially pretty.

There were also pine boughs here and there. The scent of cinnamon was in the air—what the goblins called spicescrape. Even the frizzle cake was different, the dough dyed a mixture of green and red.

In the water-filled pit—where the Wrath Tower used to stand—the lights on the little boats also glowed a mixture of green and red. Much of the snow had been pushed to the side, and even as more fell, the place looked so beautiful.

Gray walked there in wonder. The trash and dirt was all covered in the white fluff. He was warm, thanks to his enchanted coat with the hood on. And yes, he carried his stick.

Others had thick, warm clothes on, so Settie was more conspicuous with her mask, hat, and cane.

Gray remembered a word that had been thrown around. “Is this for Yullolly?”

Settie turned to him. “Yes.”

She went to march on, but he grabbed her arm. “Wait.”

Settie stiffened. “What?”

They were by the pit, which was pretty, but it wasn’t very comfortable. “Before we see the Widow Stone, you and I need to talk. I vote we buy some charbrew and frizzle twist, sit down near one of those new lust rock fire pits, and discuss Yullolly, Lilian Everheart, Pinch, and Ames. But not necessarily in that order.”

Settie’s eyes were like lust rocks through the mesh mask. “So you can ask me questions. Because that’s all I have to do in the next three months, as we get ready for the Reckoning, is to give you answers to your every…fucking…question.”

Gray laughed. “Then I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Before she could fight him, he went and got them hot drinks, hot food, and found a little table next to an adobe fireplace burning the lust rock. Under an awning, it was warm, comfortable, and private.

Sitting there, Settie didn’t eat, but she did grip her mug of the bitter black brew like her life depended on it. Her hat, mask and cane were on the table in front of her. “I am going to keep this brief. I’m tired, it was a long Soulshred Week, and we’re still recovering. If you didn’t suddenly get all these new spells, I wouldn’t have spoken a word to any of you for a week.”

Gray couldn’t help but smirk. “I doubt that. You would want us training, so we could get our adept mana skills. Why do you call them spells?”

“It’s an old way of describing the manamancer’s gifts.”

“As old as Alastria?” Gray asked with a smile.

That made the ancient dragon woman sigh. “Tomi is going to need the truth.”

“We all are. Are you going to give it to us?”

“Let’s start with Yullolly. It’s a festival to celebrate the first day. Some think that’s when Father Time fucked Mother Night and all the gods and worlds and stars were born. Some think it’s when Midmere was created by the gods as their love nest. In recent times, it’s been overtaken by Strong Simon’s cult. People use it to remember when Strong Simon Benejj, the Second Avatar, met his bonded, Aestia the Kind. It’s why it’s a week long festival and not just a night. It was the wooing of Aestia, which took three days, two nights.

Gray knew this story. “And together they went and united the seven Blood Races to kill the last of the goddess of Wrath, one of the last of the gods.”

Settie sipped her charbrew. “That is correct. The word Yullolly comes from an old Alastrian word meaning a lust for life. Or the joy of living. Or some such nonsense. It’s for mostly for children.” She paused. “Yullolly is also for horny fuckers who use it as an excuse to masturbate with strangers.”

“Why does this not surprise me?” Gray tore off some of his frizzle twist. “This core bonding business sure complicates something that is already very complicated.”

Settie grunted. “Sex is simple. Until it isn’t. But yes, for Yullolly, some people take it as a time to be extremely lustful. We are moving on.”

“Good. Holidays aren’t going to help me understand what you were thinking bringing the fucking princess of Cradleport here.” He dropped his frizzle twist. He’d lost his appetite.

Settie seemed unconcerned. “I didn’t know Ames would be resurrected. I didn’t know that Pinch would be joining us. I was solving a problem. And you are too blame, precious Gray.”

“This ought to be good. I won’t ask what you mean. You’re going to fucking tell me.”

Settie grinned a little. “Oh, am I?”

“That’s right.”

She continued to clutch her mug. “If you weren’t so special, Grayson Fade, I wouldn’t have needed to summon the princess here. I asked before, but she refused. Then, something changed. Probably your letter and her response. You don’t need to tell me it didn’t go well between you two.”

“You think she’s going to have a core like mine.”

Settie sipped again and didn’t respond.

Gray was left grumbling. “All this trouble for something that doesn’t have to do with First Field or finding us choice positions in kills squads. I hate your fucking mysteries, Captain. And what are you a captain of anyway?”

She stared into his eyes. “Do you really want to waste a question on that?”

“No.” He blew out a breath. “She hates me. And since I have two wives, she’s going to hate me even more. And them. Which is going to fuck with our squad in all kinds of ways.”

Settie’s smirk was unmistakable. “I suspect she’ll be great friends with our Pamalee Thornpinch. So we have that to look forward to. It’s done. She’s coming. Is she fails to impress me, I’ll ship her back home. But I have my doubts.”

“And the ruby necklace? What does it do? Softi said it has sad magic, and he wasn’t one to want to look more at it.”

“And you think I have my mysteries. I don’t care about the necklace and its enchantments. I would suggest giving it back to the princess. It might go a long way to smoothing things over.”

“Maybe.” Gray didn’t want to give that bitch a thing. He now hated her as much as she hated him.

“What did the letter say?” Settie asked.

“Oh, you like questions when you can ask them, do you?” Before she could respond, he was talking more. “It said she hated me. Blind John was dead. And it was all my fault.”

“It was,” Settie said. “If it were true. I don’t think it is. Blind John has too many connections to be taken down that easily. And over a necklace? I don’t think Llilian would demand his head. I think she wanted to hurt you.”

“She did,” Gray said. He couldn’t say more. He was to busy thinking, and hoping, but then, he had to give that up. Blind John wouldn’t want him wasting time worrying about something that he had not control over. Absolutely none. Even if Blind John was happily eating frycake in the market, it wouldn’t change Gray’s life any. Except for the guilt.

“We’ll know soon enough,” Settie said. “When you connect to her core, you can get the truth. What does Tomi call it?”

“Delving,” Gray said quietly.

The fire snapped and crackled, the flames turning blue for a second, before returning to their normal yellow color. That happened with lust rocks every now and again.

Settie finished her charbrew and set the mug down. “Which brings us to our next topic of conversation. Pinch. What about her?”

“She’s not fitting in.”

“She’s been with us for what? A few days? Please. It will take some time, but she was desperate to join us. She left everything behind, including a lot of money. For her, that would’ve be very difficult, given her passion for money. But she’ll lose her title as well.”

“She really is a duchess,” Gray breathed.

“Was a duchess. No, if we kicked Pinch out, she would have nowhere to go. We can trust her. And if we can’t, then I will kill her.”

“You’re serious.”

Settie went to put her mask on.

“Wait.”

Settie was clearly annoyed. She sighed. “Oh, yes, the final topic of conversation. Amaranthis Tal’Vessra, your new wife. Such a large core, it’s no surprise you can handle multiple bonds. These new abilities, however, do have me concerned, which is why I wanted Emerilia to look at you.”

“She hates you,” Gray pointed out.

“Everyone hates me.” Settie paused. “Except maybe for you and the squad. I’ve let myself get close to you. Maybe too close, but maybe not. I’m weary, precious Gray, more weary than I can say. It won’t be death that will stop me, I don’t think, but my own weariness. Too tired to go on, I’ll give into despair, and then…well, let’s not talk about that.”

“Or what you want.”

Settie nodded. “What of Ames?”

“She’s out,” Gray said. “She can’t be on our squad, not for the Reckoning, but you’re talking like we can field seven recruits, including Pinch and Lilian. What am I missing?”

Settie smiled. “It warms my heart that you listen to me so closely. Gray, I would like to thank you for…for not holding my lack of control against me. The kisses that we won’t be talking about. When I lost control and did things I shouldn’t.”

“We’re all just human.” Gray held up a hand. “It’s fine. I owe you my life, my new heart, all of my magic. It’s the least I can do. And we getting you to talk about anything is a challenge. Not talking about certain things is easy.”

That made her laugh. Not an easy thing to accomplish. “Yes. I am set in my ways. You are right to wonder about Ames. And there is also Lilian to consider. She hasn’t competed on Culling Day and she wasn’t there for horrors of Soulshred Week. However, there is something that First Field does between Soulshred Week and the Reckoning. It is called Redemption Midnight, which is a twenty-four hour period—midnight to midnight—were squads can bring in someone they want on their squad. Only three, though, can be on a Redemption Night team, and one of the people have to be from the squad. Most of the time, it’s for players who were culled or who dropped out of Soulshred Week. But new recruits can come. As you know, there are eight squads in the Testing. The top three teams to win Redermption Day are allowed to bring their recruits onto their squad.”

“Another fucking game. I hate dealing with the Magistrate and First Field.”

“You hate it because you’re not in control. But in the end, precious Gray, it will be worth it. I promise. It already has been. Look how powerful you and your friends have become. You will continue to get strong.”

“Three people you say.” Gray frowned. “That means it’s going to be me, Ames, and Lilian.”

“Why you?” Settie asked with a smile. “Maybe I’ll have Pinch run the Redemption team. She does have a vast core.”

“Not as big as mine,” Gray said. “When is Redemption Midnight?”

“In a month,” Settie said. “And yes, it will be you helping Lilian and Ames. It won’t be easy. In a sense, Redemption Midnight is Culling Day combined with Soulshred Week.”

“So no sleep,” Gray said.

Settie nodded. “And I expect it to be particularly brutal. The magistrate can’t be happy that you lost on purpose to save Pinch’s life. It was…remarkable.” her smile was big and beautiful. Even her eyes sparkled.

“You really weren’t mad.”

She didn’t answer for a long time. “At first I was livid, and soermtimes, when I think about how unruly you are, I still can get angry. But then, after some consideration, I understood the wisdom. It only created more chatter about Squad 23, and as long as we win the Reckoning, it won’t matter. We have to win.”

“What’s the Reckoning?” he asked. “I’m assuming it won’t be cooking eggs.”

“No,” Settie said quietly. “It won’t be that. It’s a competition, like everything else at First Field, only it takes place in Old Town, near the Weeping Well, and it’s…it won’t be pretty, precious Gray. The Reckoning, especially this year, is going to be ugly. Very ugly.”

Then she was done talking.

She stood up, fixed her mask to her face, and slipped on her hat. Holding her cane, she walked off without waiting for him.

She didn’t need to.

He knew where she was going.