Chapter 21: Hit list.
After visiting the largest market in Sunwell, and stacking up on ink and paper, Lee asked Tess to bring him to where Powel's mansion once was. Despite vigorous stepmother's protests, he insisted until she finally gave in.
As expected, Powel once owned a large estate right next to the palace. Lee's guess was that out of all nobles the minister of works probably had the largest piece of land in the city, even compared to the other members of the council. The only difference was that now it looked like it was struck by a localized natural disaster.
Hundreds of acres housed ruins of once lavish buildings, and next to the piles of debris Lee could see tens of lifeless bodies of Powel's household members, hanging at crudely constructed gallows. Strangely enough, while flocks of crows were feasting on the corpses, no scavengers crawled around the ruins, trying to loot valuables. Either it was the deterrence from the guards stationed around the place, or the fact that the former noble clan turned out to be traitors.
Lee did feel sad, but he had mostly made peace with the fact that he'll have to live with what he had done, probably forever. There was no way to bring anyone back to life, but if he could, there was only one person that came to his mind he would.
And after returning home, he began to draw that person, her mischievous smile, ever dancing ponytail, and her half of the amulet hanging on her chest. Seeing Lee going back to drawing gave Tess scare at first, but when on the sheet of paper instead of Powel's terrified grimace appeared Lisa's playful image, she could finally heave a sigh of relief.
"Who's that?" She curiously asked.
"A girl." Lee absentmindedly answered.
"Did we see her in the city?" Tess asked, to what Lee gave a barely visible nod and continued to draw.
She happily observed her stepson at work – he had never been too chatty, so him being silent didn't worry her. But him drawing a pretty girl was clearly a huge improvement. After a while Tess grew curious about the strange amulet the girl in the drawing had that resembled the mark on Lee's right palm, but she held back further questions and watched in silence.