Page 113 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

There were no further scribbles or blots, so I had to read the last paragraph as I would in any intelligence report.

With the victory imminent, your instruction will be observed in whole. Unless you advise otherwise (and with great haste) I shall proceed in calm assurance that our designs endure unchanged.

I ride the wind of the Creator’s breath, and with His abundant blessings,

Your Servant

My stomach turned at the use of the Shadowfang codes. That last sentence was simple assurance a dragon legion was returning home intact and unharmed. But this man had no right to speak of the Creator as if he walked in His light. And something about the previous lines niggled.

Once again, I faced conflicting sentiments, and this time, even with the codes in place, a confusing mix of signals.

As above, so below.

What could that mean? And why was it placed at the center of the message?

Next to me, Bren read the pages, a small v between her brows. When she looked up at me, I wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know what I’d learned about the possible assassination plans. I didn’t want to worry her if my interpretation of the message Voski had found was wrong.

But I didn’t believe it was. And if she’d learned of such a thing I would have wanted her to share it with me.

Without a word, I removed the other message from my other pocket and handed it to her.

Bren frowned harder when she saw the paper in my hand, then looked up at me with a question.

“Donavyn… what’s wrong?”

“Voski found one more message—this one comes from the king himself,” I said gruffly. “There’s more than one way to read it. Maybe you’ll see something in it that we missed.” I clawed a hand through my hair and gestured towards the paper. “Read that, then we can discuss both.”

I felt the jolt of nerves in her and hated that I was too cowardly to just tell her what I believed we were reading—but it was wise practice to allow fresh eyes at a problem without direction, to see if they saw the same things.

And in those seconds before her face fell into grief and fear, I prayed… prayed that she would see something I hadn’t. That she’d find a different piece of this puzzle.

But then she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “They’re talking about you?”

“I think so,” I said harshly. “At least, in one version. If it was a simple Shadowfang code, it would be more straightforward—about you. But that makes no sense. The queen wanted you here. Why would she call you back? So… I think… I think it’s the second one,” I ended gruffly. “And Voski agrees.”

She blew out a breath and shook her head. I felt her recoil in the bond—not from me, but from what she was thinking. I put a hand to her back. “We will figure this out—”

“What does that as above, so below code mean?”

“On Ruin’s message? I don’t know. I don’t see how that changes—”

“No, here. It’s on the king’s message as well.”

I frowned and leaned over her shoulder to look where she was pointing.

Sure enough, at the last s in citizens, that tiny, additional swoop. I hadn’t even noticed because it was subtle compared to the other scribble codes.

I frowned and took the paper from her. “But… this is your writing.”

“You said to copy everything, even the mistakes. Except, it wasn’t an error, was it? It was a symbol.”

She was right. And now we’d seen it twice—and we still didn’t know what it meant.

Fuck.

“I need to talk to Voski and Gil. They know the Shadowfang codes. I need them to look at both of these,” I said quietly.

Bren looked up at me, her forehead furrowed. “Donavyn… you can’t risk—”