Chapter 28 - 28: The Value of a Spy

In the two weeks she'd spent in the Vale of Mists so far, Ashlynn had heard mention of Marcell several times. According to Thane, the vampire progeny that had trained as a spy and assassin was the youngest of Nyrielle's progeny, if someone the age of her grandfather could be considered 'young.'

Thankfully, Marcell was young enough that his writing lacked the archaic spelling that plagued anything Nyrielle wrote, even if his tight, cramped handwriting came with challenges of his own. Clearly, he was accustomed to writing on small slips of paper to be sent by carrier pigeon. When she read the words of the report, his concise writing only added to the feeling.

For several minutes, the only sounds in the room were the crackling of the hearth and the rustling of pages as Ashlynn sat with the heavy parchment of Marcell's report. Her eyes scanned from the top of the first page to the bottom and moved to the next before returning to the first page of the report and reading again, tracing her finger along the tightly spaced words as though afraid she'd missed one.

...