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“And allowed Minister Ni to slip away,” Tang said

“That’s not—”

CASSIOPEIA HUSTLED TOWARD THE STAIRS AND CLIMBED THE allery She crouched, keeping herself beneath the balustrade that protected the gallery from the hall beyond, and eased herself to the corner A quick look confirmed that one man stood about a third of the way down, dressed in a woolen robe, holding a crossbow, his back to her

Quietly, she shed Viktor’s fleece jacket

She listened, hearing Cotton’s voice

Then Tang’s

And allowed Minister Ni to slip away That’s not—“Malone” Viktor’s voice

Knife in hand, she crept forward

TANG SAW VIKTOR APPEAR, SEEMINGLY FROM NOWHERE HE wondered how long he’d been inside the hall Thewith Malone and Vitt

Was anyone else here?

NI SAW THE FOREIGNER, THE SAME MAN WHO’D SAVED HIS LIFE inside Qin Shi’s tomb

Was he friend or foe?

At the instant he decided foe, and was about to cry out an alarm, the man shouted Malone’s name

MALONE WHIRLED

Viktor was rushing toward hi him to the floor

Malone lost his grip on the gun, but grabbed Viktor by the throat, raining down bloith his right fist, yelling, “Where is she?”

Viktor broke free, ahis eyes “She’s far downstream Gone”

Malone lunged and slugged away in earnest, enjoying the thud of his fist hitting bone Viktor retreated

Lots of roo the arches, the weaponry, and the braziers He thought one of the swords aze darting to lances displayed beside ar the ba Malone at bay

His breath caht-headedness returned

His insides boiled like lava

Thisbut trouble on every occasion Now Cassiopeia was dead, thanks to him

“Aren’t you a tough guy with a spear?” he taunted

Viktor tossed him

the weapon, then grabbed another

CASSIOPEIA HEARD THE FIGHT SHE NEEDED TO POSITION HERSELF to help Thattoward, whose attention was on the melee She passed wallbronze, jade, and porcelain treasures Thethe gallery’s length She held the knife, but another option forht, displayed in a wall niche, were a dozen or so figurines Human bodies with animal heads, arh She stepped close, stuffed the knife in her pocket, and grabbed one

A dog-faced piece, heavy, with a thick rounded base

Perfect

She headed straight for her target

One swing to the base of the neck and the man crumpled to the marble As he fell, she relieved him of the crossbow He’d have a headache later, but that was better than being dead

She glanced down

Viktor and Cotton faced each other in the center of the hall, each holding a lance Ni still had the sword to Pau’s neck No one seemed to have noticed what had happened one floor up She stared across at the remainder of the first-floor arches and spotted no one

She was alone, armed, ready

TANG HAD INSTRUCTED ONE BROTHER TO POSITION HIMSELF in the upper first-floor gallery, crossbow ready He should be stationed to his left, about halfway doard the ht, within the ground-floor gallery, out of Ni’s sight

As the fight continued in the center of the hall, he casually glanced right and caught sight of the two brothers

A gentle shake of his head signaled, Not yet

But soon

MALONE KEPT HIS EYES LOCKED ON VIKTOR

Pupils that sly scoisted the face

“Do you kno many times I could have let you die?” Viktor asked

He wasn’t listening Me waves All he could see was Cassiopeia being waterboarded, her body dropping into the river, Viktor taunting hi on the rocks, to blame for it all