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Phaelan covered his head--like that was going to help--and laid out a string of curses that’d make his crew proud I confess I joined him for a few seconds

The afterh Other pilot boats abandoned their escort charges and became rescue vessels There were people in the water and once the debris finally stopped raining down, the screams and shouts started The mass of people on the shoreline haddebris had started fires on the decks of at least four vessels, and at least one of the fro over the side into the harbor

I looked to the bow of the yacht where Prince Chigaru had been standing

It was empty

Empty didn’t oblin was showing so what Phaelan had done--cower and cuss But the nu and frantically searching the harbor below indicated that the prince had taken a swiood

Daain

The thick s the stern portion of the yacht

"Can you tell if she’s taking on water?" I yelled to Phaelan It was the only way to , but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t hit"

I ran down the boardwalk toward the dock closest to Chigaru’s yacht I’d been on Mid for nearly three months, and by now nearly everyone knew exactly who and what I was--orrock I was bonded to--and got the hell out of my way For some, they threw theht that was the lesser of two evils Sht I could actually get away frooblin I knew only too well pushed his way through the crowd, shucked his outer robe and dove off the pier after the prince, sh the water’s surface like a knife

Tahtclub owner Now he’d gone back to his old job as a duke and chiefoff the throne and put the prince on it, which had resulted in a big bull’s-eye on his chest Though right now, Ta could by diving into flah sense to keep his head dohen sailing into enearu survived his fall into the harbor, I was going to kill hiot to where Tam had taken a swan dive off the pier and looked down into dirty harbor water

No prince No Tah to stand next to me He looked down in the water, shook his head, and winced "Da to what they’re under," Phaelan said "I’ve seen what all gets tossed or duoblin scum," a man’s voice said from nearby

Phaelan and I turned our heads to find the speaker He picked that moment to shut up The coh to earn him some mutters of approval from some of the people around us Elves mostly, some humans The murmurs spread and my hand inched toward my shen a different man from farther back in the crowd said, "drown ’eoblins heard that

Great Just great

There was enough elf versus goblin hostility in the air to start our own little war right here A good nuuards If an elf shoved a goblin or a goblin said so to an elf, the boat would merely be the first explosion of the day

A pretty, petite, and highly pissed goblin pushed her way through the crowd on a dock jutting out closest to the yacht, and frantically scanned the water I couldn’t hear the word she spat, butjust fine

Ioblin secret service Like Ta would put the brakes on a coup faster than the future king and his chiefin as aru’s shoulders The prince appeared to be out cold

"Pakil Zukat Help the duke" Ioblins jumped Literally

Tam twisted in the water, and I saw it

A crossbow bolt sticking out of Chigaru’s shoulder The explosion didn’t throw him in the water; an assassin’s shot did The explosion must have made the prince drop his shield, just before that bolt arrived Talk about bad tier by the second Ar for a hitto find Anyone hired by Sathrik to take out his baby brother would have enough sense to be long gone by now Once he found out that his shot just took Chigaru in the shoulder, he’d be back for another try But for now, he’d have ditched the crossbow, and was probably having a drink in a dockside dive