ToP Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five: A Tortured Man

Kinesee, now under constant guard after surviving an assassination attempt, grapples with the reality that her childhood is over, shaped by Maro’s blunt warning and her father Iku’s lessons about life-altering moments. Seven days after the attack, Maro offers her the chance to confront a surviving assassin, Pedant Ilskrit, whose interrogation could reveal why she, as a Mikjehemlut, was targeted. Reluctantly, Kinesee joins Maro and Semerun in a tent, facing the defiant, beaten Pedant. He admits to being hired for a Hidreng gold crown to kill her, orchestrated by a now-dead Wymed, but claims ignorance of the mastermind, speculating it was clan-blood hiding their wealth’s origin. Kinesee, asserting her new maturity, demands the coin as recompense and suggests feeding Pedant to pigs, a bluff to pressure him. Maro probes for connections to the Church or northern clans like Preat Yungar or Tirus—known Emudar enemies—but Pedant denies Church involvement, admitting only possible Tirus ties among his crew. When Kinesee asks about his family’s losses to the Shadows, Pedant reveals losing six siblings, insisting they’d have taken the same job, shaking her. Choosing to withhold prayers for his soul, Kinesee leaves, instructing Maro never to reveal Pedant’s fate, signaling her resolve to embrace a harder edge while shielding herself from the moral weight of his punishment, as clan grudges and her new identity deepen the threats around her.

• ToP Chapter 24 — A Simple Execution
• ToP Chapter 26 — Skyward Prison
• Trail of Pyres - Main Chapter Listing