Illusions 8

“That’s the second thing I need from you. Picture Hesset, as thoroughly as you can. The details of her face, the way she moves, her posture, the sound of her voice … Everything.”

Kallist smiled broadly in sudden understanding. “Not bad, Jace.”

“Tell me that after it works.”

A few moments’ concentration, to ensure that Jace had her face and her voice as accurate as Kallist’s memories could make them. A few moments more, and the guards outside saw one of the upper windows of the manor come flying open. Ronia Hesset leaned out, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth as though she’d been struck.

“Get up here!” she shrieked, voice tinged with desperation. “Now!”

From inside the coat closet, Jace and Kallist listened as boots pounded past them. It would take only minutes, if even that, for the real Hesset to hear the sounds of her soldiers returning, to meet them and order them to resume their posts outside.

***

Agents of Artifice, Chapter 11