Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
“Much better. We meet again, my lady. As I said we would.”
That voice was like the auditory equivalent of chocolate. I should’ve mentioned that to Everard and Gort.
He gave me a wolfish smile.
Lute was right next to me, with his hand on his sword, and this guy didn’t have any weapons, but I didn’t feel safe. Something about him communicated danger. I needed to move this conversation to a place where we were not alone on a deserted street. It would take at least ten minutes to get off the hill.
I started down the sloping road. He joined in, walking next to me. Lute’s face behind him was sending all sorts of danger signals.
The mordok on my shoulder growled. At first glance, she looked a little like a slender white cat that had somehow sprouted large feathery wings. The wings reminded me of a seagull, her feet with their long non-retractable claws could have belonged to a racoon, and her face looked just like a mongoose. She was tiny and very light, barely two pounds, and only eighteen inches from the tip of her little black nose to the end of her long fluffy tail.
She looked cute, but her claws were wicked, and she was using them to try to shred the reinforced pauldron to which she was attached by a long, thin chain.
“You still haven’t told me your name,” he said.
“You haven’t told me yours, my lord.”
“I’m not your lord, but I could be.”
He said it like a come-on, but there was a threat wrapped in that smoldering voice. The faster we got down to the city, the safer Lute and I would be.
“What were you doing at the Harzi house?” I kept my voice light.
“They have something that doesn’t belong to them. I came to retrieve it.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“It seemed like the best option at the time.”
“You’re clearly a man of some means, although the quality of your wig and beard says otherwise. Why not simply bargain with them for it?”
He smiled. “I see my disguise has failed to impress.”
And he had ducked the question.
“It would be better if the beard matched your eyebrows.”
He chuckled softly. “Do you prefer me clean-shaven, my lady?”
I had to string him along until we reached the main street. “I do.”
He peeled the beard off and tossed it aside. “Better?”
He was a dangerous, scary bastard, but damn, that face. “Yes.”
“What were you doing at the Harzi house?”
“Buying a mordok.”
I pointed at the beast perching on the pauldron on my shoulder. The mordok promptly bit my finger.
“Ow!” I jerked my hand back. Blood swelled on my skin. That was the second time she’d bitten me today.
The man from the Garden laughed. “Adorable. What’s her name?”
“Tzeri.”
“How in the world did you convince the Harzi to sell you an animal? They do not trade with the likes of us.”
“They do if the price is right. The beastmaster was overjoyed to be rid of her. He told me not to bring her back.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
We were almost to the main road. I could see it below us. People walked across it, heading to the bridge connecting Old Town with the rest of Kair Toren.
“Every time we meet, you’ve risen in station,” the man said.
“How so?”
“In the Garden you looked like a beggar, then a servant; in the market like a merchant’s wife; and now you look like a noblewoman. I can’t wait to see what will come next. The colors of a Great Family, perhaps?”
“Perhaps.” Keeping it cool and noncommittal, that’s me.
“And then there is the other thing,” he mused.
“What is it?”
“Every time I see you, things take an unexpected turn.”
“In what way?”
Just a little farther.
“We meet at the Garden, and the next day the world discovers Galiene has a daughter. More, she breaks a five-year dry streak and takes a lover—and not just anyone. Inhan. The second prince.”
“I can’t imagine what that has to do with me.”
A brilliant move, Galiene. Of all people, Inhan had exactly the right combination of means, clout, and a lack of ambition that would keep her safe. Inhan Savaric had figured out long ago that his best chance at enjoying a long life hinged on convincing his older brother that he was not a threat. Kiel was rabid and aggressive, while Inhan was passive and avoided conflict. He indulged in wine and women, built elaborate moving models, and patronized the arts. When it came to his princely duties, he did the bare minimum, just enough to keep from enraging his father.
Both Sauven and Kiel had written Inhan off long ago, but he was still a Savaric. Not only did he possess considerable resources, but Kiel was directly invested in keeping his brother distracted. If Hreban threatened Galiene in any way, the crown prince would come down on him like a ton of bricks.