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“An inn?” Cari asked as we stopped before Marlian’s inn. “What are we doing here?”
“The owner is a close friend,” I said. “She might have a way to get a message across to the castle.”
“You are just going to walk inside and ask her?” Cari asked. “Why would she risk herself and go against the new king just to help you?”
“She is a friend,” I repeated, turning around to meet her gaze. When I saw that she was genuinely confused, I knew that she wasn’t as familiar with the concept. “Friends don’t betray you simply because they are afraid.”
Cari took my words the wrong way. Her expression became stiff as she nodded. I wanted to tell her that I had not thought about her when I spoke, but before I could, she pushed the door and entered the Widow’s Den.
We followed her inside.
“Should I lift the cloak on us?” she asked.
But I could not focus on her.
The Widow’s Den had changed, drastically.
The many trinkets that Marlian had brought from all over the world to beautify her inn were gone. The rainbow colors she was prone to use were replaced with dark ones, mostly black. Even the stone walls looked different, although I knew for certain that they had always been grey.
“Not yet,” I said. “Something feels off.”
The inn was nearly empty as well. Widow’s Den, despite its quirkiness, had always been very popular. This was not only because of the delicious food, which couldn't be found anywhere else in Qam, but also because Marlian had a knack for selecting the most talented minstrels to play at her inn. But tonight, the smell of food was not as alluring. And there was no music. It was nearly dinner time, and still, the place was almost deserted.
An old man whom I did not recognize stood behind the bar. He had an uninviting expression on his face as he wiped the counter with a dirty cloth.
“Can you make him think I’m someone he knows?” I asked Cari. “I’ll ask him where Marlian is.”
Cari nodded. As she kept the fog around the others, the man’s gaze widened and he spotted me. He did not smile, but as I approached him, he went back to wiping the counter as though he wasn’t worried about me at all.
“Good evening,” I said.
“Marlian is up in her room,” he said.
Cari must have made him say that. I nodded as though it were perfectly normal for him to give me the information that I needed without me asking and gestured at the others to follow me.
The man did not say anything as we pushed the door behind the bar and entered the little stairwell leading up to the second floor where most of the rooms were.
There was no one here either. Normally, Marlian’s inn would be full of patrons who ate and drank as well as travelers who stayed in the rooms that we passed by. Marlian’s room was at the end of the hallway but as we walked there, I could feel the cold coming from the other rooms; there were no guests at Marlian’s inn.
“She is in there,” Cari said.
I knocked on Marlian’s door. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, I heard footsteps and the door opened wide.
Marlian stood before me, changed just like her inn. She no longer wore the olive-leaved crown she was so proud of. She was dressed in purely black, and her expression was stiff until she recognized me.
“Kieran,” she said with a tone that I’d never heard from her. Her voice broke toward the end.
We hugged. And for a while, neither of us talked.
I knew then why the inn had changed so much. As we parted, I saw a tear sliding down her cheek. She looked at me and I knew she shared my pain.
“Come in,” Marlian said, gesturing me to follow her inside. She did not seem surprised to see Gethin, Cari, and Casja coming into the room behind me.
“You can lift the cloak,” I said to Cari as Marlian closed the door behind us.
“I already did,” Cari said.
“I am so sorry about your father,” Marlian said.
