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“It could be anything, Sol. We have to proceed with caution.”
“Whatever it is, it’s better than dying out here. We will make it work.”
“Sol, remember we need to conceal who we are.”
“This is what you wanted,” I reminded him, spurring my horse on. “Come on.”
A single row of buildings that constituted a small town emerged through the rain once we had almost reached the source of the light, but it was life, and that was all we needed. In the middle of the row, the source of light we had seen glowed bright in the dark.
A smile broke out on my face. “It’s an inn!”
“Thank the Goddess.”
“I told you we’d find something.” I had to get the jab in.
“You did. Good instincts, Sol.”
He was being entirely too humble, and I didn’t like it. It raised the hair on the back of my neck.
We dismounted and walked around to the rear to find the groom. He was asleep in a corner of the stables but quickly roused to take the horses. I moved to help get the saddle off.
“Go inside, miss. You look half drowned.”
“We are, thank you,” Nyx answered for us.
“I’ll bring in your bags once I’ve seen to the horses,” the groom said, waving us away. He was already working on getting the horses stripped and brushed down.
We hurried through the downpour to the inn door and entered, shaking water off. When I looked up, all eyes in the room were on us, and I drew up short. Nyx pressed in behind me.
“I didn’t think anyone would be foolish enough to still be out there,” the innkeeper said from the bar.
“It caught us off guard,” Nyx said lightly, playing down the peril we’d been in.
“You must not be from around here if you don’t know to always expect the sky to open this time of year.”
“Would you have rooms we could wait it out in?” Nyx met him there while I shook water to the growing pool at my feet and tried to ignore the stares we were getting.
“I don’t know if we have any. We had someone move on this morning, but I’ll have to check with my wife to find out if she’s promised it to anyone else. Sit down and dry yourselves by the fire, at least. If we don’t have a room, you can roll out your bed rolls by the fire, so you don’t have to sleep in the rain.”
“Thank you,” Nyx replied with a smile.
“Nothing fancy, but there’s stew on. Eat something. It’ll help warm you from the inside out.”
“Sounds perfect. The groom said he would bring in our things…”
The innkeeper laughed. “Warm yourselves by the fire for now. That boy works slow, and to him, the horses come first. Besides, your things will be as wet as you are. Best you warm up until he’s done. I’ll have my wife bring your stew.”
I wanted to get away from the interested gazes of the inn’s guests, but he was right, and the fire was too inviting.
“We will. Thank you.” Nyx turned to me, an unreadable expression on his face, and guided me to a table near the hearth.
I peeled off my outer clothes, pleased to shed the weight of the sodden fabric. We hung them on wall hooks beside the hearth and took a seat. I thought about trying to climb into the fireplace. I’d blocked out how cold I truly was until we’d stepped into the sweltering inn. Every part of me shivered, and I barely held them back. Nyx said I was fireproof-ish, which meant it was safe to sit in the flames, right?
“Don’t you think about it!” He shot me a glare.
I smiled sweetly while peeling off my sweater. “It was merely an idea. I don’t know how I’ll get warm if they don’t have a room, though. I can’t exactly climb into my bedroll sopping wet.”
He blinked and then tore his gaze away. “They’ll have a washroom for you to change in, and maybe some hot water left over to wash up.”
