“Suit yourself,” he said. “You know the way easily by now, I should think.”
She scowled at his retreating back.
A death-cart rumbled along the cobblestones, and he stiffened on the stairs, listening to its path. “How did the bodies appear? In the forest.”
“Black boils.” She stared at the break in Riselda’s horrid curtains, thoroughly unwell. “Just as before.”
Chapter thirteen
The morning faded beneathdreams for the first time in so many days, Lux couldn’t even drudge up another recollection.
It had been nearly noon when she’d finally stretched her sore muscles and aching joints. Cautiously adjusting the mussed rug of the living room floor, she’d taken the time to note her aunt’s absence before leaving herself. Perhaps Riselda was out shopping for more extravagant potions.
Lux trailed gloved fingertips along the brick, crumbling mortar giving way beneath the black material. It was a cold morning for high summer. Then again, it was often cold around the mayor’s birthday. A weird blip in the season that occurred with an unsettling regularity.
She wiped dusted fingers against her dress.
She rounded the street corner where the smells of the Dark Market greeted her first and a sea of masks second. She slowed, surveying the crowd. The furtive glances were magnified above the thin fabric, spread to even the vendors as they hardlybartered their prices, voices hushed and foreboding like the sickness could latch onto their words, coat their tongues and slip down their throats.
Lux scanned the sellers, searching for one in particular as she strode to his usual place. It was empty of its usual tins, the dark wood scratched and weathered. Her eyes traveled the market again swiftly, but she knew Finias wouldn’t be found. Which wagon ride had been his?
And how would she replenish her supplies now?
Lux caught the stare of the old woman from whom she often purchased wyvern claws. Across the Dark Market, she hurried to stand before her squat booth, observing the jars of claws and talons without turning her lip up at the hideous jewelry the woman attempted to craft from them.
“When did Finias die?”
The old woman hacked, no mask in place, and Lux backed away. “I don’t know. Yesterday. Maybe the day before.”
“Was it the new sickness that took him?”
“How should I know!” Irritation dragged the woman’s eyebrows down, and she swatted the air. “Why do you care?”
Lux glowered. “Howler canines.”
The humped vendor clucked, jowls quivering. “Ah, guess you best set your own traps about the forest, girlie.” She cackled, revealing toothless gums. “Are you going to buy claws from me today?”
Lux spun, ignoring her entirely.
“Rude, ungrateful chit!” A spew of hacking coughs followed.
Lux called over her shoulder, “You really should cease smoking those marsh-grass cigars or you’re sure to join him soon, madam.”
A massive talon grazed her cheek, but she kept walking.Perhaps not. The old crone did possess more strength than most.
Standing before Shaw’s worndoor, Lux wondered at the flutter in the pit of her stomach before quickly deciding it must be indigestion. It couldn’t be anything else. A glance over her shoulder at the alchemist’s now-covered basement window made her huff in annoyance. Attempting to glimpse any further clues of its secrets would be a wasted effort.Damn it all.
She turned her back on the disappointment and knocked once. Then she shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her dress as she waited. She hoped he was actually at home. They should have discussed a time.
A mimicked screech sounded from behind her, and Lux whipped her head toward it. High above, a child dangled from a fourth story balcony, picking her teeth with a bone and grinning. A second screech left the little beast’s mouth.
Don’t leave me out here, Prowler.
She knocked again, harder.
Not a handful of heartbeats passed, and Shaw’s bare chest filled the doorway, trousers low on his hips. He squinted up at the overcast sky. “It’s afternoon.”
Lux couldn’t say a thing. The odd flutter in her belly had morphed into an unfamiliar flame that not only sent a flush of heat through her but burned every thought from her head. She had seen him in less once and hadn’t even blinked.Fine,she’d blinked a bit. But this was something else entirely. What was the matter with her?
