I arched a brow. I had expected her to bury him in indignant words, not strike first. I couldn’t deny she knew how to defend those she loved in her own way (but was pitiful in defending herself). Not subtle, no. But entertaining. At least, she knew how to defend those she loved, though she was pitiful at defending herself. So I leaned back against the wood of a nearby stall.
The sailor turned his ankle, forcing a crooked smile to hide his pain. “It’s nothing… But you should come aboard my ship, my beauty. I promise we’ll entertain you enough to change your poor opinion of me.”
He extended his hand toward her with false charm, but his eyes caught on something behind her. I hadn’t bothered to remain invisible for long. The sailor hesitated, whether from the misty shadows clinging to me or from my gaze, I couldn’t say. Yeun always claimed my eyes glowed with something inhuman, so severe it could freeze even the hottest flame of a will-o’-the-wisp.
“And you are?” the sailor sneered, tossing me a coin. “Find yourself another prey.”
I caught it between two fingers. Copper. Not even gold.Pathetic. “She is mine.”
The words escaped before I could stop them. Lempicka gasped, spinning toward me, her cheeks aflame, a hand pressed to her face.
“She is with me,” I corrected, my tone more measured.
Before the sailor could respond, I returned his coin—with magic so subtle it was imperceptible until impact. The metal struck his chest with the force of a cannon blast, sending him hurtling backward. He crashed through several stalls, crates exploding under his weight, glass shattering in a deafening roar.
Lempicka’s mouth fell open, but no sound escaped. A few heads turned, then quickly looked away. Just another brawl in the market. Nothing unusual.
“We said no violence,” she finally whispered, exasperated.
“I threw a coin.”
“You threw it so hard he smashed through stalls! Look at that horrible lump on his forehead!”
I tilted my head, feigning thought. Behind us, the sailor, still dazed, tried to push himself up on one elbow, groaning. A cuff link rolled to his feet. Disoriented, he slipped on it and toppled backward. This time, he vanished into a shadowed fissure, a strangled cry dissolving into nothing.
“That lump was clouding his vision,” I noted flatly. “I fixed it.”
“You—you what—? He’s?—?”
“Where he belongs,” I concluded, a smile brushing my lips.
Lempicka opened her mouth, then shut it.
“Besides, I know what you did with that broom you claimed you didn’t want. Look who chose violence first.”
She pressed her lips together. Before she could protest, a vendor marked with a clover smacked my shoulder and shoved the scrunchie into my hand. “Hey, you forgot this.”
Lempicka instantly pointed an accusatory finger at me. I shoved the silk into the bottomless pocket of my coat, where the other objects already lay hidden.
“I can explain,” I said quickly.
“Go on. I’m listening.” Her eyes widened.
“There’s… a rule in the market. Everything you touch, you must buy. Otherwise…” I searched desperately for a plausible excuse.“Otherwise the magical potential warps.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, tightening her grip on her broom. “You bought everything I touched?”
I swallowed. Spoken aloud, it sounded idiotic. Perhaps one of my worst ideas to date. “Let’s not lose sight of our objective. I need to retrieve the ingredient and the lanterns for Yeun. Quickly.”
Without waiting, I strode off, hoping to escape the burning shame threatening to consume me. My thoughts collided as I walked. Yeun was right—I was reckless, wasteful, and now a liar. I had never seen the use of lying until today. Worse, I was seriously considering vandalizing the officer’s ship out of sheer envy.
I bought the lanterns quickly, eager to move on. I turned. “Lempicka, we?—”
She was gone.
Only the shifting crowd surged around me, loud, insignificant. I cracked my neck, my jaw tightening as a hundred catastrophic scenarios rushed through me at once. I would have to find her before she causes a diplomatic incident, or sells her soul to save some soul in distress.
I plunged into the crowd, my gaze scouring every corner of the market, not knowing which way to run, driven only by that visceral, unpleasant need to find her. But instinct snapped me back to order. First—the ingredient. If I went after her now, we would leave empty-handed. And that was not an option.
