She opens her mouth, pulls a breath. A long moment passes before she blows it out empty.
Disappointment lands in my gut like a rock as she turns to walk away.
“Don’t climb the wall that borders the city. It’s dangerous.”
Pausing, she scoffs. “What happened to‘get out and live’?”
I arch a brow at the deep voice she puts on, swiftly lowering it when she steps so close we’re only separated by a charged slice of space I want to cut through. Leave in ribbons on the ground at our feet.
“What?” she purrs, the word scraping over my skin like a blade. “The rules suddenly change now that you’ve gotten me out the door?” Tilting her head, she looks up at me with that ice-pick stare. “Am I a bit hard for you to keep up with, Rhordyn? Now that I’mfree?”
“Is that what you really think?”
She frowns, taking another step so that our bodies are flush. I look down into her. Relish her sharp breaths that batter us closer as I reach into my pocket, pull out her piece of coal, and hold it up.
Her eyes flare, and I hear her heart skip a beat.
Another.
“Theentire time?”
“From the moment you stepped off that ship,” I growl, and she snarls, snatching the coal.
“Anything else you’d like to add?”
“Yes. Stay away from the town square over the next week.”
She looks over her shoulder at the bustling crowd. “Isn’tthisthe town square?”
“Market square. The other is bigger and on the eastern side. You somehow managed to avoid it during your sprint through the streets.”
She sighs, cleaving me with her full attention. “Why?”
“Because I noticed them cutting a tree down on the edge of the jungle.”
“And?”
“And things are done differently here. That boundary is only ever cut into when they’re preparing to burn someone at the stake.” Something flickers in her flat gaze, but quickly returns to the cold, apathetic mask that hurts to look at. “Cainon’s way of keeping the order—hacking into his peoples’ safety net then forcing them to watch somebody burn. You don’t need to see that.”
Her upper lip trembles, like she’s about to bare her teeth. Instead, she spits words at me like I’m nothing but a squelch of shit between her toes. “You don’t know me.”
Spinning, she stalks off, spearing a path through the crowd as though they share a hive mind, and I have to bite into my urge to follow.
“But I do,” I mutter, stepping back into the shadows.
Ifinish tallying the remaining coins spread across my crisp, white sheets, scoop them into a pile, then snatch my dagger and flip it from hand to hand, my resecured cupla swaying with the motion. I drag my finger along the blade’s smooth face, dangerously close to the sharp edge that slid through Rhordyn’s flesh …
It brought me a twisted sense of satisfaction to watch him bleed for me.
I wanted more.
I wanted to rip into his throat with my teeth. Tastehim as he dribbled from my lips.
The thought shocked me.
Frightenedme.
I got out of there before I did one of the many stupid things barreling through my head and went to buy some of that mulled wine I’d seen earlier.
