If someone so young could put their trust in her, then surely she could put her trust in Theo.
“Then that’s where we’ll go,” she declared.
She looked over her shoulder to find Theo following a few steps behind. He rested one hand lightly on the hilt of his sword as if he could pull it from its sheath at a moment’s notice. The other hand hung loose at his side.
Despite the awkwardness in his gaze as he scanned the crowd, having him there gave her a peace she couldn’t deny.
She wandered slowly between the stalls with Maisie on one side and Amber on the other, their little hands tugging her toward every glittering, colorful display. Her heart felt lighter than it had in months. Laughter rang out around them as merchants called out their wares and children darted underfoot with sticky fingers and berry-stained smiles.
They paused at a trinket stall, where tiny carved wooden animals and delicate combs were arranged with care on blue velvet.
Maisie pointed to a little fox figurine. “Look, it even has its tail curled just like the one we saw outside the stables!”
Amber, still holding Lavina’s hand, pointed at a crimson ribbon that fluttered in the wind. “Red,” she said softly.
Lavina gasped with joy. “Aye,. That’s right. Ye’re a fast one, are ye nae? Soon, ye’ll be talkin’ me ear off.”
Amber’s lips quirked up in the smallest of smiles, her confidence growing.
They moved on to a lantern stall, where glass globes in jewel tones glowed with trapped sunlight.
Amber tugged Lavina toward one. “Blue,” she said shyly.
Lavina crouched beside her and ran a hand through her hair. “Ye’re doin’ so well. Ye’re sayin’ so many words today.”
She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes instinctively seeking out Theo.
He wasn’t far, standing just behind them, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes sharp beneath the shadows of the tavern eaves. He hadn’t touched a single thing since they arrived, hadn’tso much as looked at a stall—but he was always watching. Watchingthem. Like a silent sentinel cloaked in leather and quiet strength.
When Lavina caught his gaze, she offered a small smile. And to her surprise, he smiled back.
It wasn’t wide or showy, but it was real. There was a tenderness to it that made her heart ache. She looked away, flustered, but the warmth lingered.
They moved next to a dressmaker’s stall, where bolts of fabric flowed like waterfalls and gowns hung like dreams waiting to be worn. Maisie spun in a circle, the ends of her braid whipping around her shoulders.
“This one!” she cried, holding up a lavender dress with puffed sleeves and embroidered vines. “It’s like the wildflowers near the stream!”
Lavina laughed, but the sound caught in her throat. Just beyond the dress rack, in the periphery of her vision, she saw a glint. A shimmer of metal.
Reflexively, her entire body went stiff. Her smile dropped. Her hand squeezed Amber’s so tightly that the girl looked up, startled.
Theo was at her side before she even turned her head.
“What is it?” he asked, his voice grounding her instantly.
She swallowed hard and leaned in. “One of me uncle’s men. I swear it. By the tavern… across from the tailor’s. He was watchin’ us. I saw the light catch in his brooch. The same one they all wear.”
Theo’s eyes narrowed. He scanned the crowd with practiced precision, but when Lavina turned to point, the space was empty. The glint was gone.
She blinked, her heart racing, her lungs constricting like they’d forgotten how to expand.
“I—he was there,” she stammered, her voice trembling with terror.
It was her worst fear come to life.
A knot twisted in the pit of her stomach, and she shook her head. “I saw him.”
Theo placed a steady hand on her back, solid and warm above the layers of her gown. “That’s enough. We’re done here.”
