The words land wrong in my chest, heavy and unreal. I think of frozen floors, empty cupboards, and learning to sleep with one eye open, and wonder when exactly all of that became a bedtime story.
He smirks at my reddening cheeks. ‘You give us hope, Lady Rose, that any of us can rise above our station.One of us.One of us is in the fucking High Hold. What a thing that is. What a dangerous thing, giving us hope.’ He leans forward. ‘Now, I promised discretion … but I might unpromise it real fast unless we can come to some new terms. All business, you understand. Nothing personal. So … those new terms …’
‘Listen you little guttersnipe—’ Kyor starts forward, drawing his sword, but he can’t hide the wince that even holding the weapon causes.
‘Is that any way for a prince to speak to one of his loyal subjects?’Lofty says. He drops the smile. ‘I want a favour. Just one. At a time of my choosing. Take it or leave it.’ He pauses. ‘If you leave it, I’ll make sure everyone in the Galreckian court knows Prince Kyor is in town.’
Ruben smirks. ‘You’ve either got a death wish or giant balls, kid.’
Lofty winks back. ‘Balls as big as a jötunn’s,’ he replies.
Ruben snorts, amused by the comeback, but Kyor, Benny, and I don’t. We can still remember the size of the giants, and those moments between life and death as they stomped around trying to kill us.
Frankly, I don’t want to be thinking of a jötunn’s private parts in any capacity. And thinking of the jötnar makes me think of Estel, her body broken on the sand. And thinking of Estel makes me think of Thea, and the way she deceived and manipulated Kyor. Stripped away his ability to trust and tried to turn me against him with her half-truths.
With effort, I focus on the here and now and the scrawny little blackmailer with freckles dotted across his face.
‘One favour,’I interrupt before Kyor can speak. ‘Fromme,and no one can die as a result of it.’
Lofty hesitates. He wants a favour from the prince in his back pocket, but he’ll have to settle for me. He finally nods. ‘Deal.’ He slides down off the barrel. ‘I’ll be seeing you, Lady Rose.’
‘I can’t wait,’ I say flatly.
He flashes me a surprisingly bright smile and then disappears into the slums.
The five of us are left alone with Elska. Battered, yes, but together.
As Caz moves to hug me, Ruben looks at Kyor. ‘You’re looking annoyingly alive,’ he mock-groans. ‘I hoped Stide had done a better job.’
Kyor grins. ‘Disappointing, isn’t it?’
Caz rolls her eyes at the men. ‘Good to see you still breathing, Kyor.’ For a second, she looks as if she might be about to hug him too, but instead she steps back. Still, something tells me he wouldn’t have shoved her away if she’d tried.
‘Thanks,’ he replies. ‘I’m quite pleased about it myself.’
While the greetings aren’t quite finished, I’m aware that we have more pressing issues that need answering.
‘Where are the others?’ I ask, looking at Benny. ‘Where’s Loch? And the Sannings?’
‘The Quiet Ones didn’t fancy the noise of the city of drink and drums.’
‘The city of drink and drums?’ I repeat with a half laugh. I suppose it works as a moniker. I’ve yet to meet a Galreckian who doesn’t enjoy some homebrew.
‘That’s what they call it,’ Benny explains. ‘Loch didn’t fancy it either. They’ll stick to the woodland, and we’ll meet them on the opposite side when we’re restocked with more food and extra horses. That’s what took us so long – we had to finish the last stretch on foot as we left them with the horses.’
Unease stirs. We don’t know Thessa and Stide well; they could decide to take the horses and go.
Caz reads my expression. ‘Thessa promised to stay, to wait for us,’ she says, eyes soft, ‘and she was telling the truth.’
The tension lessens but doesn’t fade entirely from me. I don’t doubt Caz’s power, but though Thessa was telling the truth when she made the promise, people can change their minds, and their truths change with them.
For now, I’ll just have to hope that’s not the case and focus on getting horses and food.
But before I can start to form a plan, Caz speaks again. ‘I want to head into the library,’ she says.
Benny huffs. ‘Of course you do.’
‘The Galreckians will have maps of this area,’ she says, ignoring Benny with flawless, practised ease. ‘And I suspect they’re a darn sight better than the ones from Wrohelm.’
