Benny smirks and makes his damned triangle symbol again.
I shoot him my most withering glare, but it does not wither him at all.
Instead, his smirk widens, unperturbed. ‘Maybe I’ll stick around for a bit to see how this goes. Ah, look. Here’s the big guy now.’
‘Everything all right?’ I ask my friend as he approaches.
Ruben crinkles his nose. ‘No, not really. We’ve got problems.’
Problems – plural? Fantastic.
Ruben continues, ‘That place doesn’t have any horses we can have, and the stable hand said there’s a festival tomorrow night. Most inns are going to be heaving. We’re going to struggle to get a room.’
I look between the others. ‘Caz and Benny have already decided to make their own arrangements.’
‘They have?’ he questions.
‘Library,’ Caz explains.
‘Acquaintance,’ Benny adds.
Ruben’s lips tighten, and I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing I am: that Benny’s acquaintances aren’t standard members of the court. But thankfully, he knows better than to say that.
‘Well, the owner felt bad about not being able to help with the horses, so he’s going to see if he can speak to a few friends of his and see what he can do for us. And in the meantime, he offered me space to kip in the stables,’ he says.
That’s Ruben all over. His goodness shines through so that people can’t help but trip over themselves to help him, because you can instantly tell that he’s the type who’d do the same for you.
‘Okay,’ I sayslowly, swallowing. Because if he kips in the stables, that means it’s just Kyor and me …
‘I guess I can sleep in the stables too,’ I say, but Ireallydon’t want to. After a night in a slum lean-to, I’ve been daydreaming of a warm room and a bed. I look at Kyor. ‘You wanted to spend the nights away from the lords and court life. Can’t get much further away than that.’
‘The stables may be a step up for you,’ he says to Ruben, ‘but it’s several steps down for me, and I’m not keen to sleep with the equines.’
If he weren’t so damned injured, I’d hit him.
‘I came from the slums too,’ I snarl.
He blinks. ‘I didn’t mean … you weren’t … you were born and raised in the High Hold.’
‘Until you drop-kicked her out of there,’ Ruben fires back.
Kyor’s eyes narrow.
‘Enough!’ I snap. ‘Focus. We need a place to stay and to gather supplies.’
Kyor sighs but looks at Ruben. ‘These stable rooms, they got a door?’
Ruben frowns. ‘No. They’re just piles of straw, but away from the horses.’
‘Which means other people will be there? Coming and going, I’m guessing. Stable hands. Owners?’
‘I guess so.’
‘Exactly.’ He looks back at me. ‘There’s no way you’re staying somewhere like that. It’s a big enough risk having you in a city again. A private room with a locked door is the minimum requirement. We can’t have you accidentally spraying ice everywhere.’
I want to protest, but before I can, Caz interrupts with a sympathetic glance at me.
‘He’s right, you know. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to when your magic flares up, and we haven’t had an incident in a couple of days. You might be due one.’
