Chapter Four
Willow entered the inn, closing the door behind her. The succulent scent of cooked duck wafted to her. She immediately spotted Sage in the center of a group of five men rolling dice. Raven sat alone, quietly drinking ale at a back table. She didn’t see her father.
Willow walked up to the group, moving through the farmers and travelers until she stood behind her sister.
Sage spun the die, and they flipped, rolling across the wooden table before coming to a halt. A toothless man beside Sage smiled and nodded his head as the rest of the men groaned and mumbled their disbelief.
Sage reached forward to collect the coin laid out on the table.
The toothless man beside her caught her wrist. “My winnings,” he grumbled.
“Half of it. The rest are mine,” Sage replied, slipping her wrist free of his hold.
He sighed and nodded.
Willow exhaled softly. Sage would never cheat him of his coin. It wasn’t the Hawke way. He needed to be patient.
After Sage handed him his share, he grinned at her. “Nice doing business with you.”
Sage scooped up the rest of the coin and placed it into a pouch tied to her belt. “You’re back early,” she said to Willow.
“I want you to look at something,” Willow uttered.
Sage’s brow furrowed with concern. “Are you well?”
Willow nodded and led Sage from the inn. She guided her sister around the side of the wooden building where the moonlight shone enough to see.
“What is it? Did Christian hurt you?” Sage demanded.
Willow stopped and turned to Sage in disbelief. “No! No.” She looked one way and then the other, ensuring no others were around before reaching inside her armor and pulling out a pouch. She untied it and removed a small book. It was about the size of her hand.
Sage took it hungrily. She inspected the leather-bound book. “Where did you get this?”
“Christian gave it to me,” Willow said. A lie. But Sage didn’t need to know the truth. “Can you read it?”
Sage opened the book slowly as if in awe and stared at the parchment page. She shook her head. “I can’t read. You know that.”
“You can read some things. More than me, anyway.”
“Nothing like this.” She flipped carefully, almost reverently, through the pages. “Why would he give you a book? He knows you can’t read.”
“He can’t read either. Maybe he found no use for it.”
Sage’s her brow lifted in disbelief.
Willow shrugged. “Maybe he knew I’d give it to you.”
“Where is he?”
“He left,” Willow explained.
“He handed this book to you and left?” Sage asked suspiciously.
Willow nodded. Sage always knew when she wasn’t telling the truth, and Willow hoped the book was enough of a distraction that Sage wouldn’t doubt her.
“Is he coming back?” Sage asked.
Willow half shrugged. “I don’t think so. I mean…I really have no way of knowing. He didn’t say he was.”
