Page 48 of Badmouths & Bards

Casimine bumped his toe with his own, sending him a pointed look. Perhaps showing more concern than normal might have tipped Seira off that they had crossed a boundary, but Ameriden didn’t really care. Worst case, their manager would chew them out, but she wouldn’t be able to stop them from seeing Tala if that’s what they wanted. Seira was their manager, but she had no business in who they slept with.

“She’s a little rough around the edges, but I trust the Valiant Circle. Short of being the king’s personal guard, there aren’t many mercenaries or warriors I would place as highly as them. Maybe a paladin or cleric of the Sun Bringer.” Seira tapped her nails against her cup. “Why the sudden concern? Anything new happen?”

Shit.

The subtle movement in Casimine’s mouth made it clear that Ameriden had fucked up.

“No, nothing like that,” Ameriden lied with a shrug. “I think Casi and I are just restless. We’ve been stuck in this room for a while, Seira.”

If Tala had ended up rejecting them, Ameriden had planned to sneak out later in the night. Naturally, he would have persuaded Casimine to go with him. A few glamour spells and some coin went a long way no matter where you were. The satisfaction of sharing their bodies might have been fulfilled, but Ameriden was just as restless as Dumpling.

“I’ve already talked to the manager about switching rooms,” Seira sighed. “But that won’t really work in the long run. Whoever your admirer is, they know you’re in Eshorion and they probably already know why.”

The king’s daughter’s birthday—her ceremony celebrating her adulthood. Lots of different cultures celebrated adulthood in their own ways. If Ameriden hadn’t left before he came of age, he would have most likely had spent it beneath Ordia’s three moons. Bathed in the light of the Water Mother, his family would have waited for him at the bottom of the waterfall, arms outstretched and singing. The act of jumping into the circle of family and friends was a symbol of transformation. Once his body hit the water, the pool would forever be changed, just like he would have been.

But there had been no birthday celebration when Ameriden turned twenty. Only a goblet of ale at the bar as he and Casimine watched Gildeon Almond take the stage after them, mesmerizing the patrons with a tale of the third age of Ordia.

At least Gildeon had put on a hell of a show.

“We appreciate how protective you are, Seira, truly,” Casi said, patting the back of their manager’s hand. “We’re just restless.”

“Yeah, water hanfen stuff is all,” Ameriden replied.

Whether it was in the nature of hanfen to be restless or not was debatable. They were the elements of the world made into the image of the gods. They could manipulate water to their will, could summon it from the air itself. Scholars—both of their own people and outsiders— had agreed that most hanfen had a desire to be in motion. The air hanfen were nomadic by nature with their air kingdoms. Water and fire hanfen traveled based on the seasons. It was really only the earth hanfen that never strayed from where they were planted. A curious trait that they shared with dwarves.

Seira had told them the origin of dwarves when they had began working together. That like earth hanfen, dwarves had been dug out of the mountains like stone giants. The same way the first halflings had emerged from the inside of cabbages—though that had sounded even more far fetched to Ameriden. Still, there were similarities to their people’s creation, and given how most earth hanfen thought of dwarves as very distant relatives, it had only ever made sense that Seira would empathize with their need to move.

“I know, I know,” she rubbed her temples. “Listen, I would love nothing more than to just take the locks off and let you boys run wild, but things are messy right now. Somebody knows you’re here, the locals are on edge because of the increase of crime, and to top it all off, the king has been informed we arrived early and wants to arrange a meeting for his daughter before her official party.”

Ameriden shared a glance with Casimine.

“A meeting?” Casimine asked.

The sounded a little unusual, even for them. Yet Seira didn’t appear to have registered the question as she continued.

“Not to mention a good chunk of your luggage is still out at sea! We don’t have half the costumes we had planned for the event and now the king wants you to attend a dinner party? Dressed in what outfits?!”

Ameriden shrugged, “I mean we could always go naked—ow, damn it, Casi!”

“That wasn’t him,” Seira grumbled.

Chapter 21

Taldesa

Avie still hadn’t answered her.

Not that Tala had been super nice when she sent her last message. If anything—looking back at it now, Tala would almost say she was embarrassed by it.

Almost.

The hurt and pain was still there, brimming beneath the surface of her satisfied body. It was a weird mixture of being really pissed off yet pleasantly buzzed. In some ways, Tala could still feel them inside of her and that conflicted with how badly she wanted to punch some random Eshorion. As if punching one of them could possible inflict pain on whoever Avie was shacking up with in GloomsDale. Either way, it was bringing down the buzz of what was probably the best sex Tala had—maybe ever, if she was honest with herself.

Yanking the hood of her purple cloak over her head, Tala shouldered past the crowd as she followed the familiar path to the merchant district. It wasn’t too far from the Golden Manor—just a brisk jog down the cobbled path and the familiar line of buildings was just in sight. The smell of the forge for one of four local blacksmiths mixed with the light rain that fell from the overcast sky.

Tala had visited the merchant district with Avie when they had spare gold. It was usually coin Tala had won in showman games with the local drunks. Darts, archery—skills that were more about dexterity and endurance than brute strength. They would usually split a pastry—always something new—while they admired silks and finery they couldn’t afford. They hadn’t dared go into the jeweler’s place—mostly because it tended to have a lot of the kings’ guard stationed next to it. The local thieves guild had hit that particular shop way too many times, and trouble tended to find Tala and Avie no matter where they went.

Or maybe trouble just finds me.