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Chapter 24
Then
The moonlight cast my room in a soft silver. The sounds of my mother’s weeping echoed from downstairs as it had every night since my father’s death. Nothing I did quieted her cries, so after a few weeks I began to retreat to my room, leaving her alone.
I lay in bed replaying Calomyr’s words from the earlier part of the morning.
And…I believed him. I believed that he was telling the truth, that he was doing his best to help me without compromising his position. It was impressive that he had such a prestigious role at such a young age — he was twenty-seven, from what he’d told me. Even Inkwell trash knows the honor that comes with the role of a Royal Guard.
Then came his story. The heartbreaking image of a little boy trying to protect his younger brother. A lowborn, just like me, trying to make his way in the world, somehow landing a job with the Royal Guard. No father, dead mother, dead brother. The scars he bore to me, the pain he let me see, I wanted to hear more about it.
I wanted to hear more about it.
A feeling of disgust swept through my mind…disgust at myself. Why the fuck did I care about this man’s story? I needed to find out more about my father’s death, about his missing cloak, about whatreallyhappened, but here I was enthralled by some gumshoe’s tale of woe. The bastard could have been lying about the entire thing. I turned in my bed, pulling the poor excuse for a blanket up to my chin as I pouted. This wasnota feeling I enjoyed.
Plink.The sound of something hitting the side of the house broke me from my thoughts.Plink.What was that? A sick feeling gathered inside me, the creeping suspicion thick in my belly. It was replaced by annoyance when the sound rang again.
Plink.
I sat up in my bed, staring at the dirty, drafty window. Standing and all but stomping to the window, I threw it open to see Calomyr standing on the path that butted up to our house, his palm full of pebbles. Even from here I could see the color of his eyes as the moonlight illuminated his face.
He flashed a smile that made the dimples appear on his cheeks. A shock rang through my body, bouncing off my bones. “Hello,” he called quietly, that rich voice smoldering in the moonlight.
“How the fuck do you know where I live?”
“I’m a member of the Royal Guard, remember? Wasn’t hard for me to find out.”
“Don’t members of the Royal Guard have to... I don’t know…guard?”
“I have some time off.”
“Time off? Didn’t think that Royal Guards got time off.”
“I can be very persuasive.” His eyes almost glowed now.
“Invading my privacy is not a becoming trait,” I huffed.
“All this vitriol after the morning we shared together?” A devious grin appeared on his face, his brows raising. I snorted in response. Another smile. “Care to join me for a walk?”A walk?
“Why?” Disdain colored my voice. He let out a laugh. It was so genuine, so pure that I almost laughed along with him, reveling in this small moment of joy. I forced my face into neutrality, disgust even, intent to not give him any satisfaction.
“Because today was nice. And I’d like to continue the conversation,” he said matter-of-factly.
I pondered his statement. I wasn’t afraid of any dangers he could throw my way — I knew Inkwell like the back of my hand, all of its alleys and side streets. I could escape should I need to. Hell, if he killed me, I’d probably welcome it. But did I want to further complicate my life when it was already a mangled mess of grief? Did I want to invite in the struggles of other people while I battled my own? I rested my elbows on the grimy windowpane, never looking clean no matter how much Larka and I had scrubbed it.
Lips pursed, I pulled myself back inside my room and shut the window. What should I do?Larka would have known. She would have told me to toughen up, to march my ass out the front door and take a moonlit walk with a handsome stranger. And she would have waited up until I got home to hear all about it. Saints, she would have loved this.Don’t think, you idiot,she’d tell me.Just go.
I tied my cloak around my neck and padded down the stairs. My mother’s weeping had grown quiet but still audible from the kitchen. “I’m going out, Ma,” I called toward her bedroom. She didn’t respond, and I hadn’t expected her to. I stood inside the front door, took a deep breath, and stepped into the summer night, chilly under the stars.
???
The smile that lit his face as I descended the front steps sent heat through my chest. “I didn’t think you were going to accept my offer,” he said quietly.
“Yet, you waited.”
“I did.”
“You thought our conversation was so great that you had to track me down at my home and come calling in the night?” I asked incredulously as we fell into step together, walking south toward the harbor.
