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Elisa and Neia walked towards us hand-in-hand. I got the impression they were together but not with Sai. I wasn’t sure what I placed their group as, and I didn’t wish to stay with them long enough to find out.
“We got out of an unfortunate situation,” he said.
“Yes, but how? There was a padlock on that cart.”
Elisa twisted a key between her fingers as she walked up. “I’m good with locks.”
I stared at her. A million questions bubbled in my mind. They didn’t matter. I needed to stay with this group until we reached the city tomorrow. I didn’t know who the hell they were, but they didn’t seem set on harming me. They were probably my best bet until we made it into a village where I could slip away and find some… My thoughts froze and I whirled towards the dark path that sloped over a hill the jailers had disappeared onto. “My money.”
“...if we gather our supplies and move east off the main roads,” Sai said to Neia who frowned at him, “we’ll make up any lost time and…”
Elisa heard me, though. “Your money?”
“Yes. Everything I have they took with them.”
“We’ll get you some more,” Sai said without looking at me. “Let’s find our supplies and—”
“You mean you’ll steal more?”
He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m trying to help you here.”
“I’m not stealing from innocents.” I had enough guilt trailing me as it was.
Neia kicked a pinecone, and it clattered out onto the road. “Thinking most people innocent is a generous assumption.”
Wind rattled through the trees, crackled the limbs, and goosebumps rose on my arms. I didn’t have a jacket or money to purchase one. Regardless, I wasn’t stealing. I’d earned that coin, and I wanted it back. “Thank you for your help so far, and I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. I’ll see myself forward from this point.”
I marched down the path the wagon had gone. I could catch up and use my song to compel them to give me the coins back and forget about the encounter. Mother always warned about using too much magic in the human realm because it could attract fae, and we weren’t supposed to live in the human lands. But it would just be a few notes, not more than what I’d used with Sai earlier, and I didn’t plan on lingering, anyway. If it drew fae towards Mother, that was her problem.
Thinking of Sai seemed to draw the man to me. My neck prickled before he swept up beside me. His jacket crackled in the breeze, and that sweet, burnt smell surrounded me again, making my heart race. “Where are you going?”
“To get my money back.”
“You’ll get yourself arrested again.”
We reached the top of the hill, and my words came heavy as my breath picked up. “I have my ways.”
He grabbed my arm to stall my steps. “Please, let’s think through this. We… can’t draw attention right now and the watchmen have already seen us together.”
The weight of his fingers rested against the bare flesh of my arm. He had smooth calluses and skin so cool it stung, sending jolts of attraction through me. Damn it. The silvery light of the moon glistened in his eyes and a lock of hair drifted over one. I had the strangest urge to brush it away and let my fingers linger against his flesh.
I pulled away from him and took a step back. “Why?”
He gave his head a shake, his bangs falling in place. “I…” He stopped speaking as Elisa and Neia walked up behind us. The latter looked ready to throttle us both. Sai didn’t strike me as the type of man to feel uncertain often, but he seemed so precariously out of place at that moment, his lips pinched as if he didn’t know the answer either. “We have our reasons. I promised to see you safely to the next town. I’d like to keep that.”
I wanted to ask him why again. He had no reason to follow through. I’d manipulated him into taking me on to start with. This was a chance for their group to rid themselves of me. It was as though something drew us to each other, and it frightened me. “I have to get my money back.”
He sighed as the other two reached us. “We need to retrieve Lira’s coin pouch.”
Neia gaped at him. “Sai.”
He turned towards her, and his demeanor transformed. He’d stood curved in towards me, his features gentle, his expression unsure. That melted away as he rolled his shoulders back and spoke in a tone that didn’t leave room for questions. “It should be a straightforward job.”
Neia’s eyes darted to me then back to him. “Fine. Elisa and I will get it.”
“But—”
“No. No, ‘buts’. You have lost the privilege of deciding for the night. You two”—she jabbed a finger at both of us—“gather our supplies and stay there until we return. Questions?”
