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On that, I agreed.
Daphne didn’t want to discuss it any further, so I dropped it and we continued around. When we hit a food cart, both our stomachs growled as we eyed the gyrating spits of meat.
“You two ladies hungry?” the meat seller asked.
“Absolutely,” Daphne said, not making any attempt to hide her interest.
“Just three gold pieces each,” the shopkeeper replied.
There was a gleam in his eyes and a twist of his lips that made me suspect he was playing a trick, like the price was much lower and he was exploiting tourists. Of course, I had no clue what a gold piece was worth or how much the meat should cost.
Not that it mattered. He could charge us one piece together or ten each and my answer would be the same. “We’ll pass. We don’t have any—”
“Put it on the King’s tab,” my best friend cut me off, giving him a winning grin.
“Daphne,” I hissed as the meat seller turned to shave off some meat for us. “You can’t just put things on Cole’s tab.”
“Why not? If he knew you were hungry, don’t you think he’d want you to eat?”
Okay, yes, Cole definitely had a thing about making sure I ate, but that wasn’t the point. “Still. We could just go back to the palace for lunch.”
“Do youwantto go back?” Daphne countered.
No. I was enjoying the freedom, being out and about instead of seconds from being whisked away and locked in Cole’s room again. I wanted to keep exploring the city. It made it so obvious that Moon-Ghost had been a paltry town in comparison. I’d never considered myself to have any amount of wanderlust beyond an ache to escape my abusive pack, but the city was electrifying. Dangerous, yet enthralling.
“I don’t want people to think I’m his sugar baby or something,” I grumbled while we took the meat. It was wrapped in a flatbread and I bit into it because, despite all my protests, it smelled delicious and I was famished.
“How about his queen?”
I nearly choked on the bite I’d taken. Daphne gave me a laughing glance before taking a bite of her own.
We left the bazaar and wandered around the rest of the city. I knew from my travels that outside the city gates, there were other settlements. I desperately wanted to learn more about the city, yet I had so many questions I barely knew what to ask. Sometimes we just wandered about, listening to town gossip. The sky was the burnt red of evening when we wandered into a tavern.
Thankfully, this one wasn’t blocked by a giant.
“Can I remind you we don’t have any money for drinks?” I didn’t want to put anything else on Cole’s tab.
She waved aside my concern. “Hecate gave me some money before we left.” She flashed a handful of coins in her pocket.
I looked at her, aghast. “Daphne! If you had money, why didn’t you pay for the food?”
Also, why hadn’t Hecate given me money? Not that I was entitled to it, but still.
She grinned. “Hecate gave the money as a backup, but it was her idea to put things on your sugar boo’s tab. I just wanted to see your face when I did that.”
“Brat.” I rolled my eyes.
“You love me,” she said with a laugh as we strolled into the bar.
Immediately, the atmosphere shifted. Outside, we’d been regarded with cautious suspicion. Here, the air had turned hostile.
My instincts, as ever with danger, were to flee.
But I was tired of running. It was probably nothing anyway, and if it wasn’t, Daphne and I could handle it.
Maybe. Daphne couldn’t shift. And both Cole and Hecate kept reminding me if anything happened to me, I’d face eternal torment after dying again.
But running feltwrong. So when Daphne gave me a questioning look, I strode over to the bar and pulled out a stool to sit. Daphne slid into the seat next to me.
