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“They’re patrolling the inns?” Fiona asked quietly.
I nodded. “The queen must be afraid of dissidence.”
“What did the minstrel sing about?” Brigid asked. “Who is the one from unity?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “But she made it quite clear what she thinks of the queen.”
“That she did,” Kieran replied. “And they’ll punish her for it.”
“Is this normal in Terlyth?” Fiona asked. “Soldiers taking minstrels away?”
“No,” Dearen replied before I could. “And it’s not normal for minstrels to sing songs like that either. I never heard anyone speaking out against the crown before.”
“Does that mean there is a resistance?” Kieran asked.
He hadn’t kept his voice low enough. One of the men at the table closest to us looked over his shoulder.
I didn’t think. My tendrils reached into his mind.
Don’t mention the resistance in public, you idiots, he thought. And then, he added. It’s always the young ones who get in trouble.
I nodded at the man. He seemed surprised, but he turned back to his table.
“We shouldn’t talk about this here,” I whispered to the others. “Someone might overhear.”
That shut our conversation entirely, but I could still feel everyone thinking about the song and the soldiers taking the minstrel away. Perhaps if it weren’t for what happened next, we would be unable to stop talking about what had just happened again.
“Dearen!” A man with long thick brows almost covering his dark-brown eyes stood beside our table. He had a big smile on his face as he, with no hesitation whatsoever, squeezed Dearen’s shoulder. “I thought you were dead!”
“Reese,” Dearen got up from his seat and turned to the man. “What are you doing here?”
“On a job,” Reese replied. “Evan said you went off to the trials. I knew it couldn’t be!”
The rest of us exchanged worried glances, but Dearen was quick.
“The trials?” He laughed. “Next time you see Evan, tell him I am about to get married to the Queen of Light.”
The two old friends chuckled. Reese’s gaze darted away from Dearen after a while.
“Your friends?” He asked suspiciously.
“My colleagues,” Dearen corrected him. “We’re on a job too.”
“I’m myself searching for the next one,” Reese replied. “The job I’m on will end tonight.”
“Great,” Dearen said, offering him a wide smile. “We need a lookout.”
To my surprise, Reese punched Dearen on the shoulder. It was a joking gesture, but I was almost sure that Dearen would have a bruise there tomorrow.
“Next, you’ll be offering me a spot in your bed to keep it warm at night,” Reese said jokingly.
“We should talk privately,” Dearen said. “Meet here tomorrow morning? We can discuss the plan over breakfast.”
I could feel the tension at our table. What was Dearen hoping to accomplish by inviting this man?
Did he think we could trust him to join us on our journey to save Cari?
Reese and Dearen shook hands before the former turned around and left us. Dearen kept his lips curled with a smile until Reese left the inn. Then, he turned to us.
“We have to leave now,” he said.
