AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He wondered if Violet was sleeping right now—or perhaps she was already on her way out of Scoria.
A knock on the door made him jump before a tentative voice sounded from outside. “Mr. Gavin, are you awake?”
He let the fabric drop from his fingers, picked up his boots, which lay next to the modest couch, and walked toward the door to let her in.
Laura strolled into the kitchen, checking that everything was in its original place with a fleeting glance. “Did you get some sleep?”
“I did.” He folded the extra blanket he’d used to shield himself against the chill of the day and placed it on the table. “Thank you for offering your home.”
His aching shoulders loosened when she didn’t mention Violet leaving the inn while he slept. He reached for the pillows which lined the couch that stood against the far wall, needing to busy himself and to fill the uncomfortable silence that descended on them. His nose itched with the plume of dust that billowed in the air as he attempted but failed to puff them up like the maids in his family home.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that!” She rushed toward him, plucking the offending item off his hand and tossing it into the corner with a sigh. “I’ve spent little time here ever since I bought the inn. I’m ashamed of the state of the place.”
They both stared at the small dining table and the glass vase with dried flowers which decorated its surface. The petals had long since fallen onto the tablecloth, withered away to brown shades.
Laura’s eyes and nose weren’t red anymore, but they remained puffy, and Gavin could tell she was itching to remind him of the help he promised.
“Do you want something to eat? Perhaps some tea as well?” She walked hastily toward the yellow kitchen cupboard and took out a loaf of bread wrapped inside linen and a basket of aged cheese and dried meat. “I’m afraid the bread is stale… I baked it a couple of days ago but ended up not eating it. I have little else to offer here…”
“It’s fine, this will do.” He sat at the table and crossed his ankle over his knee, letting his weight relax on the creaking chair.
“Will it help you with energy? I mean… will it make it so your healing magic works better?”
“It helps.” Hopefully his smile would soothe her nerves. He tore off a corner of the bread she had offered. The hard rim had grown tough, but it still had a pleasant fermented taste. Sour and nutty, just the way he liked it. His smile grew, and she visibly relaxed.
“Does it drain you to use magic all the time?”
“If I do it carelessly, yes.”
She picked up a piece of cheese from the plate and took a small bite. She was sitting so straight that he wondered if she’d injured her back at some point. Or maybe it was her normal stance—or she was uncomfortable at having a man inside her quarters without a chaperone present.
“Are you running away from the King? Is that why you asked about the people who arrived at the inn last night?”
The air in his lungs whistled out in one long breath. He took his time to chew slowly, careful not to appear too bothered by her questions, but his fingertips prickled with his awakened power. It was like the magic was answering the call of his own panic. Gavin met her studious gaze with wide eyes, but he found no judgment there, just pure curiosity.
“I’m not. Not yet, at least.” He paused, looking out to the street.
“But you will?”
“It’s better if you don’t know the details. It will be safer for you.”
She nodded and chewed her cheese more quickly, looking like she relaxed a little. “I hope your Mrs. heals soon, before the next blizzard hits. It gets pretty bad here during the winter, and while last night’s storm was uncharacteristically early, it makes me wonder if winter will come earlier this year.”
They ate in silence until the bread was finished and only half of the dried meat remained on the plate. Then they left the warmth of her home and headed for the outskirts of town.
For a small city with few visitors, Scoria was a busy place. From carriages pulled by giant horses and riders wearing traveling coats to farmers pulling crates with goods off their wagons and into stores, every corner of it was bursting with life.
The ambiance dulled the further away from downtown they got, where the alleyways narrowed to four feet wide. The whispers of an attack had clearly made it this far, and people slammed their shutters closed when they crossed in front of their houses. Gavin followed Laura as she turned into a street cobbled with blue and black stones. The homes here had small courtyards with clotheslines strung across them that were full of tattered outdoor furnishings. There were no merchants to be seen, nor carriages or farmers to be heard. Just an eerie silence.
Gavin couldn’t shake the feeling that he was running out of time. Not only to help this child, but for Violet and himself as well. Julius had stressed that Gavin only had little time to return and bring her back home, no matter what—or he wouldn’t be able to stop the Society from enacting their punishment. It had taken him almost a month to track her down, and he’d only found her because he’d ignored his commander’s recommendation to go west instead.
What if Violet was right, and he was too trusting of Julius and his intentions? Even though his commander had taught him to be a warrior, and saved him on more than one occasion. Maybe he’d always intended to reach Violet on his own, while he sent Gavin on a wild goose chase to the other side of the country.
The bitter taste in the back of his throat and the prickling at the nape of his neck alerted him to the mixture of dread and eagerness he felt to return back to Violet, and make sure all was well. Meanwhile, Laura paused in front of a home that blended into the rest of the street with its gray stone and washed-out wood. Moss cushions and ferns grew from the cracks in the wall. Even in the edges of this small town, these houses resembled the woods. A perfect place for an Archana Sídhe to attack.
The front door was marked with dripping white paint in the shape of a triangle, a line crossed through the middle of it.
Laura’s rust-colored wool cloak stood out against all the gray shades surrounding them. She took a deep breath and gave him a shaky smile that didn’t reach her sad eyes. “We’re here.”
