Page 81 of Deadly Maiden

Then it strikes me that this is some measure of what the king is feeling. He and the queen loved their daughter, and they want her back, at any cost.

Chapter 25

Wyntre

Langordin: Day Two

After a fifteen-minute morning walk from the Rune Inn, we have almost reached the Fromeaux Library. A steep cobblestone road will take us the final quarter mile.

I eye the thronged street, full of horse riders, coaches, buskers, and others out for a morning mountain climb. “Really, Rorsyd? Why did we not bring Blossom and Snake-eyes?”

“You need the exercise. Come along now.” He strides off.

I jog to catch up, grab his hand. “You can carry me.”

“Ha! I heard tales of your climbing exploits while at Thander Munk’s house. Look there. The library. Is not the view worth it? You cannot see the steeples from a horse.”

“Of course you can!”

He smiles at me. “I thought you’d appreciate the walk past all the shops and sights. A horse is too quick.”

The library is dead ahead but split by the street, and the buildings to either side block most of it. Only the front entry isin plain view—four stories of white columns, sandstone walls, with two towers topped by cupolas of blue metal. A grotesque sculpture hangs over a pair of high golden doors, but we are too far away for me to see the details.

“Is this not the city of sin and seediness?”

“If we go out at night to the rear of the hill, yes, I can show you streets of every sin imaginable, and some of the gutters flow with spilled beer and piss.”

“Urgh.”

“Let’s stop here for breakfast.”

“What a change of topic.”

A little bakery has tables placed out the front on the sidewalk. The smell of baking goods and coffee draw me to a shuddering halt. “Yum.Thatsounds great.”

We leave with full stomachs and the taste of buttery pastries on our tongues. Now the morning seems perfect. The sun is shining down, birds are chirping, and across the street someone plays a jaunty tune on a violin. A few shops along from the bakery, we pass a shop called The Mage’s Essentials.

“Just what we need.” I grab his arm. “Look. In the window.” A row of warnite crystals nestle in a velvet lined box.

“You want more?”

“To be back-ups. We can swap them out in the pendants.”

“I see. I suppose we can afford it. Though visiting another graveyard can wait. I’ll have to bring coin.”

Afford it? I’ve seen the coins in his pack. He could buy half the store. This is fortuitous.

I should’ve known the sunshine, the tweeting birds, and the shop were bad omens. Life has flipped upside-down.

The crowd parts to reveal three enforcers questioning those who pass them.

“Back this way,” Rorsyd urges, and we take another route as unobtrusively as we can. No one shouts or follows us, but theposter that declares us wanted criminals is stuck to a black lamp post on this side street. The morning air becomes cloying.

“And all of this is why I really, really think you should leave this country.”

Except I can’t. “Family attachments, you know?”

“I know. I can be extraordinarily patient. I don’t want you hurt.”

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