Page 58 of Shardless

An impish grin curved Taly’s lips as a plan began to take shape. Approaching the mirror across the room, she pretended to admire her reflection. A week of good food had done wonders for her figure. Her hips and breasts had filled out remarkably, but the curve of her waist had remained slim and narrow. “That is true,” she conceded, smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle in her shirt. “You don’t really need a guide if you stick to the main roads.” When she caught Skye staring at her in the mirror, she gave him a wide-eyed shrug. His face was the picture of confusion as he tried to figure out the cause of the sudden change in her demeanor. “But what’s your backup plan if the wards are damaged? Hmm? Remember how the Fire Guild messed up the protective wards on the main road to the Aion Gate?”

Skye’s smile slipped, but he quickly recovered. “If the wards on the highway are down, I’ll just go around. This close to the Aion Gate connection, all of the main roads have been warded by now.”

“Okay,” Taly replied casually as she started to braid her hair. It had grown out considerably under the influence of Aiden’s spells, and the gently curling waves now spilled over her shoulders, cascading down her back. “If the highway doesn’t work, which way do you plan to take?”

“Vale,” he replied immediately. “If I can’t go through Della, then Vale is the next best option. C’mon, Tink. You act like I haven’t lived here most of my life.”

“It’s been raining for almost a week now, sothe road to Vale is probably flooded,” Taly said matter-of-factly, biting back a smile when she saw him hesitate. “I suppose you could head north and then turn south in Bago, but that’s going to add an extra day to your ride. Maybe two days if the river’s flooded. And before you even say it,” she said, holding up a hand and cutting him off, “the eastern roads would be a bad idea. The grendels are starting to come out of hibernation, and everyone knows that wards don’t do shit when it comes to grendels. That’s all the main roads, unfortunately. There are some hunting trails that are pretty safe—if you know how to find them, that is.”

She turned to look at him and couldn’t help but bat her lashes a bit. “Do you know how to find them, Skye?” Taly asked sweetly, grinning when she saw the look of defeat on his face. She cocked her head thoughtfully, swaying her hips from side-to-side. “It’s too bad you don’t knowanyonethat’s worked as a guide before, recently gotten off bedrest, and is so bored she’d work for free.”

Pushing himself to his feet, Skye rolled his eyes and started making his way back to his room across the hall. Taly followed him. “I take your silence to mean that you know I’m right but just aren’t man enough to admit it. It’s okay—we all have our shortcomings.”

Taly smiled gleefully but quickly schooled her expression when Skye glanced over his shoulder. That was enough pushing. Now she just needed to wait.

He stopped abruptly in the middle of his room, pinching the bridge of his nose. While he stood there deliberating, Taly sat down at his desk and started sorting the scattered pile of shadowcrystals on the table by size. Skye had never been the most organized person, but his quarters were even messier than usual. She eyed the cluttered worktable in the adjacent room, and her fingers twitched when she spied a cluster of fire crystals mixed into the bin meant for water.

“Fine,” Skye finally conceded. Before Taly could properly celebrate her victory, he held out a hand, shushing her. “But only if we go to the Swap, and there are no other guides available. And I have conditions. If anything happens—and I do meananything—you get behind me. No arguing. Got it?”

“Yes, yes,” Taly said in a placating tone, “you’re a big, bad shadow mage, and fragile little humans like myself need to stand off to the side and ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at your impressive feats of strength. I got it.”

“I’m not sure you do,” he replied, sauntering over to the desk. “But tell me more about how impressive you think my feats of strength are.”

“Almost as impressive as the size of your ego.” Taly kicked at his shin—an action that she immediately regretted when she felt the telltale tingle of aether against her skin as Skye activated his magic.

Moving too quickly for her to see, Skye grabbed her bare foot and dragged her forward. His fingers found their mark just at the base of her heel, and his grin widened when she let out a shriek of laughter. “C’mon, Tink! Let me hear you practice your ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing.’ How am I supposed to perform these impressive feats of strength without just the right amount of adulation?” Taly almost managed to twist out of his grip, but he held fast, his hand moving up to aticklish spot behind her knee. “Stop laughing—this is serious!”

“Stop it, you jerk!” Taly howled. Her sides were starting to ache as wave after wave of uncontrollable laughter crashed into her. When Skye finally took mercy on her and released her ankle, she sighed and sank back into the chair. “I hope you know that you’re an ass.”

“And you’re a brat,” he retorted, picking up a crumpled piece of paper from his desktop and tossing it at her head. Taly made no move to dodge, earning her another chuckle from the lanky shadow mage. “Although, my impressive feats of strength aside—”

“Oh, Shards.” Taly kicked at him again, recoiling when he made another grab for her.

“You should still be armed,” he finished soberly.

Taly stared out the window as an image of the harpy flashed through her mind. That damned bird had made her drop all three of her pistols. “True,” she sighed. “You wouldn’t, by any chance, happen to have Zephyr, would you? I’m still not sure what happened to her.”

Skye reached out and tapped Taly on the nose, prompting her to look up. “I’ve got something for you,” he said with a secretive smile. Stepping through a small antechamber and into the adjacent room in a few long strides, he retrieved a large cloth bundle from his worktable and set it on the desk in front of her. When Taly reached for it, he slapped her hands away. “Patience.” She reached for it again, only to be rewarded with another slap and a low snigger. Finally, with exaggerated slowness, he moved the edges of the cloth aside to reveal both of her air daggers,cleaned and polished, and the hyaline pistols.

Taly squealed and reached for a pistol. “Oh! I thought I would never see you again!” Out of habit, she removed the magazine. It had been inlaid with viridian. “I see you made some alterations.”

“A few.” He was beaming as he leaned against the edge of the desk, clearly pleased by her reaction. “Look at the cartridge.”

Arching a brow, she opened the small crystal compartment and smiled. “You added an air crystal. And replaced the metal, I see. You were always such a snob when it came to using alloys.”

“And I added more wiring to the interior. Just because you don’t technically need more viridian wirework doesn’t mean it can’t still serve a purpose. That and the air crystal should help with the kickback.” Digging around in one of the desk drawers, he pulled out a drawstring sack and handed it to her. “These are your new cartridges. The crystals in these are much higher quality than your last set, so you should get more shots out of each one.”

“What’s with the color?” Taly asked, turning the pistol over in her hand. The exterior of the gun had been covered in a glossy, black enamel.

Skye reached over and tugged on the end of her braid. “If you’re going to walk around with an illegal handgun, at least have enough sense not to advertise it.”

“Point taken,” Taly said with a laugh, reinserting the magazine. She turned the gun over in her hand, smiling as she ran a finger over yet another of Skye’s modifications. An amazingly lifelike tangle of intertwined flowers had been etched along the frame. Snowdrops—the tiny little flower had always been her favorite.

“Oh, and I almost forgot. Here.” Skye pulled out a small coin purse from the same drawer and handed it to her. “I never paid you for taking me to the Aion Gate.”

Taly waved him away. “Give that back to Ivain. He’s probably spent at least that much coin just feeding me this week.”

More than that, probably, she thought, grimacing. During her convalescence, her appetite had bordered on the obscene. Humans generally required considerably less nutrition than the fey, but she was starting to rival Skye in the sheer amount of food she could consume.

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