Page 15 of Between Wrath and Mercy

The woman would not respond, and rage started burning through me. I grabbed her by the ankle. I’d pull the lady off the horse, baby and all if I had to.

“Emmeline, stop.” A commanding voice rumbled much closer to me than anticipated. Rainier placed a surprisingly warm hand on my shoulder, pulling me back. I shrugged it off.

“She can’t understand you.”

I whirled to face him. “What do you mean?”

Rainier waved up at the woman. He began to speak another language to her, and she smiled. She nodded and rearranged the baby against her chest, and from what I could tell, exchanged pleasantries with him. I looked back and forth between the two of them, dumbstruck. He put his hand on the small of my back, and I did my best to ignore the heat that flew through me at his touch. When he turned to me, his eyes were twinkling with amusement, a soft smile on his face that broke my heart. A smile so familiar and yet foreign. A stranger in the body of someone I’d once known almost better than myself. His hand slid to my waist before he tugged me closer to him, and every nerve in my body was focused on where we touched. I didn’t know what he was saying to the woman, but she watched me, her eyes softer. She glanced between the two of us, a strange expression on her face as she started speaking again. Rainier said something, and she started speaking slower, drawing out the words. This went on for a few moments longer, Rainier sometimes squinting with concentration, as if he was trying to formulate the correct sentences. Eventually, he lightly tapped Allegro on the rump, and the woman and her baby rode off.

I stared at him, open-mouthed. He gently removed his hand from my waist and stepped away from me, putting an appropriate distance between us. I was surprisingly disappointed he moved, but I chose not to think too much on it.

“I saw you accost her.” The right side of his lip twitched. “She tried to tell you. Did you not see the armband she wore? She’s from Skos.” It made sense—the kingdom across the Eastern Sea didn’t use the common tongue.

“How did you—”

“I’m not too good at it, but a few of my soldiers are from Skos, so I learned a bit.” He shrugged. “She told me she bought the horse from a man at the inn on the north side of town. Come.”

I didn’t argue as he turned and led the way. In fact, I intended to spend the rest of the walk in silence, feeling stupid. I felt like a fool for not knowing the woman couldn’t understand me. She’d worn an armband, and I was blind to it, my judgment clouded by fear. It was embarrassing. It also surprised me that the prince bothered to learn the language of a handful of his soldiers. We walked in silence for a little while before I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“What else did you say to her?” I was thinking about the looks on both of their faces when his hand slid around my waist. “Did you tell her I was sorry? I—I didn’t know. I feel terrible. I was about to—” I stopped myself. Despite my outburst, I didn’t want to tell Rainier I was about to pull the poor woman off the horse.

“You were about to what? Drag her and the babe to the ground? I saw that hand on her ankle.” He turned his head toward me; this time, the right side of his mouth definitely tugged up. The way the sun hit his face made his green eyes shimmer, and I felt a flop in my stomach despite myself. “Why do you think I stopped you? And yes, I apologized on your behalf. I also told her you’d be feeling guilty about it for the rest of the day. At least that’s what I hope I said.” He stared off into the distance as if he wasn’t sure.

“Thank you,” I quietly spoke. I rubbed my forehead, attempting to smooth the space between my eyebrows. I needed to pull myself together; there was no time for hysterics. I was glad Rainier was there to stop me. His presence was equally comforting and disarming, something I would think about later.

“Here.” His voice was gruff as I turned to watch him pull something out of the front pocket of his shirt. He pressed it into my hand, and when I realized what it was, I stopped walking to examine it. The conch shell sat perfectly in my palm. The outside was faded to a whitish blue, but the inside was a bright, striated sapphire. Turning it over in my hands, I rubbed my fingers over the bumpy ridges on top where the shell swirled in upon itself. I looked up at him to see he stopped a few paces in front of me, turning back to peer over his shoulder. His face was illuminated as if the sun shone only for him. The light played off the sharp angle of his jaw, and I struggled to breathe.

“Why?”

“A vendor was selling them,” he supplied, averting his eyes. “Do you not collect them anymore?”

I was shocked he even remembered.

“I haven’t been to the beach in a very long time.”

He tilted his head, a response waiting on his tongue before he turned away and cleared his throat. “Come on, Dewalt is going to be annoyed with us if we’re late.”

I slipped the shell in my pocket, holding it while my thumb memorized the dips and whorls across it. I took a few quick steps to catch up to him, and we continued back to the alley in silence, a bit more comfortable than before.

LaveniaandDewalthadn’tbeen able to find any leads on Elora. Rainier shared that he knew of one ship scheduled to leave in the hour, but he’d already searched it. The captain graciously allowed him on board when he learned he was speaking to the Crown Prince of Vesta. After sharing the information from the woman who bought Allegro, Rainier turned to Lavenia.

“You went inside the inn, correct?”

“Yes, but there wasn’t anyone downstairs other than the keeper. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming.”

“And you didn’t force him to be more forthcoming?” Dewalt had a grin on his face as he interjected.

“I was told not to let anything get out of hand.” She glared at him.

“D, I want you waiting at the docks. If you see anything, send an impulse.” I hoped Rainier meant to be the only recipient of the impulse and not all three of us. Dewalt had the ability to send jolts of energy to people he had some sort of association with. The impulse felt shockingly like slamming your elbow on a table. Hard. It didn’t leave any permanent damage, but it did give you full-body tingles for a short while. That was what brought us back to the cottage the night Lucia died. He’d sent two to each of us, and we knew it was something bad. Rainier opened a rift immediately, and we had walked back into chaos.

“Lavenia, I want you to ask around about a man selling horses. The woman we spoke to said it was someone at the inn last night, and we don’t have much more to go on. Emmeline, I want you to stay with me. I want to talk to the innkeeper and see if he will let us do a sweep of rooms. Everyone understand?” We all nodded.

Dewalt left to go toward the docks while the three of us turned to the northern part of the city. The route Rainier and I had gone earlier was a steep decline. This route was the opposite and a longer walk. My thighs began to burn. I didn’t need to imagine Rainier was in much better shape than me, and I imagined Lavenia was as well if she accompanied him on his missions. After about twenty minutes of walking at this angle, I felt a bead of sweat at my temple. I wiped it away, hoping no one would notice. I was still keeping pace with Rainier and Lavenia, though they were ahead, but I swore Rainier slowed a bit. My eyes narrowed, watching his footsteps. Every one of his strides was at least two of mine. Had he always been so tall? He’d put his cloak in his pack since it had warmed up, revealing the muscled swells of his back through his shirt. I tried not to ogle. He was so different and so similar, all at the same time.

The sight of Mira’s Myriad temple distracted me. A tall, whitewashed brick building with intricate stained-glass windows stood in the midst of the square, out of place against the filthy buildings nearby. Outside, one of the Myriad novices was dressed in a white cloak. Though their hood was up, they also wore the white covering over their face, a symbol of humility so early on in their training. They weren’t there to be seen or to be heard, just to serve. The Myriad were incredibly unsettling. The vast majority had taken a vow of silence and communicated through official proclamation, though some of the Masters and the Supreme chose to speak. I hadn’t interacted with any of the Myriad since Lucia’s burial. I shuddered, picking up the pace to get past the novice, and averted my eyes.

As we finally approached the inn, Lavinia spotted a few people gathered around benches outside. There was a tavern just next door to the inn, and people seemed to be coming and going rather frequently. She nodded to us as she turned off to engage with the people who lounged about. Rainier took a step up onto the front porch of the inn and pulled the door open, hanging back so I could walk through. I stepped inside and immediately tensed. The room was small and dark. I wondered if all the rooms were as tiny and dank as the front room. The innkeeper came out from behind a curtain leading into what I assumed was a back office.

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