Page 16 of Sorcery, Swords & Scones
Thrain stroked his beard. “Perhaps.”
Lira shook her head, and a few strands of hair slipped from her makeshift bun. “I still don’t like this plan. Not if it means you have to leave.”
Sass let loose a breath. She despised the thought of leaving too, but she couldn’t put her friends at risk.
“That must be some amulet,” Korl said in a low voice.
Lira tipped her head back to meet his eyes. “What?”
“If dwarves would give up the chance of battle, that must be an impressive jewel.”
Lira returned her gaze to Sass. “Korl makes a good point. I want to see an amulet that’s worth crossing the Known Lands to retrieve.” She patted Sass’s shoulder. “I’m dying to know what’s so special about this amulet, especially if the dwarf clan is known for their metalwork.”
Sass shrugged. It was a fair request, although she hadn’t laid eyes on the thing since she’d jammed it under the swayback mattress. She’d almost forgotten about it entirely, which she knew was her way of trying to forget about what she’d left and the possibility that one day it would catch up with her.
“I have nothing to hide,” she said as she stood, “anymore, that is.”
Sass left her friends and hurried up to the room that she and Lira had shared until the half-elf had moved in with Korl. Despite her friend’s absence, Sass hadn’t changed the room. It still had two beds and a nightstand between them, with Lira’s old bed neatly covered with the vibrantly floral bedspread that matched her own.
As happy as she was for Lira and Korl, there were nights that she missed whispering in the dark with her friend or climbing out the window to sit on the roof and talk over the day’s events. Before meeting Lira, Sass had never sat on a rooftop in her entire life. Now, even with Lira living in the village, Sass would sometimes climb out onto the thatched roof to think.
Today, she didn’t glance at the window as she plunged her arm under the mattress. Her fingers closed over the velvet bag, and she experienced both a small thrill and a pang of sadness that the amulet was still there. There was no pretending that none of this was happening when she held the evidence of her past misdeeds in her hand.
Sass closed her bedroom door behind her and walked briskly down the stairs again, avoiding the one creaky step out of habit.She crossed the great room to her friends and pushed the tray of crumpets to one side.
“I haven’t laid eyes on this since I arrived,” she explained as she opened the dove gray, drawstring pouch, shook the amulet into her hand, and then laid it on the table. The silver of the chain glittered, but it was the massive blue-green stone surrounded by metallic swirls and points that made everyone suck in their breath.
“What kind of stone is that?” Lira whispered as she leaned closer.
“The kind you cross a continent to find,” Vaskel growled, his voice carrying a warning that was impossible to miss.
Sass hadn’t worn the amulet since she’d fled the Ice Lands, but she touched her neck at the memory of how the jeweled sunburst had felt cool and menacing pressed to her skin. It reminded her exactly why she had run and why she would never go back.
Eleven
“That explainswhy your ex is so eager to reclaim the amulet,” Lira said in a hushed voice, as she tentatively touched the stone that seemed to glow from within.
Thrain let out a gravelly laugh. “To be fair, the Trollbane clan is known for crafting jewelry like this. It’s beautiful, but not extraordinary for them.”
The group murmured appreciative sounds as they leaned in closer to the necklace, which seemed out of place on the rustic wooden table.
Lira gingerly touched the amulet. “Florin’s female, right?”
Sass nodded. “The strongest alliances in the Ice Lands are forged through the daughters. I’m the eldest and only daughter of my clan, and Florin is the eldest in hers. That’s why our families were so eager for the match.”
“So the dwarf who’s been hunting you down is a princess.” Lira sat at the end of the bench next to Thrain. “That explains the excellent taste in jewelry.”
Sass exchanged an amused glance with Thrain. “I’d never call Florin a princess to her face.”
“Nor would I,” her friend said, as he shook his head and crumbs rained from his beard. “Not if I wanted to keep my head.”
Korl rested his hand on the hilt of his broadsword. “She sounds dangerous.”
Sass didn’t want to lie to her friends. Not anymore. “She is. Florin has always gotten what she wants, so she isn’t a gracious loser. Not that I believe she ever truly wanted me, but she’s also the type to only desire what she thinks in unattainable.”
“So by jilting her, you made yourself even more of a prize?” Vaskel asked. “I would congratulate anyone else for such a clever strategy.”
“If you ask me,” Thrain said, “Florin is looking for an excuse to take retribution. She’s always been bloodthirsty, even for a Trollbane.”
