Page 15 of Ember and Eclipse
“We sailed in from Dorena but are just returning from the Mark.”
The guard looked between them, assessing. “The Mark? Interesting place to do business. We don’t allow,ah, illegal wares into the city.” He eyed her as if saying something else.We don’t allow witchkind into the city.
“We have none, sir. The rest of mylegalstock is safely on my ship with my crew. We will be heading to Romul once the rain passes.”
The guard had already rounded their horse, and then he waved them around the carriage, the merchants still arguing.
“I don’t even know your name,” she said, turning her head so that she could be heard without yelling. She had been just fine with not knowing his name, but now it seemed wholly pertinent. Calling him the Wolf of Romul or silver-haired prick would be rather telling.
He leaned into her, dipping his head to be heard. “I suppose a wife would need to know her husband’s name, especially since she’d be screaming—”
“Donotfinish that sentence.”
A throaty chuckle shook her. The mirth was still entangled in his words when he said, “My name is Devdan.”
Devdan.She rolled the name around in her mouth silently. It fit him as much as the Wolf of Romul did. A threat held in the sharp syllables, death waiting between the letters.
“Refrain from using my name in any spells,” he murmured, then shifted upright.
Unfortunately, she didn’t know enough about magic to know if that was a possibility.
“Well, my name is—”
“I know who you are, Venefica.” She could barely hear him over the street’s din and the rain hitting rooftops in a deep, tin-like symphony.
The city was even more uneven inside the walls. The streets were mostly gray cobblestones with random blue ones intermixed. Parts were cracked and splitting from the earth moving beneath it. The winding, maze-like roads were so crowded that their movements were slowed considerably. People were shopping and milling about as if a storm wasn’t occurring.
Devdan finally led them off the main streets, down twisting alleyways, onto whole other sides of the city that were just as busy. She tried to count their turns and remember the path, but their route only confused her, and she soon lost track.
However, it was apparent that Devdan knew his way around the city because he didn’t stop until he led them to an inn called the North Star.
A youth no more than fourteen, all limbs and shaggy hair, immediately grabbed the reins of the horse. “How long?” His voice cracked.
“Until the rain lets up, and we can get back on the road,” the hunter answered.
The boy nodded, and Devdan tossed him two coins, which he swiped out of the air, the shiny pieces disappearing into his tunic in a flash.
Devdan dismounted swiftly. Just as she was about to pull her leg over and slide down, he grabbed her waist. His firm grip around her midsection was enough to make her bring her hand out wide to slap him, but he arched an annoyingly refined brow.
“Let me help you, wife,” he murmured, and yet it sounded like a warning.
His silver-white hair appeared gray when drenched, and he had wiped any strands away from his face. The hunter had the audacity to look strangely beautiful while soaking wet. And she hated him all the more for it.
Biting back a scathing remark, she gave an imperceptible nod. All the while, he had a charming smile plastered to his lips as he brought her alarmingly close to his person before sliding her down the length of his body. Once her feet touched the ground, she moved away from him toward the door. But he grabbed her arm, harder than necessary, and put her hand in the crook of his elbow. As she shot him a glare filled with vows of violence, another youth opened the door wide for them. This one looked better kempt and offered them a broad grin.
“Welcome to the North Star, Gavenport’s finest Inn.”
Rel doubted that.
When they stepped in, she felt bad that they were dripping all over the floors, but it became quickly apparent they had not been the first to do so. A clamor of conversation, clinking dishware, and barked orders from the back accosted them as the door shut behind them. The inn’s first floor was a tavern, and a lively one at that, even though it was only midday. Devdan led them through the crowd, moving his hand to rest on the center of her back. With his massive form and his perpetual scowl in place, people moved out of his way quickly.
“Wovaa,” a pretty woman said in greeting from behind a long counter.
“We’re looking for a room until the roads are clear,” the hunter explained.
“Right,” she said thoughtfully. “We have three rooms left, but you two seem like a lovely couple, so I won’t put you in the two that are just closets with a bed shoved into the space. Let’s see…” The woman dug around in a cupboard before poking her head around it and yelling, “Oi, Arnie, where’s the key to the third-floor room?”
A gruff-looking older man who was sweeping tilted his head in the direction of a very drunken man, never pausing in his work.
