Page 23 of The Spy's Solstice
I put a hand on his arm, guiding his path to safety. “Thank you, Prince Dashiell. Let the repayment be your silence about this small magic.” The flame flared up at my words, singing my hair. I winced, knowing far more painful consequences lay ahead, but when I waved the flame back into the building, to her, it acquiesced.
The boy nodded, swallowing convulsively as he tracked the flame’s journey. “Of course. Who’d believe it anyway?” When we reached the little girl’s side, he kneeled down and handed hera scrap of fabric. “Ratter found this in the hole. She said it was yours.”
“Bunny’s blanket,” the girl whispered. “You saved me.”
“That’s what princes do,” Dashiell replied.
“Princes in disguise as street rats, maybe. Next time, let me go back into the destruction to find the toys, all right, Gert?” I spun around.Ratter stood there, her hair mussed, a streak of blood on one cheek, and a grin on her face.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, but before she could answer, what looked and sounded like a dozen children came running toward us, blades drawn. As soon as they spotted me, a few of them darted as fast as shadows in my direction, bent on murder, judging by their faces.
“Rats!” Ratter shouted. “Stand down.”
As fast as they’d turned to attack, they dropped back and faced her, their grimy forms at full attention. “Ratter, we heard a false call, but we knew—the prince! Ya found him.”
“And one other,” she replied, her eyes scanning the group. “I need to get her home.”
“A healer first, though.”
One of the kids muttered, “Shit, it’s the boss.” I whirled and found myself only a few paces from Rimholt’s Master Spy.
“Zellum, Ratter, Dash, and… Gertie, isn’t it?”Swathed in a cloak the same color as the night, Vilkurn had appeared out of nowhere, and more than one of the children took the opportunity to melt into the shadows and vanish.
“How’d you know Gert’s name?” Ratter demanded.
Vilkurn had kneeled beside Dashiell, who was soothing Gertie, but he narrowed his gaze at his apprentice. “Really? It may be your city, but it was mine before you were born.” Ratter huffed once, while Vilkurn calmly murmured to the little girl and his son. From somewhere, he produced a candy, which hehanded to the little girl. “Explain, Dash,” he asked, his voice calm.
Dashiell took a deep breath. “I was spying on Ratter a few days back, and heard her say where she was going to sell her dagger, to pay for something special. I thought I could buy it back as a Solstice gift to p-prove my love.” He glanced at Ratter, who was biting her lip. “But the jeweler asked for more money than I had. So I went into the castle treasury and took some gems, and then he was quite satisfied, and sold it to me.”
“You stole from the treasury?”
He wrinkled his nose. “It’s not stealing if it’s already yours. Papa Rigol told me I’ll be the king someday, and those treasures will be mine to woo my… my lady.”
Gertie hiccupped, then mumbled sleepily, “So romantic.”
“Indeed. I wonder if polishing every gem that remains in that treasury that may belong to you someday, but belongs to your parents now, will be quite as romantic.”
“Papa!” Dashiell protested. “There’s thousands!”
“Then you should be finished with your task about the same time young Ratter returns to Turino. Let’s hope you will have found a less larcenous way to prove your affections. Or better yet, transferred them to someone closer to your age.” Vilkurn gently lifted the now-sleeping Gertie up as he stood. “I’ll take them both to the castle healer, and then return Gertie to the new safe house myself.”
“No,” Ratter said firmly. “No Alphas.”
“Ah. I see,” Vilkurn murmured, and I could tell he did. “Treasures everywhere, hm? I will find someone more suitable, then. Right, it’s only a few hours until dawn.” He gazed at Ratter with pride. “I trust you can find your way back home?”
“Yeah, Boss,” she said, lunging toward him, going up on tiptoe and pressing a peck to his cheek. “Take care of my city while I’m away.”
“Brat,” he replied, and shot me an odd look, before carrying Gertie off, Dashiell’s hand in one of his. They’d only gone a few paces, when Dashiell gasped.
“The dagger!” He twisted around. “Ratter, I dropped it in the hole!”
“Of course you did. I’ll get Serak here to help me fetch it. Thank you for the Solstice gift, Dash. Take care of the royal tots, all right?”
“I will,” he called back, before the three vanished into the gloom.
I swallowed as Ratter stepped up to me, her eyes moving over my face like I was a puzzle she wanted to solve. “Seems I need to retrieve a Solstice gift. Care to lend a light?” She raised one hand to my cheek, her fingers spreading trails of painful lava everywhere she touched, lighting fires in every nerve and sending heat to every one of my extremities.
It was a pain I wished would never end, but it did, and far too soon. I followed her back to the door, finding the light I had called up earlier dancing at the lip of the hole. She checked the rope, but I squeezed her shoulder gently. “I’ll go.”
