Page 60 of The Deathless One
He was quiet. Way, way too quiet.
Glancing over at him, she saw him frowning at a young man who was standing in the center of an alley. The man had just walked by her. She’d seen the vacant expression on his eyes and his dirt-smudged cheeks, but other than that, he was entirely normal. Just a man going home after working in a factory all day long.
But now he stood there, frozen, his fingers twitching slightly. A few other people paused around him, then three of the largest men looked at each other and sighed.
She watched them grab the man underneath his arms and start dragging him down another alley. Almost as though they knew something that no one else did. Or perhaps, that everyone knew something she did not.
“What just happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he murmured, that frown still very prominent between his eyes. “Healers had no say about what afflicted them?”
“Our healers didn’t even know what it was. We called in scholars from every corner of this kingdom. That’s why I’d turned to witchcraft.” At his sidelong glance, she shrugged. “I wasn’t practicing witchcraft at the time. I just thought maybe there was an answer in the magical rather than practical. Even if the discovery of what I was doing would have caused… waves.”
“From what I’ve heard, it sounds like you might have lost your throne no matter what.”
She liked the teasing tone in his voice. It sounded like he was actually a person, not just a god who had no reason to be in this realm with her. He was more real to her like this. Much more.
“Come on,” she muttered as she realized there were people staring at her. “People think I’m standing here talking to myself. We have to get going.”
“What does that matter?”
“I don’t think people in the Factory District take a liking to those who seem a little touched.” She eyed one of the larger men, who had returned from the alley. He was looking at her with a frown on his face, his hands clearly itching to drag her to the same place.
She wasn’t sick. She wasn’t infected.
Or at the very least, she didn’t think she was.
“Magical maladies,” Elric hissed as she strode through the streets, looking for a sign that would say there was an inn nearby. “We need to research those. There is something going on here, and I think it’s something you need to look into.”
“You and your gut instincts.”
“I’m telling you what to do, Jessamine.”
“And I don’t like it when people do that.” Huffing out a breath, she finally found an inn that looked like it might be the only one in the district. “But I’ll consider it. All right? Let me find a safe place to sleep for the night first.”
The building was a hulking monolith surrounded by belching factories. The giant rectangle seemed to wear a crown of smokestacks, but at least there were rows of windows on this building that glowed from candles within. Those must be rooms to rent for the night, and she desperately needed one. She stepped in through the worn door, wincing at the raucous din that met her ears.
A bar. She’d walked into a bar.
There were some tables in the far corner, it looked like. But for the most part, this was a space for drinking. Men crushed into the small area shoulder to shoulder—she had to push and shove to get to the bar itself, where she could see at least a few women. Most of them were seated with a much larger man at their back, barely holding the crowd at bay.
Slapping her hand down on the counter, she told herself to be brave.
“Excuse me!” she shouted.
One of the four bartenders turned in her direction, a smile flashing on his suntanned features. The bright flash of a smile didn’t make her feelany better about where she was, though. If anything, that lecherous grin only made her feel greasy.
“What do we have here?” he said, walking over to her and leaning an elbow on the counter. “Fresh meat?”
“I need a room for the night.”
“Booked up.”
She blinked. “I don’t think that’s true. You must have plenty of rooms.”
“And they’re all taken for the night.”
Elric leaned closer to her, the darkness of his power pressing against her back. For a moment, she allowed herself to believe that he was keeping the crowd away from her. And then he spoke.
