Page 91 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire
“Are you cold?” she asked, already unpinning the green material and handing it to me. “It’s still warm out.”
“I…um….” I caught sight of Tristan in the window, laughing with the restaurant owner inside. His silver purse passed easily into the other man’s hand. The owner shook his head, looking embarrassed, then broke into a shy grin. Tristan, despite being a snob, did have a way of charming almost everyone he talked to.
I shook my head at Haleika. “I’m buying Tristan an early birthday present. Now’s a good time for me to sneak over to this store I think he’d like without him knowing. And, you know, I’d rather not be recognized while shopping. It’s just for five minutes.”
“Do you want company?” Galen asked. “It’s getting pretty crowded out there.”
“No,” I said, staring down the street. The vendor’s group was almost out of my line of sight. I’d have to hurry. “My escorts are my shadows. I won’t be long. Tell Tristan I, um, needed to stretch my legs.”
I pulled the edge of Haleika’s cloak over my hair, red in the setting sun, and felt a burst of energy I hadn’t thought possible minutes before. I quickly moved past the restaurant and the next building, sliding in and out of the Lumerians crowding the streets. There was an opening, and I managed to position myself right beside a long row of overgrown bushes. I pulled Haleika’s cloak closer and I blended in instantly. Despite my sore legs and exhausted muscles, I began to jog then shifted into a full-out run until I was racing down the street. I caught sight of the vendor again. He separated from his party and turned a corner I recognized, down a street full of jewelry shops. Ramia sold in this quarter.
I turned after him, running faster to keep up, my sandals sliding against the waterway and my legs appearing and vanishing, going in and out of focus.
He slowed as if sensing me and turned around, glancing anxiously behind his shoulder.
I held my breath, tugging the cloak over my face, stilling my body, allowing the fabric’s magic to fully camouflage me. The vendor smoothed the ends of his mustache and turned, continuing at a quicker pace.
I quickened my pace, too, veering off the waterway to a small park running alongside the street. I slipped behind a line of trees, lifting the skirt of my dress so I could avoid the fallen branches of moon trees littering the way.
The bells clanged, shouting the hour, and blue lights lit up the red-and-orange-streaked sky as the sun began to set. The distraction had been just enough for me to lose sight of the vendor. There were rows of shops along the street opposite the park—all nearly identical in appearance.
I cursed, rubbing my hands up and down my arms. What was I hoping to accomplish anyway? Tristan would come looking for me in another moment, and now I was out in the park running like an idiot, alone and vulnerable. I walked a few steps farther, trying to catch sight of the vendor, but the entire mission had been futile and a waste of my nearly depleted energy. With a sigh, I turned around, stepping on a tree branch. The stick snapped in half, and I froze just as I heard another snap right in front of me.
A silver blade pointed right at my throat; tiny flames danced on its edge.
“Don’t scream.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
MYSTOMACHDROPPEDasI looked up and found myself face to face with the vendor. His hand shook, and flames ignited on the steel pointed toward me. The blade had been forged in starfire. It was expensive. And deadly.
I stopped breathing, unsure I could muster a scream even if I wanted to. Then his eyes widened, focusing on my face. “Y-Your grace,” he said. He lowered his blade immediately, and his arm hung limply at his side. He bowed low. “I did not see you. I have never been invited to the fortress so I didn’t know your face before. I’m sorry…I didn’t know it was you when we met. Or that you followed me just now.”
I eyed his blade. His fingers were uncomfortably strained around the hilt, not allowing for maximum movement or control. I didn’t know much about weapons and fighting—not yet—but I’d seen soturi demonstrate proper weapon holding, and this wasn’t it. The blade was pointed down. It was sharp, but wielded by this vendor, it wasn’t necessarily a great threat. I straightened, straining to see him as the sky darkened. “You seem to have a great deal of trouble recognizing me,” I said. “You admit you saw me back on the waterway. And you knew just now who I was. If you didn’t think I was following you, who were you expecting?”
He shook his head, his cheeks flushed. “No one,” he said.
My hand went to my belt, fingers sliding over the hilt of my dagger. I had no idea how to use it—but the man before me seemed just as clueless. And yet, I didn’t think this man was truly dangerous to me. At least, not in that moment.
“Then you won’t mind sheathing your blade?” I asked. “It’s a crime to threaten an Heir to the Arkasva whether you recognize them or not.”
He nodded quickly, clumsily replacing the dagger in its hilt. “Apologies, your g-grace. Please. I swear to Auriel, I didn’t see you, didn’t know it was you. I can bow to you and make amends.”
“I’m not interested in you bending a knee, nor am I so easily offended.”
He shook his head, nodding so vigorously his mustache bounced. “W-What can I do for you?”
“That pin you had the day we met,” I said. I was done with small talk and running out of time. I needed answers, and I needed to return to Tristan before he discovered I wasn’t shopping.
The vendor frowned. “N-No. Those were a mistake like I told you. A bad batch. Very costly to throw away. But I did. I threw out every last one in your honor.”
“Batch?” I asked, heart hammering. “So there was more than one pin with black wings?”
He stepped back, still shaking his head. “I’m not a believer,” he said. “I just…I just wanted money to…to send to my family. Someone asked, I delivered. It meant nothing to me, just money.”
I stepped closer. “Who asked?” I slid my hand across my belt, moving from the dagger to my coin purse. I had gold in there. Maybe I could also engage in some bribery tonight.
But the vendor reached for his belt and lifted his dagger again, his hand shaking.
