"Someone said he had no blood when they pulled him out of the Jasen Lake."It had truly been a nightmare of a week.
Sol placed a hand on Leo's forearm. "It wasn't your fault."
"I know."
"Do you?"
He sighed. "I do. But it will always feel like it was."
Instead of being with Holden that day, Leo had been with Sol,
helping her home after a difficult shift at the Hound. If his death was anyone's fault, it was that wretched place for keeping her so late they weren't there to walk him home.
She tugged Leo forward and knelt by the water, gently tracing the ripples with her fingertips. "What do you think did it?"
He sat beside her, gaze far away. "Not anything human."
"An animal?" Sol shivered. Mountain lions were common around Yavenharrow. Bears sometimes wandered from the mountains too.
"None that we've ever seen before."
She dropped the subject. The edge of emotion in his voice was something Sol didn't want to push.
Leo must've felt the same, as he said, "Do you work today?"
Of course she did. There wasn't a miserable day she didn't work at that Inn, and though she despised it, it was the only place in town that took her in with minimum questions and respected her desire for privacy. Even her mother had remarked on its sleaziness when she was alive, which had made Sol all the more curious to know what went on behind the doors of Yavenharrow's primary stop for travelers, sailors, and anyone else who desired a taste of the town’s oldest kind of fun.
Now that she knew it was nothing of interest, she wished she could bop her younger self in the head for even approaching the place to begin with.
Five years later and she had yet to find anything better.
Picking up a lonely stone to toss over the water, Sol sighed. “Unfortunately, I do.”
“Do you want company?”
“I’m fine.”
Leo shook his head, outstretching his arms. “Please quit that
wretched place. Keelin treats you terribly, and it’s always filled to the brim with scummy people.”
She shrugged. “Those scummy people give great tips.”
“I can fend for us just fine, you know. Or you can take Lora’s allowance—she’s been trying to give you it for years.”
“I want to finance my own education.”
“She loves you, Sol.” He leaned closer. “She says she makes good money selling as a healer, let her take care of you.”
Sol had this discussion often with him and Lora. She knew she should just sit at home, tend to the gardens, and take the coins given to her. Unfortunately, Sol couldn't do it. She had tried, truly.
But the uneasy stillness she felt was the sort she didn’t want to take the time to decipher.
Boredom called to the mind. The mind called to memories, and her memories had claws.
Sol had only ever really wanted to study, entranced by all the lectures Leo recounted after his days at the town school. Unfortunately, her mother had been against her attendance despite all the tantrums and pleas Sol made.
“It’s too dangerous,” Irene would say. “You’re too special.” Whatever that meant.
