This time, I drew a two, and she flipped over Death.
“Ah, Death wins the biscuit,” I said, graciously passing it to her.
Surprise and a hint of gratitude flickered in her eyes as she took it from me. After several moments of staring at the moist,flaky bread, she sighed and tore off a chunk for me. Not half. But something.
My lips quirked. “Thank you.”
She didn’t look at me as we devoured our biscuits. Her gaze pinned to a far corner of the tavern where Tercel had fashioned a target from a wooden barrel top and nailed it to the wall. A few men shouted and laughed as they competed with throwing knives.
“What weapons did you used to carry with you?” I asked her.
She glanced at me. “Is that the question you choose as your prize?”
“Yes.” I wanted to know what she’d been like before her arrest. Last night had turned that curiosity from a prickle to a burn.
“Knives,” she said, confirming my suspicion. “Small ones for throwing. Better than what they’re playing with.” She nodded at the men in the corner.
“Do you miss them?”
“Aren’t you supposed to play me for the answer?” she asked dryly.
I shrugged, giving her a charming smile. “Humor me.”
Her brows pinched together, and she took a sip of Sunshine. She smacked her lips. “Mmm, that’s good. Why is it called Sunshine?”
“Because it tastes like sweet drops of sunshine,” I said.
She gave me a dubious look before turning to stare at Tercel’s perpetual frown. “Thatman named it Sunshine?”
I laughed. “No. A customer did, and it stuck. Sometimes I order it just to see his face turn sour. But people love it, so he won’t stop making and selling it.”
“It is very good,” Kiera said, taking another swallow. She stared into her mug. “And I do miss them. The knives. I feel... exposed without them.” Her eyelashes fluttered. “Last night,before you gave me your daggers, I was so afraid. If they had caught us, I would’ve fought to my last breath. But there’s a difference between knowing you will certainly die and thinking you have even the slimmest chance of surviving. Knives give me that chance.”
“I understand,” I said softly.
I’d had to do terrible things to survive. Things that might drag my soul into the Abyss to wander through the Longest Night. Even vowing to never again put myself in a position to have to make those choices didn’t heal the wound.
She mixed the tiles again. “My turn to win.”
We set up another game as we chewed the sweet, hot meat and savory carrots and potatoes. Our plates were empty by the time she did indeed win the next game by the skin of her teeth.
She grinned as though she’d just won a fortune.
“Not subtle, are you?” I teased her as we drained the last of our mead.
“I still won, didn’t I?” A golden drop of Sunshine slipped from her mouth, and she caught it with the tip of her tongue.
Warmth fizzled and popped in my blood. Probably from the mead. “Winning looks beautiful on you.” Gods damn it, I should never drink around her.
She blinked at me, her cheeks flushed. “You think I’m beautiful?”
“Is that your question?”
“No! I... I...” She looked flustered, which gave me my own sense of triumph. “Where are you from?”
I grimaced. That was not a question I wanted. “Everywhere. Nowhere.”
“That’s not a real answer. I gave you?—”
