We didn’t speak again as the wagons rolled into the alleys of the Old Quarter. I knew where we were going this time. Aiden’s warehouse. But the likelihood of peering into a few of his crates was miniscule with Wolves snapping at our heels.
The wooden wheels scraped against the narrow alley walls, and I clutched the box in my lap tighter. Whatever was inside had quieted. Perhaps I could risk a peek once we stopped.
We drove directly to the warehouse this time. Aiden likely knew I had no trouble locating it by this point. We rolled to a stop in front of one of the many long, low buildings that huddled in the shadow of the high city wall. The same wall that cut off the Old Quarter from the Noble Quarter. The one Aiden tunneled under. No soldiers patrolled this wall—only the edges of the city.
We were alone. For now.
Aiden faced me, only his mouth and chin visible under his hood. “Keep a lookout with Ruru. Whistle if someone comes. If it’s them, run, hide. Don’t let them capture you.”
I forced a tiny smirk. “Can’t break me out of prison twice?”
“You would never make it to a cell.”
I swallowed hard, remembering the woman. Her brother.
Aiden disappeared into an alley where I guessed the door was. Maz started unloading crates from his wagon. Ruru waved at me from his seat, but my hands were locked around the box.
The box.
I pried my fingers away from it, noticing the holes cut into the sides. I carefully lifted the top. Something rustled inside. Whatever it was, I couldn’t risk it escaping. A thin, scaley tail suddenly whipped through the crack, and I slammed the top closed.
Some kind of lizard? Who in the deep, dark, wandering hell would smuggle in an exotic creature from?—
I nearly laughed. Garyth’s daughter, Isabel. So, this was the birthday present Garyth had ordered from Melaena. Aiden was Melaena’s—and therefore, the nobles’—supplier of illegal goods. But was that the extent of it? Or did he supply more than just unique pets?
Gods damn it, if only I could poke around the warehouse. I wasn’t even going to be able to get inside. All I’d managed to see was a girl’s lizard. Hardly a secret worth telling Renwell.
Aiden strode to Maz’s wagon and began wordlessly helping him unload it. Then they carried their crates toward the warehouse.
Biting my lip and keeping an eye on the back of Ruru’s head, I set the lizard box beside me. I pried the lids off one, two, then three crates to see inside. Boxes of tea, casks of liquor, and tins of spice. Fat bags of rice with their weight and origin stamped on the burlap leaned against the barrels. All from Eloren.
Nothing from Dagriel. Nothing from Keldiket. No sign of weapons or armor or anything that might hint at whatever Aiden or Garyth were planning.
Why was Aiden so protective of his business then? Why did he keep so many secrets?
I quickly sat forward when Aiden and Maz came back for another load. I did my duty and studied every twisting alley within sight. There were no windows and doors along this alley, aside from the other warehouses. But all was quiet.
It took two more trips for Aiden and Maz to empty the first wagon. Then they started on mine, taking the lizard first.
Unease prickled at the back of my neck. I looked behind me, but nothing moved in the shadows.
I quietly clucked my tongue, making my horses’ ears twitch but also catching the attention of Ruru, who turned immediately. I beckoned him over. He hopped down and rushed over to my wagon.
“You see something?” he whispered, his owlish eyes blinking.
“No, but what’s the sense of guarding an empty wagon when we can stand watch together?”
He grinned. “I like the way your mind works. Got any more nuts?”
I picked a few from my pocket and handed them to him. “What was in your boxes? Anything interesting? I think I had a lizard in one of mine,” I said with a smile.
“We get lots of strange requests like that.” Ruru lowered his voice further. “Spices that make you see things. Berries that cost ten gold coins a handful. Jewelry that changes your mood.”
My nose wrinkled. I’d never heard of such things. “You jest.”
“I swear by the Four. Melaena gave a bracelet of yellow jewels to a woman who had lost her husband and?—”
“Quiet!” I grabbed his elbow.
