He’d said her voice grounded him.
She was his anchor.
Chapter Seventeen
The parishioners could get handsy on a day like this, eager to receive their blessings.
The next morning, a thick mist settled over the city. Seraphina felt it on her face, cold and damp, clinging to her skin. She and Rune left their hideout, walking close together. The snow had stopped sometime during the night, and the thin layer that remained muffled their footsteps. She led Rune toward the city center, keeping to back streets and narrow passages. The mist was a welcome advantage, as it would help them go unnoticed.
They approached the market square, and Seraphina noticed the noise. There were more voices than usual, overlapping as people talked and shouted over each other. Carriage wheels and horse hooves clattered on the cobblestones, making it hard for Seraphina to focus and identify possible watchmen on patrol. Even the alleys she’d chosen for their usual quiet seemed to be invaded by throngs of people. She tilted her head, trying to make sense of it.
“It’s not always like this, is it?” Rune asked.
He was walking a couple of paces behind her.
“No,” she said. “Something is different today.”
She couldn’t put her finger on it. She felt like she was missing something, but her most pressing problem was that bigger crowds meant more watchmen. That was the last thing they needed.
They reached the first street where she remembered a tailor’s shop, and she positioned them across the narrow alley to observe. The relic showed her the shadows of the building, the door and the windows.
“Tell me what you see,” she whispered to Rune.
They stood against the side of a building, almost huddled together, Rune towering over her, his back bent to whisper closeto her ear. The height difference was still significant, so he mostly whispered to the top of her head.
“I think there’s a back entrance and a side alley we could use,” he said.
She nodded. She could hear people coming in and out, so she led him away to check another location.
The next tailor she remembered was gone. There were boards on the windows, and the silence specific to an abandoned building. Her chest tightened. Two years was a long time, and the city had changed more than she’d expected.
“What’s wrong?” Rune asked, sensing her melancholy.
“This shop is closed. I once bought a scarf from here.”
Back when she wrapped scarves around her neck, not her eyes...
They moved on to a street with metalworking shops, and Seraphina found a cutler that was still open. The smell of forge fires and the sound of hammer on metal told her they were in the right place. She and Rune stood in an alcove and observed. She made him memorize the door, the alley beside it, the routes they could take to escape. He repeated the details back to her, and she was satisfied.
But as they continued, the crowds grew worse. Children darted between them, their shrill voices making Seraphina cringe. Horses and carriages created chaos even in the narrow streets, and the cacophony built and built until Seraphina had to stop and press herself against a wall. She focused on her breathing, trying to filter out the noise, but it was too much. All the sounds overwhelmed her, made it harder to orient herself in space, harder to pay attention to whether watchmen might be nearby.
Rune stopped by her side and waited with her. He didn’t say anything, and after a few minutes, she felt foolish. They started moving again. She straightened her back and used herstick to guide her, and whenever someone jumped to the side to avoid being jabbed in the ankle, she felt a hint of satisfaction. But while she was moving with newfound determination, she noticed Rune had the tendency to slow down and let people pass. She huffed and thought to herself that he shouldn’t be such a gentleman with these peasants. Most of them didn’t even know how to navigate the streets properly without trampling on each other. She was blind and she had a better sense of space.
After crossing a particularly crowded street, Seraphina stopped in her tracks and turned around. She waited for thirty seconds but couldn’t deny the emptiness she felt. Surrounded by so many bodies, yet she felt alone.
“Rune?” she whispered.
No answer. She cursed under her breath and retraced her steps, her senses on high alert. Her ears searched for his voice in case he was calling to her, or for the way he breathed in case she passed him by. Her nose was searching for his scent. Finally, she found him tucked into an alcove. His breathing was quick and shallow, and she had to stop herself from reaching to touch his face. She knew he wouldn’t let her.
“Here you are,” she said.
“I wanted to follow you.” He sounded like an animal caught in a trap. “But there were so many people moving back and forth, back and forth... I couldn’t. I watched you go, disappear, and I just stood here like an idiot.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said.
Seraphina took him by the arm, and he didn’t bat her hand away. As long as there were layers of clothes between them, she’d noticed she was allowed to touch him.
“I should’ve been paying more attention. I won’t leave you behind again.”
