We didn’t linger long after that. In a matter of minutes, Radven had led the way back down to the common room.
There was someone clattering dishes in the back, but otherwise this level of the inn was quiet. A large man was slumped on a bench next to the dying fire, drunkenly dozing, but aside from him the room was empty.
The street outside was empty, too. A small handful of windows revealed the dim, golden light of lamps, but otherwise Far Meadow was still and silent.
I glanced up at the sky, half-expecting to see a small army of zhespers hovering in the air above us. I saw no movement, though, and no dark shapes against the black sky.
But thestars.I’d never seen so many in all my life—but then again, I’d never lived somewhere where there wasn’t tons of light pollution. There were so many stars above me that it would have taken a lifetime to count them all, and if any familiar constellations lay among them, I wasn’t sure I’d ever find them.
There were moons, though—yes, moons.Three, that I could see—one full, one in its first quarter, and the final one a tiny crescent hovering just over the surrounding hills.
“Come on,” Radven said, his voice low and urgent. “We need to move quickly.”
“I’m sorry.” I hurried after him, embarrassed that I’d forgotten the pressing danger. “It’s just so beautiful. You never told me Therador has three moons.”
“It wasn’t something I’d thought to mention.” He answered without missing a step. “It isn’t something I’ve thought about for years.” He paused then, lingering between one step and the next, looking up as if transfixed.
But his distraction only lasted a second. Suddenly he moved again, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me into a shadowy doorway.
His body pressed against mine, his arms coming around me in an unexpected embrace. And to someone passing by, that’s exactly how we would have looked—like two lovers, tucked away in a dark doorway to steal a few illicit kisses.
Considering what we’d been doing only moments before, it was no surprise that my body reacted, my skin going all flushed and hot and my breath quickening in my chest.
Radven noticed.
“Believe me, butterfly, I’d much rather be continuing what we started.” His voice was that low, melodic purr, but his eyes were looking up, watching the sky.
And that’s when I felt it—the same subtle,shiverypulse I’d noticed just before Radven had killed the zhesper in the inn.
I twisted my head, trying to spot the small creature against the dark sky. That tiny motion brought me even closer to Radven, right up against that sandalwood-and-smoke scent, which was mildly distracting.
“There,” Radven whispered, his breath stirring my hair. “By the chimney across the street.”
I squinted into the dark, and then, in the pale light of the moons, I saw it—a small, moving bit of darkness against the darkness. If I didn’t breathe, I could hear it, too—its wings made a softwhirringas it zipped back and forth like some sort of deranged insect.
“Can it spot us from there?” I asked, keeping my voice as low as his.
“Most likely not.” He’d tilted his head down slightly, and his breath tickled my ear. “They don’t see very well in the dark, but I don’t want to take any chances. Especially if Laitha’s looking through its eyes.” He added, “We’ll probably need to travel by night until we’re certain we’re clear of them.”
“How far will we have to go?”
“As far as it takes.”
Ah, so clearly we were back to the vague non-answers.
Across the street, the zhesper zipped in a circle around the chimney and thenwhirreddown the street, back toward the inn.
“As soon as it’s out of sight, we run for the end of the street,” he said, indicating the direction opposite where the zhesper had gone.
A moment later, he was tugging me out of the shadows and sprinting down the road, pulling me along behind him. Even now, when I wasn’t bound and confused, I couldn’t match his speed—especially not in a too-long dress that threatened to trip me with every step. But somehow, we made it down the street and into the shadows against the wall of the last building.
Panting, I leaned against the wall, regretting all those times I’d skipped my workouts in favor of curling up with a murder documentary or the latest racy episode of Esmer’sFae Queensfanfic.
Radven, on the other hand, hadn’t even broken a sweat. He was watching the sky again, fully alert, and throwing regular glances back down the street.
“It looks like we might be in the clear for the moment,” he said.
“Could more of them be…hiding?” I asked. “Waiting for us to come out?”
