Dahlia
She swallowed hard.The healer deserved the truth. “There are wanted posters in the town square with a likeness of myself down to the marks on my legs,” she choked out. “But they’re also looking for you. They’ve labeled you a traitor. I’m so sorry.”
Loshika blinked slowly before she became a flurry of motion. Lia watched helplessly as the giantess tossed the knitting into her bag and swung her packed bag onto her shoulder. “Then we must get away from this place.”
Guilt threatened to swallow Dahlia. She took a step away from the door. “You don’t have to run with us. Give us a five minute head start and then turn us in. I’m wanted for questioning, but they are seeking your life. Because of me,” she whispered, sick to her stomach.
Loshika moved across the room and grabbed Lia’s shoulders, giving her a little shake. “I’m not going anywhere. I meant my vows to you. We are family now, are we not?”
She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. “We are.”
The giantess nodded and released Dahlia before stuffing a few candles in her bag. “Then it’s settled. Where you go, I go.”
Lia grabbed her brother’s bag and frowned when Loshika stuffed the rough-spun comforter into her bag.
Thenonnaearched a brow. “Really? The innkeeper has been stealing from our wages ever since we started working here. I’m only reclaiming what he’s taken from us.”
Lia didn’t argue with her.
What right did she have when it came to morality? She’d murdered the king.
The room wavered, and she staggered to the door, trying to push out the pain.
Not now.
Lia leaned her forehead against the door and caught her breath.
Turn it off.
She imagined ice creeping through her veins until her body was numb.
Now she could function.
She cracked the door open just a sliver. No one was in the hallway. Lia swung the door open fully and stepped out into the hallway just as the innkeeper’s wife puffed up the stairs. Loshika hovered at Dahlia’s back as the innkeeper’s wife eyed them with a frown.
“Moving on?” she asked, her voice thin and annoyed.
“Yes, we are, ma’am,” Lia replied in a calm voice. “I thank you for your hospitality and the work.”
The giantess snorted. “It was not by my hand that you stayed here. Only because my sodding husband has a weakness for small vulnerable females. His eyes stray too much.” Her upper lip curled, showing her fangs. “Be gone with you and never return.” She stepped aside, and they skirted past the grouchy giantess and jogged down the stairs.
The merry sounds of the inn reached them as they exited the servants’ stairs. Once again, they managed to avoid the attention of the innkeeper and made it to the scullery.
Cosmos stiffened when they entered but relaxed when he locked eyes on Lo. “What took you so long?” he asked as he pulled his rucksack off Dahlia’s shoulder, hardly sparing her a glance.
She knelt by a shelf that held pots and pans and fished out her own bag from beneath. She didn’t go anywhere without it these days.
“We unfortunately met with the innkeeper’s wife,” Loshika grumbled.
Lia crept to the door that led to the alley—when a large blue hand landed on her forearm. The healer nudged Dahlia out of the way gently.
“Let me go first,” she said softly.
The giantess opened the outer door and stepped into the alleyway. Lia and Cosmos waited as she walked down the alley to the main road and then looked in both directions. She waved them forward. The coast was clear. Lia hugged her brother, fussed with his hood, and then stepped outside, Cosmos behind her.
Loshika tipped her head to the right. “The ice gatherers are leaving to trade. If we can get to their caravan, I’m sure they will take us. I don’t know which direction they’re going.”
“South and then east, I presume,” Lia murmured, eyes wandering the busy street as the sun sank low in the sky.
