“Keep your voice down, lad,” my father hisses even though no one can hear anything over dear cousin Vera’sliltingvoice. “Besides, I’m sure they don’t keep up that barbaric practice anymore. We live in a civilized age.”
“Yeah sure,” I reply with a snort. “The dead have an unfortunate habit of walking around now, but at least we’re civilized.”
“Lucky for you, eh?”
I take a step forward, but trip and nearly spill the drink when I see Talyria standing there with her hand on her hip.
“Oh,” I say after a moment.
She gives a little nod. “Oh, yes.”
I wince. I’d blame Likho for the holes in my memory. After all, it’s exhausting to share a whole other entity in your mind. Things are bound to slip through the cracks. The only problem is that Talyria doesn’t happen to know about Likho.
Or the fact that I died because I was a guardsman.
And on the subject of what she does or doesn’t know, she also doesn’t know that I’m a thief.
Really, all she knows is that I’m the son of an innkeeper and it would probably be best off keeping it that way.
“I want to make a comment for future reference that lying to your wife was not my idea. You came up with that all on your own.”
Sure, because it’s so easy to distinguish between thoughts in my head all the time. Sometimes I can’t keep track of where Likho ends and I begin.
“Who is this?” father asks, leaning forward on the bar. “Need a room and meal, miss?”
“I was kind of hoping for something of the sort,” she replies dryly.
“That will be six crowns—” father begins.
I whirl on my heel, moving so fast that this time the frothing liquid spills out on my fingers. “Actually, this one will be on the house.”
“On account of what?” father demands. “You know this isn’t good business, no matter how pretty you think she is. Although I’ll admit it’s a relief to see you starting to notice someone other than—”
I clear my throat, cutting my father off before he brings up how many times I’ve given Estelle a discount. “On account of her being my wife.”
Naturally as soon as I state that, Vera stops singing and the whole inn is quiet. Quiet enough for everyone to hear. It takes every ounce of my willpower to not glance over at Estelle to see how she reacts to this. After all, what she thinks doesn’t matter anymore.
I smile slightly, swallowing hard at my father’s shocked face. “Surprise.” Then like the coward I am, I turn quickly and hurry to give our guest his drink. After all, the man has waited long enough for his ale, and it just isn’t good business to keep a guest waiting.
Chapter Three
Talyria
Iglare after Victor as he scurries off, leaving me to deal with the aftermath of his statement and to meet his father officially as his daughter-in-law.
The man—I don’t even know his name—stares at me with his mouth agape. I muster what I hope is a smile, I’m a bit out of practice, but before I can think of something to say he lunges forward.
For a second, my hand flies to where I would have kept a dagger in the past before I realize that I only just recently escaped from my imprisonment. Getting a new knife should have been the top of my list of priorities, but instead I wound up with a husband.
However, the man simply wraps me in a hug. I stiffen a bit at the unfamiliar contact, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Instead, he pulls back bracing his hands on my shoulders. “That boy of mine,” he says with a laugh. “I swear by the gods I can’t keep up with him every time he changes things. But at least, this time it is for the better. Hello, hello!” He pulls away resting a hand on his chest. “Oh, but where are my manors. My name is Sasha, I’m sure my son failed to mention his old man’s name. And Mika….”
He trails off and turns his head, giving me a better view of his impressive sideburns. I certainly hope that Victor sticks with the beard. “Mika!”
“Coming!” I hear a small voice call and then a little brown-haired girl comes racing out of one of the back rooms, a broom in hand. “Just cleaning out the spare room, Pa; what did you need?”
“I wanted to introduce you to your new sister!” Sasha booms, clearly more excited about this than the rest of us combined.
He places a hand on my shoulder, clapping it so hard that it rattles my teeth. I force a smile.
