And the golden knight wants to use the very magic that got me into this mess.
“I have… to hire you.”
ElevenA Terrible Discovery.
“Exactly where are you going?” When I don’t reply, he exhales a stream of blue smoke and pivots to face me. “My price depends on the engagement. Where are you going?”
“The Badlands,” I mumble. “I want to go to the Outpost in the Badlands.”
When he chuckles, I glare at the lobe of his left ear, and note in my peripheral vision how the brow over his pale eye arches.
“Why not Prosperitus? Closer. Safer.”
No, my reputation not only precedes me there, but is going to get me in more trouble. “Badlands. Outpost.”
“There are only outlaws there.”
“What do you think I’ll be if I make it out of here alive.” As he stares at me, I shift my weight back and forth. “Name your price.”
He draws on thewensel, and releases another cloud that glows blue even in the darkness. “One thousandemras.”
My breath leaves me in a rush. “Th-that’s a fortune.”
“Do you have any idea what is between this village and the Badlands?” The smile is cold. “Forests full of wild beasts, the Lake of Lost Souls,grylonterritory. And there’s been talk of demons. This is not a leisurely stroll through the long grass.”
“In my lifetime, I will not see even a hundredemras.”
“Hm. Pity.” There’s a stretch of silence while he smokes. Then he drawls, “But it appears as if this is your lucky day.”
“That isnotwhat I would call my present circumstance.”
“I happen to be headed to the Badlands myself.” My brief flare of relief is quickly dashed. “However, I don’t work for free under any circumstances. I have a code, you know.”
“One that’s clearly not of honor.”
“Honor doesn’t mean anything on Anathos. You’re in the process of learning that right now.”
Oh, I already knew that the first time I was shunned by someone I’d helped. “So what do you want, apart from an absurd amount of money.”
“What else do you have to offer.” His attention goes down to the hem of my cloak. And then returns to my hood, slowly, as if he’s envisioning me naked. “What else do you have that I might want, I wonder.”
My body warms in a rush, to the point where I swear the ground beneath my feet has given way to a hot spring—
Off in the distance, the crowd begins to chant.
“Your time is running out.” The mercenary tilts his head toward the lane. “What are you going to do. Leave with my help or stay here and get burned in that big fire down there.”
Tears come to my eyes and I tremble, but not because I am frightened of him or the situation I’m in. Although both warrant fear. No, the response is because I’m a virgin, and I’ve made peace with dying one because I’ve had to. I just never thought there’d be a chance to feel a man’s touch, a man’s lips… a man’s body… against my own because he wanted me, and I wanted him.
The sacred mystery not overheard, but experienced.
“I’ll be gentle with you,” he says in a low, resonant voice. “What I do for a living won’t be what I bring to the bed, not with you.”
“Why,” I whisper.
“I only fight what fights against me.” His scarred dagger hand reaches out, and runs along the hooding as if it is my hair. “And you can’t hurt me.”
The crowd roars anew, and I’m reminded of what’s going on outside of this charged privacy we’ve created in the passageway. Except the bartering we’re doing over my body seems far, far more dangerous.
