“This is another filthy market.”
Zev read the signs marking each street. “I think the inns are ahead.”
“We need to find the merchant traders to secure a ride to the Port of Azure,” Cassiel said. “I’m not keen on traveling the rest of this journey on foot.”
“Don’t we need to secure lodging first?”
“It’s midday. Most likely any rooms that can be let, have been.”
“We may still find something available if we hurry,” Dyna told them, trying not to show her disappointment. She wanted to look around, but they had other obligations. Tomorrow morning would be better suited to explore and replenish their provisions.
They merged into the current of people that carried them further through the marketplace. The narrow streets became more crowded as they went. Crammed bodies shoved and elbowed past her. She lost hold on Zev’s arm. The small opening between them quickly filled with more people, and she fell behind.
She tried to slip through, but the mass of bodies swallowed her up. Unfamiliar faces drowned her in a blur of color. Pushed and jostled helplessly along, she struggled to find her footing. Another sudden thrust from behind knocked her down. Someone grabbed her elbow before she hit the ground, jolting her with a batch of fiery energy. A band constricted in her chest when she heard a familiar voice and the threatening curse it spat. The mass quickly parted.
“Did you trip over your own feet again?”
Dyna met Cassiel’s cool gaze and smiled feebly, limp from relief. “I tripped over half the population of Corron.”
He hauled her to his side. “What am I to do with you?”
His arm clamped around her waist and pulled her protectively against him. She blushed under the stares of those watching. Cassiel ignored them. He guided her along until they reached a wide road where the crowd had thinned. There, she found her cousin waiting by a wagon.
Zev exhaled in relief when he spotted them. “Dyna, stay close to us. Any man here is likely to throw you over his shoulder and whisk you away if you’re not careful.”
An awful shudder crawled down her back. The fates forbid.
Cassiel took her hand, eliciting more ripples of energy. “I will not let that happen.”
Dyna’s stomach pitched by the fierce way he looked at her. She glanced down at where his hand circled hers, an electrical current dancing between them. His fingers slipped away before she could study the feeling further.
“Good sirs! Miss!” A woman waved at them from the doorway of her shop. The tall windows displayed an assortment of stunning dresses, like the scarlet one she wore. Her round face was a rich cedar color complete with a motherly smile. She popped her hands on her hips as she sighed at Dyna. “I do hope you mean to tend to this one. She is honey wine to those in dire thirst for it.”
Cassiel’s expression darkened. “Your pardon?”
The woman strolled over to them in a huff, black ringlets bouncing on her head. The sunlight shone on the lace trim of her dress embroidered with gold flowers along the collar and sleeves. A gold chain circled her curvaceous waist, dangling down the front.
“I speak the truth, milord,” she said, switching to a more respectable title once she noted Cassiel’s air of nobility. Dyna saw it too in the way he held himself, in the authoritative raise of his chin and cold assertive glare. “She will attract the wrong attention in thatgarb.”
All eyes landed on Dyna, and she tried not to fidget as they inspected her. The oversized tunic sagged off her shoulders and her torn petticoat exposed her thigh. She blushed, tugging on the tunic’s hem to hide it.
“And what attention would that be, wild-cat?” Zev asked irately.
The woman’s eyes flashed lime-green and the pupils thinned into black slits. Her ears were pointed and dusted in soft fur.
“Don’t you growl at me, wolf. I only mean to give you a fair warning.” She looked Dyna over, tsking sympathetically. “Shame on you lot for leaving her to trod about in her undergarments. It’s only asking for trouble.”
“It’s not their fault, madam. I was unprepared for our journey and my only kirtle was ruined.”
The woman smiled and patted Dyna’s cheek. “Well then, I suppose that means you need a new wardrobe. My name is Namir. Come to my shop, and I’ll see that you leave it looking as a Lady should.”
“Thank you, but we haven’t the time.” Or the funds, by the look of Namir’s dress.
Cassiel sighed and rubbed his forehead. “She is right. What you are wearing isn’t suitable.”
“I agree,” Zev said under his breath, “but I don’t have the coin to afford her shop.”
“I’ll bear the cost.” Cassiel dropped three gold coins in Namir’s palm. “Whatever she needs.”
