“But then you’ll be cold.”
“That is the least of my worries.”
Did he worry about her?
Dyna swallowed, deliberating only a second before saying, “I have a better idea.”
She took one of his gloves, slipped it on, then took his bare, warm palm in hers. A soft electrical current passed through them, seeping more warmth through her as it reached her cheeks. Cassiel froze in place for a moment, staring at their entwined hands as if he didn’t know what to make of her boldness.
“Sorry.” She started to pull away, but he tightened his grasp and slid their fingers together.
With a clearing of his throat, Cassiel continued down the street, holding her hand as if it was the most delicate thing in the world.
Chapter 39
Lucenna
Lucenna hated to admit it, but being out in the open among so many people made her nervous, especially with mages about. The presence of their power drifted in the air like the humidity of summer. Not potent enough to belong to an Enforcer, but any mage could attempt to capture and return her to the Magos Empire.
Keeping a clipped pace through the city, she wanted to reach the tavern as soon as possible. But Rawn slowed, bringing Fair to a stop on a street corner. She followed his line of sight to a courier office on a busy road and read the debate on his face.
“You need to send a letter?” she asked, smiling tightly.
Rawn nodded, though he looked hesitant at her obvious unease. “Letters to my wife. I do well to send her one every month, but I have been delayed for unexpected reasons. I have two letters to send now. She must be worried.”
“You send them by courier portal,” Lucenna concluded.
Portals were difficult to make and required a lot of power. The mages who could manage a small one offered their services in courier offices, and that office most certainly had a mage. She could feel it.
She sighed. “Go. I’ll wait here.”
“I will not be long.” Rawn handed her Fair’s reins and crossed the road.
“Come along, Fair.” Lucenna led him to a shadowy street around the corner from the courier office.
It held a few merchant stalls and even fewer people. Perfect. It may serve to pass the time while she waited. Fair’s hooves clopped loudly in the quiet as they strolled through. The offered wares were merely threadbare clothes, overripe food, and rusted tools. Grim people eyed her with mean gazes from their stalls.
“Witch,” they hissed.
“Hide before she speaks to us,” a merchant whispered to another, thinking she couldn’t see them.
The glamor of an old hag and sash over Lucenna’s eyes did well to disguise her as a blind witch. The merchants dropped the canopies over their stalls, closing their shops. People on the street took one look at her and walked in the opposite direction. Lucenna flashed a harsh grin, releasing a cackle. May as well play the part.
She stopped before a shoemaker’s shop at random, and the man waved her away. “Begone. We don’t serve your kind here. Go to the Briar Witch for your business.”
Briar Witch?
He motioned to a dark alleyway with a faint red light glowing beyond. There was a witch here. Her heart jolted as goosebumps rushed across her arms. Finally, she’d found a lead to what she’d been searching for. But when she took a step, Fair neighed, pulling on the reins.
“Stop that.” Lucenna frowned. He pulled again, shaking his head. “Don’t tell me you’re scared. Elvish horses are to be brave, and you serve the Norrlen House. You have a reputation to uphold.” At that, Fair settled with a nervous twitch of his ears, and he flicked her with his tail. She patted his neck. “Come now, Rawn left me in your care. Will you accompany me, please?”
Fair nuzzled her cheek with a wet snort.
“Thank you.”
Lucenna held on a little too tightly to the reins as they approached the eerie alley. Black mold covered the damp stone walls. Water dripped, pattering in an unsteady rhythm. Rats scurried by her boots and hid beneath the broken crates left to rot in the corners. Red highlighted everything in a sinister hue—the strange light coming from a small, rusted lantern hanging above a round, black door at the end of the alleyway. No windows or signs, save for a knotted symbol painted in the center of the door with red paint.
She wasn’t the only one who came to meet the witch. A young man with an eyepatch stood silently in the shadows, holding on to the reins of two horses, one black and the other brown. He was dressed in blue and layered with leather armor and metal plating. The man’s one gray eye watched her approach without a word. Fair tugged against the reins again, his breaths coming in heavy. If the horse was scared, perhaps she should be.
