It was close. Right beside her. Lucenna almost thought he was speaking to her until another spoke.
“Tickets, please,” came a nasally response.
She peered through her lashes, finding herself laying against Klyde’s chest. He had his arm securely wrapped around her waist with his mercenary coat covering her. Her first thought was annoyance, followed by embarrassment that she fell asleep on him. His coat partially hid her view, though she saw the dwarfs’ small boots in the aisle beside them.
“One moment.” Klyde slightly shifted, careful not to wake her as he reached into his coat pocket.
“Traveling with your wife?” the dwarf asked him.
Lucenna tried not to twitch at the question. She remained still, pretending to be asleep.
“Aye,” Klyde answered gruffly as he handed the conductor their tickets.
“Where to?”
“South.”
“Hmm. Silver hair. I’ve never seen a lass with pretty hair like that. Where does she hail from?”
“Is that your business to know?”
She inwardly smiled at Klyde’s unusually brisk tone.
“All right, sir. I meant no offense.” The dwarf stamped their tickets and returned them. He went on his way, muttering to himself about tetchy mates.
Wait. He saidsilver hair.
Lucenna sat up with a gasp. She looked down at herself, finding her glamor had dissolved again. Why did it keep doing that?
“Sit back.” Klyde quickly pulled her toward his chest and tucked the loose locks on her temples beneath his mercenary coat. He must have put it on her to cover her hair. “The spell broke a little while after you fell asleep,” he whispered, peeking over his shoulder. “My coat deflects magic, but I don’t know how well it serves to cloak it. I wouldn’t risk casting another spell.”
Lucenna stiffened at the wariness in his tone. “Why?” she whispered back, listening to the rapid beat of his heart. Her pulse climbed with it.
“I am quite sure there is a mage on this train.”
“What?” she hissed.
“The next town is in Oreville. We’ll get off there and take the next train out.”
Lucenna glanced at the evening sky outside of the window. She had slept most of the day. “When?”
“Soon,” Klyde murmured, his breath drifting over her scalp.
Lucenna shivered. Both from the sensation and from nerves. “You saw him?”
“Aye. Spotted him in the next carriage when the conductor crossed through. He’s wearing gray robes.”
The tension eased out of her body with a heavy exhale. “He’s not an Elite Enforcer. Only an earth mage.”
“No cause to worry, then?”
Lucenna peeked past his shoulder to the door that separated the carriages. It had a window to see into the other side. She couldn’t see the mage, but she did see part of the green crystal on his staff. The little Essence hovering around him was hardly of any note. Must be a boy still learning the craft, and by the charcoal color of his robes, he was of a middle-class House. The earth mages from a noble class dressed in brown.
Like the Celestials, the mages wore their colors according to their Guild and power level. The darker the color, the more powerful the mage, but most liked to inflate their power level by basing their robe colors on their nobility. Black was the highest status of all. Only worn by Enforcers and the Archmage’s household.
“Every mage is a risk, but if I am spotted, this one will more than likely report me to an Enforcer rather than confront me,” she said.
“Because it’s not his duty to capture you?”
