“She holds grudges,” Kalos agrees, a miserable expression on his face.
I have so many questions right now.
“Your stew good? You eat enough?” the fisherman asks me, pointing at my dish.
“I could eat more.” I’ve scraped my bowl clean, but I’m still hungry. I could absolutely eat more.
“You need more payment.” He grabs the jewelry and slides it all into a bag of his own. “This won’t cover much.”
I’m shocked. I was expecting to give him one piece of something small…not all of it. “What? That’s too much money.”
“Things are expensive now. It’s the Anticipation. Pay up.”
For cold, congealed fish soup? I set the bowl down on the table, my stomach clenching. We can’t give him everything we own. How are we going to travel? How will we get weapons? Supplies?
He sees my hesitation and gestures at Dingle. “You can throw in the goat.”
“No,” I protest automatically. “He’s a pet.”
“I’ll handle this,” Kalos says, getting to his feet. He reaches out and touches the fisherman, grabbing his hand.
The room gets hot—or I’m having a hot flash of some kind. I sneeze violently—once, twice, three times. When I can open my watering eyes again, I watch Kalos and the fisherman. What’s he going to say? Is he going to argue with him? Chide him for his actions? Reveal himself?
The man stares at Kalos.
As I watch, a line of drool slides from the fisherman’s mouth. He trembles, and a moment later, he’s convulsing rapidly. Foam pours from his mouth and he falls to the floor, jerking, and goes still.
In shock, I get to my feet. I can’t believe what I just saw. “Oh my god. Did you just kill him, Kalos?”
He wipes his dirty hand on his clothing. “He was already sick with rot inside. I just accelerated it.” He flexes his hand and seems rather proud of himself. “Didn’t know I could do that.”
Unbelievable. “You can’t kill people just because you’re having a disagreement.”
“Why not? He was going to rob us for that swill.” He flicks a hand at the bowl in my hands. “And you’re very fond of your goat.”
“That was wrong!”
“So what? Like I said, he was already sick inside. He only had a few more months. I just found it and teased it a little.” He studies my face suspiciously. “You’re very flushed, too. Are you well?”
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Do it outside. I don’t want to step over vomit all night.” He sits down on the bucket again and gestures at me. “We’ll eat and clean up and stay here tonight and continue on to Balsingra in the morning as planned.”
“You just killed a man,” I hiss at him. How is he not taking this seriously? “I don’t think you’re supposed to do that!”
“Then the All-Father will punish me.” He shrugs, the bored expression on his face once more. “Either way, it’s not your concern. You want to stay alive for as long as possible, yes? If you refused to give him your jewels, you think he would have let you walk away from here? This world is probably better off without someone like him in it.”
I just stare at him, disgusted.
Kalos points a finger at me. “And you are far too innocent. You need to harden up, or we’re never going to make it past Balsingra.”
A small, horrified part of me worries he might be right.
Chapter
Eleven
Ifind a stack of blankets in an old trunk at the foot of the bed and cover the body with a long, worn length of linen. I should probably drag it outside, but someone is bound to notice. I’ve no idea where I’d put it, anyhow. So…covering up the problem it is. Once his accusing, vacant stare is covered up, I turn to Kalos.
