“You like to be seen from a carriage?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No.” The word whooshed out with my breath, stealing my tension along with it. I wasn’t using a blade, but I was poking him with my questions. I was irritated with myself, and I was taking it out on him, something I needed to stop.
We left the gangway and walked along the wooden pier, stepping onto the cobblestone road beyond.
“It looks like a long way to walk,” I said in a breezy tone, tightening my grip on Farris’s leash. Lord Briscalar said when Farris lived inside the castle, he could run free in my suite or when someone took him out to the gardens. I wasn’t sure what my pet was going to think about that, and it stressed me. Maybe I should let him go. Forest coated the sides of the mountains. He’d be relatively safe here.
“It is a long way from the castle to the town,” Merrick said. “Though many times, I’ll walk down the hillside and stroll through the city on foot.”
With Lore pacing behind him, no doubt.
A tall stone wall encircled the city, stretching from the shore in both directions before curving around to encompass the castle, though a gate stood open ahead, on the other side of the pier.
“You said the wall was built to keep out predators,” I said. “You didn't tell me what kind of predator.”
“Most have fled and no longer pose a threat. The true predators of Evergorne are within.”
A shiver tracked through me, but I hadn't expected anything less. I only had vague memories of Bledmire Court, but I sensed that, other than Merrick presiding over Evergorne, the two courts were too much alike.
“A coin, precious?” The lean man dressed in raggedy clothing stumbled over and smacked into my right side, thrusting out a cup. “Surely you have coins.” He slurred his words, and his breath held a sour reek. The wine bottle he carried slipped from his hand, impacting with the cobblestones. It shattered, shooting glass everywhere. One shard sliced through my gown and impaled itself in my right calf.
I yelped and reeled away from him.
Farris growled and flung himself toward the man, his teeth snapping and a snarl ripping up his throat. If I hadn’t had a good grip on his leash, he would’ve leaped. As it was, I could barely hold my pet back. He might be small, but he clearly could be vicious.
“Whoa, whoa,” the man cried, stumbling away. He fell onto his backside, his metal cup clattering on the cobblestones beside him. “I just want coins,” he whined. “No need to be mean.”
Merrick thrust himself between us and with a snap of his fingers, wove a wall of ice that blocked the drunken man from me and Farris. Striding around the wall, he dropped coins into the man’s cup. “Here. Go. Don’t come near her again.”
The man scrambled to stuff the coins into his pocket and crawled away from us, his cup clanking on the stones. He rose to his feet and kept going, making his way along the outer part of the wall.
“I’m sorry.” Merrick let the icy wall go, and it collapsed onto the stone, melting already.
“It’s not your fault.” I tugged up my skirt, exposing the shard of glass impaling my leg. Blood trickled down from the wound.
“You’re hurt.” He dropped to his knees beside me and gently pulled out the glass. A flick of his finger and what was left of the bottle turned to sand. I’d heard sand could be formed into glass with flames.
Elemental aegis. His skill could take one element and turn it into another. Sand to glass and, in this case, glass back into sand. He looked up at me, his face solemn and his eyes full of sympathy. He placed his palm over my wound and closed his eyes, releasing a low hum.
The stinging stopped, and when he opened his eyes and removed his hand, my wound was gone as if it had never been there.
“Are you alright otherwise?” Rising, he took both of my hands, squeezing them while he looked me over.
“I’m fine. It was only a tiny cut.”
“Good.” His sharp gaze swept across the area, but other than sailors moving about, some loading things onto boats, others making stacks on the pier, there was no one else around.
“Thank you.” Rising onto my toes, I kissed his cheek.
Color climbed into his face. “You matter, Reyla. Very much.”
“Enough to let me wear knives at all times?” I asked. Aftersomeone trying to poison me, and this incident, I didn’t like to remain unarmed. “Lord Briscalar said no one’s allowed to wear weapons near you.”
“You can wear any weapon you please.”
“Even in your company?”
