Oh, Haven, I’m the long straw. My sisters would have burned you alive for your impudence.
Getting out of the cave became my top priority. “The basajaun is missing.”
He’s leading your friends on a wild-goose chase.
“My friends?”
The four handsome guards.
“They came looking for me?”
You’re a powerful shield.
As if I needed a reminder that they cared about my power and not me. I ignored the unwelcome pang near my heart and asked, “Where do I need to go?”
You’re leaving Legacia.
“But Grandmother?—”
Your grandmother is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Gladys, who’d rudely interrupted me, sounded bored.
“They said if I didn’t go with them, they’d throw her and the girls in jail.”
Never play cards. You can’t read a bluff.
“They weren’t bluffing.”
Hmm. We’ll see.
“If they think I’m dead, they might leave her alone.”
You withstood Carron’s poison and the pit, fought off a wolven, repelled wraiths, killed a wyvern, punished the men who wanted to rape you, and fought rebels; no one will believe a basajaun killed you.
I couldn’t even scowl at her; she had no face. A sound coming from behind me drew my attention, making me turn. A basajaun stood at the cave’s entrance. “Does he have a name?”
You couldn’t pronounce her true name. You may call her Mildred.
“Mildred? You’re sure she won’t bite my head off for calling her that?”
Why would she care what you call her?
“I hate it when people call me Shield.”
Fair point. But she doesn’t mind Mildred.
“Maybe she’d prefer Bianca?”
The basajaun grunted.
“See?”
Fine. Call her Bianca.
I wrapped my cloak tightly around me and said, “Bianca, lead the way.”
We stepped outside into a world painted white. I followed as best I could, but Bianca’s annoyed grunts made it clear my best wasn’t good enough. After I stumbled for the third time, face-planting into a snowdrift, she’d had enough. She picked me up in a bridal hold.
“I can walk,” I insisted.
