I’d done my best to not think about him, though he still slipped into my mind when my guard was down. I would remember a flash of his curling, beautiful smile, and my heart would ache so fiercely. Was it possible to both detest and miss someone at the same time?
What was done was done. I’d made my choice, and Kaldur had made his…to believe terrible things about me. But even if Velle—and possibly Lydrasa—hadn’t been in his ear, he still wouldn’t have wanted me. Because I would always be a keeper in his eyes, one he mistrusted, one he would always believe was trying totakefrom him.
Move forward,I ordered myself, shaking him from my thoughts, ignoring the way my heart thudded, the way it pinched and compressed in my chest.
I don’t need to ask Syndras anymore what heartbreak feels like, I thought morosely.
No one had ever warned me how much ithurt. Or how invasive the other person was in your thoughts even when all you wanted was to forget.
I needed to find work. If I had any intention of starting a life here, I needed a consistent income. There was no shortage of noble Houses within Laras. Surely, with my references, one of them would hire me.
But I knew that might be a reach. Keepers found their work through their connections, usually on the direct recommendation of someone else, someone they knew. That was how I’d gotten work at Kaldur’s keep, after all—Syndras of House Terasyn had recommended me to Maudoric.
I knew no nobles in Laras. Only Luc, and I couldn’t even find him.
I thought I might have better luck at one of the inns, so the next day, I targeted the ones around the busy marketplace. There was no shortage of people gathered there in the afternoons and evenings, and I hoped it would give me a better chance of spotting Luc as I searched for work.
Three inns later and I’d been sent out from nearly every one, even the one I’d stayed at.
The fourth, however, called Kyndri’s Landing, took me. The owner, a Kylorr female named Kyndri had, by chance, just let go her former keeper for stealing from her patrons’ rooms.
The inn itself was farther away than I would’ve wanted fromthe main center square and even farther from my room at Irkin’s. But Kyndri had seemed pleasant enough, if a little overworked. I didn’t mention I’d worked in Kaldur’s keep, because I thought it might raise her suspicions, or she might think I was lying. But I gave her a list of references, which she only waved away.
“You worked in noble Houses? That’s good enough for me. If you steal from the rooms, though, I’ll make sure you never find work in Laras again. Yes?” Kyndri said, waiting for my reply. Perhaps an empty threat, meant to frighten me, but I couldn’t know for certain. Maybe Laras was like Vyaan, after all—and everyone talked.
“I would never,” I protested, thinking about the shard of the green vase I’d stolen from Kaldur’s keep. That had been different, however.
“Good,” she barked, inclining her head as she served a human male, who smiled at me a little too broadly, a foaming brew in a brown jug at the bar. “Pay is fifty credits for a full day. You can find the uniforms through the door there and any cleaning supplies you need. You can do a sweep of the rooms now. Everyone should be out until evening.”
And that was how I found myself working at a sleepy little inn in Laras, for virtually half the pay I’d made at Kaldur’s keep. But it would keep a roof over my head. For now.
I huffed out a breath,trying to breathe through my mouth as I scrubbed the floor of one of the guest rooms. I’d walked in to vomit on the floor, no doubt from the drunk guest who had staggered out mere moments before.
The cleaning supplies were making me nauseous—or perhaps it was the stench of bodily fluids mixed with brew. One thing was for certain…after a week of working at Kyndri’s Landing, I wouldneverdrink brew again. I didn’t think I’d be able to stomach it after all the things I’d cleaned up.
I sat up, wiping the clean part of my arm over my forehead. Closing my eyes, I tried to fight the nausea rising, but the entire room stunk. From cleaning solutions and soap and vomit and sweaty musk. I rose, going to the window to open it, this one overlooking the main street below since it was right over the entrance of the inn.
I breathed in the fresh air, letting the cool breeze drift over my cheeks. It was warmer here in Laras, situated along the Silver Sea coast. Vyaan must’ve been getting its first frost by now.
A sudden pang of longing went through me. I missed Vyaan. I missed my home, the only place I’d ever known. I missed my mornings in the village, sipping on spiced tea as I watched the square come alive. I missed my small room in the keep, the quiet of the morning, warm in my bed as I sketched. I missed those brief days I’d had in Kaldur’s garden, a newly discovered heaven that had filled me with so much inspiration.
I missedKaldur…and I hated it. But how did one go from thinking about someone every day for two years to trying to ignore they even existed? Especially with House Kaalium’s influence all over Laras?
You remember how he offered to make you his mistress because he thought you would angle to be his wife for money and status. You remember that he called you young and naive, that he said he could never love you,I thought.That’s how you get over it.
I let out a bubble of laughter that sounded pathetic to my own ears. I watched the people passing by below. Mostly they were working people in this district, who came to lunch from the nearby docks and the fields that lay to the north. Kylorr and human and Bartutian alike. Males and females. Young and old.
When I saw Luc, it was by pure chance.
I had happened to tilt my head to look down the road, and right at that moment, I saw him crossing over to the next street.
I gasped and nearly choked.
“Luc!” I bellowed from the window.
My voice echoed around the tall buildings, funneled down the road straight to him. I saw the hybrid Kylorr freeze in place, turn his head to figure out where his name had come from.
“Wait, Luc! Stay right there!”
