“And was she with someone?”
“With someone?” Ikrin asked. He shook his head. “No, she was alone. I don’t know where she went. She paid by the week, and when that week was up, her things were gone. That’s just…how it’s done here.”
I leveled Ikrin a hard look, and he hurriedly pushed open the squeaking door to let me inside the small room.
Immediately, the remnants of her scent hit me hard, and I nearly gasped. With memory, with longing. I was certain I looked as hungry as a starvinglyvinbecause Ikrin stayed well out of my way, though I tried to keep my temper reined. But it had beenvolatile lately. Unpredictable, even, without my female around to soothe it.
But her scent…her scent certainly helped. Just knowing she’d been here, recently.
Even if her accommodations made me scowl. A small room, no bigger than a washroom. An old, sagging bed and a small dresser. The rug was nearly threadbare, and there was a chill in the air, a draft funneling in from the window.
Mykyranahad livedhere? I lamented.
“How long was she here for?” I asked through a clenched jaw, trying to keep my anger and frustration stable.
“Three or four weeks, I think,” Ikrin replied. When I peered at him carefully, he said quickly, “But I can look back at my records and find out for certain,Kyzaire.”
I was surprised he had records for a place like this, but I supposed it was Laras law.
“Of course, if they weren’t taken.”
“Taken?” I asked.
“We—we had an incident nearly two weeks back,” Ikrin stammered out. “Some of the rooms and my offices were robbed.”
“Was hers?” I demanded, stalking toward him.
“Y-yes,” Ikrin replied, making me growl. “Her money was gone, or so she told me. I don’t think anything else was though!”
So she didn’t have any money left? Was that why she’d left?
Fuck,I thought.
“And you don’t know where she went?” I asked, alarm driving me. It had already taken me a good week to locate this place, and that had happened entirely by chance. Someone I’d asked in passing, an older male, who happened to live in the building. He’d told me a human female matching Erina’s description had been renting here, and I’d decided to check it out personally. Luckily there were very few human females in Laras with red hair.
“She worked at an inn, I think,” Ikrin supplied. “One off the main market square.”
“What’s it called?”
His eyes flickered back and forth, as if trying to recall. “A little one, with rooms on the upper floors. Down the street with thedyaan. Kyndri!” he said in a rush. “Kyndri’s…Landing. That’s the one. I’m sure of it.”
“Good,” I said. “Anything else you can tell me?”
When he saw me pull credits from my pockets, his eyes widened.
“She was looking for someone when she came here,” he said quickly. “One of my old renters. Luc, his name was. And I know she got a letter. A real fancy letter with thick paper. She left shortly after.”
A letter?I wondered, frowning.
“Thank you,” I said. I pressed the credits to his palm, which he took eagerly. “That’s all.”
After one final deep breath, drawing her scent in deep, I left.
Finding Kyndri’s Landing was easy, especially when the people of Laras kept gawking at me. When I stepped inside the inn, I saw it was quaint. A single hearth was lit, casting the room in firelight, though it was a little dark in the corners. There was a polished bar to my left, a Kylorr female dressed in trews and a tunic manning it, and to my right was a plethora of small tables and booths. Toward the back was a set of stairs, leading to what I assumed were the upper rooms.
“What can I get you?” the Kylorr female asked, running a cloth over the bar to clean up spilled foam.
When I stepped up to the old lacquered wood, I saw the female finally look up at me and her eyes widened.
