“Mitch!” Tasia’s welcome voice called to him in what she probably considered a reasonable stage whisper. It was more of a stage shout, but his nose and ears told him that nobody else was within range when he slid to a stop beside her.
Not stopping to consider the consequences, he transformed into his man shape and wrapped her into an embrace that lifted her off her feet. His pounding heart finally slowed with the realization that she was safe in his arms. As he became aware that she wasn’t stiff and uncomfortable, but actually hugging him back as well as she could with her many layers, his heart picked up speed for a different reason.
In a move that was abrupt yet gentle, he set her back down and took a step out of reach. “You’re safe,” he said, stating the obvious.
A breathtaking smile lit her face. “Yes! As are you.” The laughter faded from her expression as she looked him over. “What did you learn? I didn’t expect to see you for hours.”
“I’ve got bad news.” He scanned their surroundings, taking them in now that the panic was wearing off. “We need to get back on the path.”
The ice was still tricky in places, but Mitch wasn’t going to give up his ability to speak as they walked, so he maintained his human form. This had the added bonus of allowing him to hold her hand under the guise of supporting her balance. His mind scoffed as his heart wondered how soft her fingers were inside the thick gloves.
“We were right,” he began as they moved away from the drop-off Tasia had managed to avoid. “Granny is up to no good, and she’s working with Olev Rebane.”
Tasia’s grip on his hand tightened as she stepped through the crust of ice covering a patch of mud and stumbled. He steadied her, and she spoke as though she wasn’t seconds away from faceplanting on the forest path, “From the way you said his name, I take it he is a bad guy.”
“A very bad guy,” Mitch confirmed. “Remember when I said that I’ve made some . . . lousy choices in the past?”
She nodded. The look of trust in her eyes threatened to undo him. He refocused on the path.
“Most of those choices came about while working for him. Discovering he works with the dwarves in the underground slave trade helped me break free.”
“Dwarves run the slave trade?” she asked. “Wait. There’s a slave trade?! But that’s illegal!”
“Pretty sure that’s why everyone involved keeps it a secret,” Mitch dryly observed. “And I don’t know that all dwarves are slavers; I just know about two of them.”
They met up with the correct path and turned toward Boschivo. As they walked (and slipped), Mitch recounted the conversation he had overheard at Granny’s. He also explained the nuances that Tasia missed in her innocence. At one point, she stopped walking without notice, jerking his arm when he kept moving forward.
“So I’m being paid with slaver money?!” Her face twisted in disgust. “I can’t accept dirty money!”
Mitch stepped in front of her. “Every coin they pay you is a coin they aren’t using for evil.” He wrapped her other hand more firmly around the basket handle when she looked like she was about to chuck it in the bushes. “You deserve it. This money is going to get you away from those—cousinswho take advantage of you.”
A single tear hovered as she looked up at him, nearly breaking his heart. “But Iamdoing evil,” she whispered. “I’m delivering filemu.”
“And we’re going to figure out a way to stop the whole plan.”
Resolve straightened her spine. She pursed her lips, nodded once to Mitch, then began marching forward. In the wrong direction. Not wanting to ruin her brave display, he silently nudged her onto the correct path.
Though they discussed possibilities for dismantling the slavers’ plan the whole way home, nothing definite came out of it. It seemed good to both of them to somehow ruin the remaining deliveries of filemu so they couldn’t be used, but Mitch couldn’t condone any method that would place Tasia in more danger. And even though they knewwhatthe villains were planning, they didn’t knowhow, which limited their ability to thwart it.
As they neared the village and prepared to separate, a giant, outlandishly loud sneeze disturbed the quiet of the encroaching dusk.
“Prince Frank?” The look of hope and pleasure blooming on Tasia’s face squeezed thorns into Mitch’s tender heart.
Chapter Ten
Which Reintroduces a Former Acquaintance
Tasia would recognize that thundering expulsion of air anywhere. Despite being Diomland royalty, Prince Frank never hid behind social niceties and flowery words. What you saw was what you got. And that forthrightness extended to his sneezes. He hadn’t mastered the art of stifling his oversized sneezes and didn’t seem inclined to put in the effort for such a silly thing.
Without thinking, she turned in the direction she thought was correct and would have dashed off if Mitch hadn’t stopped her with a gentle hand.
“That’s Prince Frank,” she appealed to him. “I know it is!”
Mitch paused his scrutiny of the area to look at her. “And you trust him?”
“Yes!” Her heart beat faster in anticipation of a friendly face from her old life.
A twitch in his left eyelid distracted her for a second; then he rubbed at it with his free hand and spoke in the gruff tone shehadn’t heard in a while. “We still need to be careful. He may not be alone, and we just learned that there is an inside man in town.”
