Wood beams sloped down from a vaulted ceiling, from which a single lantern also hung, casting warm light on theyellow-sprigged muslin bedcover. A few vials lined a bookshelf, and bandages were arranged neatly on the bright purple table beside me. Sylvie’s already-hunched frame stooped low over a poultice she was mixing. Her long, gray hair tied up into a honey pot–shaped bun plopped happily on top of her head. We weren’t in the Healer’s Ward.
When boisterous lute music came through the worn, wooden floor below me, I knew my whereabouts—the Rumsey Inn. The closest inn to where I’d been thwarted by a ridiculous stranger trying to save the day. I suppose I should be thankful Sylvie intervened when she did.
I gathered the courage to sit up, which was an absolute blunder. A fresh wave of nausea hit me head-on, and I almost tumbled off the bed. A dark-cloaked figure in the corner bolted upright, rushing toward me at an unnatural speed. They looked like shadows embodied.
I stifled a vomit and a scream at once.
“Who is that?” I shouted, throwing the cover over my head in a feeble attempt to defend myself.
“I told you to rest, Miss Curmudgeonly!” Sylvie screamed back.
“Resting is not the issue at hand, Sylvie! The person hiding in the shadowsisthe issue!” My voice sounded muffled through the covers, and I knew I looked preposterous to my oncoming attacker.
“And hiding like a scared child is going to save either of us from theissue?” Sylvie asked, her voice breaking into a husky laugh.
“‘Issue’ isn’t the worst thing I’ve been called, but I do havea name,” a low voice grumbled. Why did I know that voice? Memories flickered up but withered away before I could grasp hold.
I slowly peeked out from under the covers. My vision blurred again from the sudden movement, but I could see now that the person standing by my bed wasn’t a shadow after all. They looked very much human—a very broad, very tall human, that is. So tall, in fact, that their head grazed the wooden ceiling beams high above us.
A cloak concealed most of their body, but the black leather wrapped around their forearms stretched thin due to the bulging muscles underneath. Goddess, if the rest of them was that muscled…
“Enjoying the view?” the cloaked stranger asked.
My cheeks flushed.
“Not at all,” I replied haughtily.
“Whatever you say,” they quipped, that voice tugging at my mind again. Then the day came racing back all at once.Thiswas the stranger that sent me flying into dung and lost me the Crown Jewel Tulip.Thiswas the stranger that cost me everything.
“You.” I seethed.
The stranger gave Sylvie a quick nod, and she made to exit the room.
“Sylvie, where do you think you are going?” I snapped.
“Not my crumpet, not my tea.” She shrugged. “Now you”—she looked to the cloaked stranger—“be kind to my girl. And you”—she pointed to me—“don’t rile yourself up after that kerfuffle.”
I lost my words as the stranger bowed their head and ledSylvie out of the room by the hand. Sylvie let out a girlish giggle and looked to be… blushing?
The door clicked shut. I snapped my eyes up to the stranger with a glare, opening my mouth to let loose an unruly amount of curses.
“Before you bite off Sylvie’s head for leaving you, she knows I brought you here. Before you bite offmyhead, I just want to say that I did save your life.” They stayed by the door, creating ample space between them and me. At least they had a spot of decorum.
“Did you now?” I let out a derisive laugh. “We are remembering things differently.”
“Are we?” They sounded amused, sauntering over to the chair in the corner and pulling it up beside the bed. Shadows seemed to wrap around them, obscuring any part of their face from view. What kind of magic was that? I recoiled to the farthest side of the mattress. “Because I remember a squirrel and a girl who needed saving.”
“Ineeded saving? You were the one who knocked me into a pile of shite!”
“I heard screaming, I went to see what the issue was.” They leaned back in their chair, the wood groaning.
“The issue was that you sent me flying into a pile of shite.”
“Look, I didn’t intend for you to run into the door, and I certainly didn’t mean for you to land in poo. But you were screaming, covered in blood—”
“Jam.”
“Yes, of course, you were covered in jam. You looked to be crazed, yelling up toward the Havens. Someone had to step in.”
