“That’s a terrible plan,” Einar protested. “The Oracle will call her guards once she sees us. We can’t force her to tell us the prophecy.”
“Oh, we won’t have to force her,” Leap said with a chuckle. “Quye loves visitors, and she rewards courage and guile. If we can make it past the guards and the temple defenses, she’ll tell us what we want to know. But first, we need to get some sleep.”
We stopped outside a quaint-looking inn, and Leap led us inside and to the counter, where he ordered a room with two beds. “Don’t worry,” he said, tossing a wink over his shoulder at me. “You don’t need to share a mattress with gramps over there. You can sleep with me instead.”
I choked back a laugh, and Einar growled. “How about you two share a bed, and I’ll take one for myself.” The idea of sharing a bed with Einar after what happened, even with Leap in the room, was almost more than I could bear, but I wouldn’t put it past a thirteen-year-old boy to get a little handsy in his sleep, either.
Leap waggled his eyebrows. “What, you don’t trust me with your maidenly virtue?”
“Not even remotely.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he snickered.
The innkeeper gave Leap a key, and we made our way up the stairs and to a room down the hall. “The Twelve Winds festival is the day after tomorrow night,” he explained in a low voice as he unlocked the door and stepped inside. “That’s what all those crane garlands were about, and it’s actually perfect timing for us as everyone will be caught up in the festivities—”
He came to an abrupt halt, and Einar and I nearly crashed into him. I opened my mouth to ask what the big deal was, then froze as I caught sight of another fae child sitting on the sill of the open window across the room. He had silver hair that was shorn on the sides and grew long on top, a wicked smile, and he wore a fancy blue and gold tunic and pants that looked two sizes too big for him
He was also holding a loaded crossbow, the bolt aimed straight at Leap’s chest.
“Well, well,” the boy said, a smirk curling the corners of his mouth. “If it isn’t the prodigal son, returned to repent for his sins. Why don’t you have a seat, Leap, and tell me what the fuck you’re doing in my city after what you’ve done?”
22
Einar
The fae child smirked as he held the crossbow on Leap. His gaze was rock steady, his aim true, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if we didn’t do exactly as he asked, the boy would shoot Leap.
Still, I expected Leap to do something. Use his wind magic to knock the crossbow out of the other air fae’s grasp, or shoot him with a bolt of lightning. Instead, he raised both of his hands slowly, palms up, a clear gesture of surrender.
“It’s all right,” he said to me and Adara, though he didn’t take his eyes off the intruder. “Storm won’t hurt us.”
Storm snorted. “Don’t bet on it.” His eyes narrowed, lips thinning with obvious loathing. “I nearly killed you before you fled the city, remember?”
“But you didn’t,” Leap shot back. “Because Skye wouldn’t have wanted that.”
“Oh, that isit.” Adara stomped her foot, and both boys turned to look at her in surprise. “We’ve given you a lot of leeway with your secrets, Leap, but now they’re getting in the way of our quest, and I’m tired of being kept in the dark.Whatis going on here?”
“Oh, he hasn’t told you?” Storm chuckled darkly. “Leap here used to be a member of my gang, the Gliders. We run rackets here in Wynth and take on the odd—”
“—it isn’tyourgang,” Leap interrupted crossly. “We’re a democracy—”
“—that you aren’t a part of anymore,” Storm finished smoothly, and Leap flinched. “Anyway, as I was saying, we sometimes take on the odd thieving job, depending on who the mark is and how much the payoff is. We’d never steal from the less fortunate, but as far as the rich are concerned…” he trailed off with a wink. “Well, you get the idea. Anyway, Leap here signed us up for a job that he didn’t do his due diligence on, and we got double-crossed. Buyer’s remorse, I suppose,” he added with a shrug, but his lip curled as he looked back at Leap. “One of our group, Skye, was killed while we were trying to escape. We had to leave her body behind, and the guards strung her up outside the gates of the city hall, as they do with all thieves and criminals who get caught. I had to sneak up there at night to cut her down so we could burn her and scatter her ashes on the north wind.”
Storm’s eyes glittered with outright hatred, and I caught the sheen of tears before he blinked them away. I couldn’t see Leap’s face, but judging by his slumped shoulders, I could see that the guilt of Skye’s death weighed heavily on him.
“Even the best laid plans go awry,” I found myself saying. I was a little surprised that I was defending the twerp, but I’d lost plenty of friends in battle and I’d tortured myself for years second guessing whether there was something we could have done differently, if there was anything I could have done to save them. If anyone here understood how Leap felt, it was me. “If your gang is truly a democracy, then you are all equally responsible for the outcome of the heist. Leap can’t be blamed alone.”
Storm switched his aim from Leap to me in the blink of an eye. “I don’t remember asking you for your opinion, outsider.” He raked me up and down with a scathing look. “Who even are you, anyway? You don’t look like a—”
I moved in a blur, closing the distance between us before Storm could even finish his sentence. Yanking the crossbow from his hands, I tossed it out of the open window. The room grew dead silent, the only sound coming from the crossbow as it clattered down the side of the roof and landed in the alley below.
“Anything else you’d like to say about me,youngling?” I asked, looming over him threateningly. The boy looked up at me with wide eyes, but even as he cowered, I could see him reaching for the knife at his belt. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, unless you’d like me to toss that out the window, too.”
“Einar.” Adara grabbed my arm, but even her touch wouldn’t dissuade me. This little brat might have pulled the crossbow on her instead of me, and that was a threat I couldn’t abide. “He’s just a child.”
“He’s clearly notjusta child, since he makes his living from stealing and racketeering,” I said, refusing to take my eyes off him. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t toss him out the window, too.”
“Well, for one, I’ll just glide right back in, so that won’t work,” Storm said sarcastically. “And for another, if you try to harm me, I’ve ordered my team to go to the authorities and give them your description.” He smirked up at me, and I sensed Adara and Leap stiffen behind me. “The fact that Leap snuck you in means that you’re trying to keep a low profile. I don’t know why, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find out.”
“You little shit,” Adara growled, and I couldn’t have agreed with the sentiment more.
