I drop his wrist and place his hand on the stall. Then, I pick up the cleaver, toss it into the air, watch it twirl three times, before catching the hilt and slamming it down right between his splayed fingers. “In fact, you may find yourself so honored to be visited by such gracious company that you gift them whatever such item has won their affections.”
I allow myself to do something I’ve never bothered with before. I smirk. “What say you, fine merchant?”
The merchant looks down at the cleaver, perfectly placed between his fingers. His barrel-like chest heaves in and out. “Fine! Fine. Take the damned feather. Probably not even real anyway.”
Nori’s hand jerks out, snagging a large, ratty black feather from the stall and stuffing it in her pack.
I nod down at the girls. “You two. With me.” No way I’m letting Dayton and Farron’s sisters walk around this wretched place alone. If I hadn’t stepped in, they could have lost their hands. Besides, if they’re here, they must know something about Dayton’s whereabouts.
The girls exchange a look with each other then follow behind me.
As soon as we’re out of the dock square, I tug the backs of their shirts and direct them into an alleyway. “All right, ladies, would you like to explain—”
Delphia shoves me into the wall of the dark alley, then swings up her dual blades, placing one at my neck and one at my ribs. At the same time, a bright light shines from between Eleanor’s hands; she’s holding a small pumpkin with a carved face, the eyes and jagged mouth glowing. Red mist wafts out of the orifices of the pumpkin, smelling of …
Apple cinnamon?
Delphia snarls up at me, then turns to Eleanor, face changing as she gives an exasperated sigh. “Nori, I thought you said it was poisonous gas!”
Eleanor smacks the pumpkin. “I think I left my gas one on the boat. This is the aromatherapy spell.”
I raise an eyebrow, and Delphia just sighs again, then turns back to me with a vicious expression. “Who the fuck are you, stranger? How do you know who we are? Speak, or I’ll gut you here in the alley!”
This would be slightly more intimidating if I hadn’t presented her with a dollhouse for her last birthday—a gift picked out by Marigold.
But, of course, the girls don’t recognize me. They’ve never seen the Prince of Blood before.
“Whoever he is, he’s no friend of ours,” Eleanor says in that detached voice of hers. “Only an enemy or an idiot would trumpet that the Princesses of Summer and Autumn are here on Corsa Tuga. Some of the pirates would sell us out to the Green Rule for a single coin.”
The Green Rule … So that’s what Kairyn’s calling his new empire.I suck my throat back a smidgen away from Delphia’s shaky blade. “Well, I’m no enemy, so I’m afraid that makes me the other one.”
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t bleed you out,” Delphia snarls.
I take a breath, then move. First, I knock her blade away from my throat with a strike to her forearm. Then I spin away from the blade at my ribs. A quick nudge to the pressure points on her inside wrists, and she drops her blades. I grab them out of the air, give them a spin for good measure, then hold up the tips to her and Eleanor’s throats.
The girls stare at me, wide-eyed and gasping.
I retract the blades and spin them again, presenting the hilts to Delphia. “These are good swords. Your brother has ones just like them. I’ll tell you the same thing I’m always telling him. Mind your spacing. Too close and you’ll entangle yourself; too far and your strikes will lack power.”
Delphia grabs her swords and takes a step back. “Are you a sorcerer?”
“No,” Eleanor says. Her golden eyes flash and she steps toward me. For a child, she also has so much wisdom gained too young. “It is Ezryn.”
“High Prince of Spring?” Delphia whispers.
“Not High Prince anymore,” Eleanor says. “The Prince of Blood.”
“How do you know that name?” I ask lowly.
Eleanor waves a dismissive hand. “The dead whisper it all around you.”
I pull away from her and eye the empty space around me warily.
“You look different without your armor,” Delphia says, stepping closer to me.
“Obviously. He’s got a face now.” Eleanor rolls her eyes, and Delphia sneers at her.
I back up against the wall, suddenly feeling like I’m under the spyglass of these two young fae. “All right, all right. Yes, it’s me, Ezryn. I’ve come to find your brother and the Golden Rose. Are they here?”
