She scowled at his question. “I don’t understand that term.”
“Alley demon,” Xaydin said from behind her as he closed the door.
He inclined his head to the so-called demon she’d almost ran into. “Masakage…hustling fortunes in my room? Will your insults never cease?”
He laughed. “Pays for my alcohol, X. But no. I came to see you and was surprised to find a woman entering upon my arrival.”
Gisela was even more concerned.
Her companion, X, cocked his head to see the bedroll on the floor behind Masakage. “Are you looking for a place to sleep since they don’t take your kind, either?”
Masakage waved his hand and a long, twisted walking stick appeared in his grasp. One that held a large crystal at the top. The crystal began to glow, bathing the room with a beautiful blue light.
Only then was Gisela able to see that he’d set up a nice spot in the corner of X’s room. One complete with a teapot, cup and a small bowl of food.
With a graceful sweep of his hand, Masakage gestured toward his makeshift space. “I didn’t think you’d mind, brother. Had I known you weren’t alone…”
They both stared at her curiously.
“I’ll find another place to sleep.” She took a step back.
“No one will harm you here, my lady.” Masakage offered her a smile.
“He means what he says. Inshu dictates that he will care for and protect you so long as you’re under his watch. You’re safer here with him than you’d be in your mother’s arms.”
Nothermother’s, but she understood the sentiment. Gisela glanced suspiciously toward X. “Inshu?”
X doffed his cloak. “Tenmarun hospitality law. Stay…we will protect you with our lives.”
Gisela arched a brow…there was just one problem. “You’re not Tenmarun.”
Again, he glanced to Masakage. “He’s set up camp in my room. If I interfere with his rules, he’s honor bound to cut my throat. Not that I’d ever give him reason to.”
Her instincts said to avoid them both at all costs. That she should also be on high alert around Masakage, but for some reason she felt more comfortable with them than she should.
And even more comfortable with the man named X and that made no sense whatsoever.
She grimaced. “I think the two of you would prefer for me to leave.”
“Doesn’t bother me in the least.” X draped his cloak over a chair before he spoke to Masakage. “I encountered her in the pub.”
Masakage arched a brow over that. “Encountered?”
X shoved playfully at him. “Get your mind from the gutter you call home. I saved her from a troll.”
Masakage passed a stern frown at Gisela. “The fact you bothered to speak to her at all amazes me. That’s not like you.”
“I’m mellowing with age.” X pulled a bedroll from his gear and placed it on the floor next to the pallet Masakage had made.
Masakage turned his attention to her. “Are you joining us in the room or leaving?”
Don’t trust them.
Don’t do it.
They were strangers. Never in her life had anyone ever protected her. Yet she didn’t sense any treachery from either man.
If anything, they were oddly sincere, which was the most alien of all concepts.
