“I’ve already adjusted it so that you can. No one here will hold you. I just want to make sure we all sleep in peace from anyone who might want to cause us harm.”
Those were some terrifying powers. “Are you a wizard or sorcerer?”
He smiled at her. “I’m what you’d callother.”
That last word hovered in the air between them.Othercovered a lot of ground in their world.
She looked down at the strange coin he’d handed her and wondered exactly how powerful he was.
X paused as he caught her looking at it. “Count yourself lucky. Most have to pay handsomely to get an alley rat reading. Only a very small few get free ones.”
“Really?”
Masakage shrugged. “We all have to make a living. And I’m an alley demon, not rat.” There was a note in his tone that told her he knew what she did for her trade.
“So what brings you to the ogre lands?” she asked X.
“I live here.”
That caught her off guard. A human in the homeland of ogres, trolls and giants? Given their innate hatred of humans or those who looked human, she’d never heard of anyone living here before who wasn’t one of them.
“You live in the inn?”
X leaned back against the wall. “Not this one. I normally haunt the northern lands.”
“Then you’re passing through?”
“You could say that.”
Giving up on X who was even more cryptic than she was, she turned her attention to Masakage. “What about you?”
“Also passing through on my way to Kernan.”
The Stoneman kingdom. Interesting. “I wouldn’t think they’d be any more receptive to us than the ogres are.” Then again,she’d never been around Stonemen before. They were very much creatures of their own kingdom who seldom ventured beyond their borders.
“They’re actually very tolerant. Being made of stone, they feel no threat from any other species. Only a sorcerer or wizard can kill them. It’s why such creatures and all magic are strictly banned from their homeland and why they don’t often leave their kingdom.”
X snorted at that. “You will die without your magic. It’s as second nature to you as your skin.”
“I’ll make do.”
X scoffed. “Famous last words. Should I put them on your tombstone?”
They were so at ease with each other. She admired them for that. She’d never had a real friend and couldn’t imagine being so comfortable with anyone else.
“How long have you two known each other?”
“Childhood,” they said in perfect synchrony.
That explained it. They were probably more like family than friends. Not that she knew what either felt like. But she had witnessed others who were lucky enough to have close relationships.
A part of her that she didn’t want to admit existed was jealous of such people.
“How long have you been an assassin for Queen Meara?”
Her breath caught at X’s unexpected question. “Pardon?”
“Your black sword with the Thassalian crest. It gives you away. As do your attentive glances, accent and demeanor.”
