Noah sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine. But you aren’t getting away with this. Want us to walk you?”
I shook my head. “No, I need some time alone before tonight.”
My friend bundled me in his arms, pressing a kiss to the crown of my head. “We’ll be around this section of the city if you need anything, all right? Carriage leaves at dawn?”
“Carriage leaves at dawn,” I confirmed.
He pulled back, flicking my nose. “Don’t you dare leave without saying goodbye.”
Sometimes I thought that the kindest thing the goddess had ever done was give me Noah and Lilith. As I wandered the brightly lit market on the Rachay, picking up a small phial of motion sickness tonic—my one splurge for the month—I couldn’t help but think again about the blood Callum had offered to Lilith.
I wondered if I would live the rest of my life regretting denying Eamon.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Ralph?” I called, leaning out the window.
The driver of the carriage slowed the horses and turned on the bench to look at me where I leaned through the window. I liked Raphael Darcay very much—as a Lycan beta he was protective and kind. It was nice that he was always the one who drove when Eamon sent transportation for me.
“Hm?”
I took a deep breath. “Could…could you let me out here?”
His thick brows drew together in concern. “Didn’t you say they were on the other side of the lower city?”
“Yes, but I can walk.” I wrapped my hand tighter around my valise.
After another moment the carriage stopped, one of the horses impatiently stomping. Ralph shushed them, jumped off the driver’s bench and grabbed my door before I could open it. “You shouldn’t walk alone.”
I gave him a warm smile. “It’s daylight, I’ll be fine.” Better to walk than arrive in front of my family’s home in a gilded carriage.
My throat tightened and I tried to take a steadying breath. I wanted to tell Ralph to turn the horses around so we could go back to the inner city—to Eamon’s estate.But after another deep breath I slid from the carriage and turned to grab my belongings.
“Let me accompany you at least,” Ralph pressed, the creases around his eyes deepening with concern.
I rose onto my tiptoes and wrapped him in a hug. “Thank you for offering, but I’ll be fine. Please have a safe journey home.”
He hesitated before nodding with a sigh and touching the brim of his hat. “I’ll meet you here tomorrow evening?”
Tomorrow evening felt like a year away, but I shoved a bright smile on my face and turned down the familiar cobblestones. “See you then.”
The outer city was a jumble of small buildings and stone pathways similar to Oylen in its layout, just with fewer people. Though there were parts of the inner city that looked worse for wear, it was nothing compared to here. Shutters hung off hinges, windows were shattered in their frames, and people milled around open doorways staring at anyone who passed. It was hard to believe it’d been two years since I’d last been here.
No one bothered me as I passed, but hungry eyes gobbled up the sight of my clean dress and the leather valise in my hand. I walked as quickly as I could without falling into a flat-out run, regretting not allowing Ralph to at least walk me part of the way. By the time my family’s home came into view the sun was higher in the sky and, though the day was cold, sweat slicked across the back of my neck. I’d hoped perhaps the house would be as I’d left it but I was sorely disappointed.
The once sunshine-yellow paint was cracked and peeling, exposing the weather-worn wood beneath. The glass in the windows was long gone and ragged curtains were hung from the inside to block those passing from looking in. The front door was ajar and, as I approached, a man slipped through the small crack, his blue eyes widening in surprise.
Louis rushed forward to pull me into his arms.
Though he was barely different than the last time I’d seen him, hefeltdifferent. Whenever I thought of my brother, it was always him as a scraggly teen, all bones and knobby knees—not the tall, heavily muscled twenty-six-year-old man standing before me now.
“It’s good to see you,” I said, holding onto him tight and working to hold my cringe at the scent of pipe smoke that clung to his clothes.
Louis drew me tighter against him, lips dipping close to my ear. “Let’s go, quick, before they realize you’re here.”
I fought him as he tried to pull me back up the lane. “What? Why?”
Only then did I notice the smudges of bruises across his jaw, the angry red scratch that traced a line down the center of his throat, half-hidden by his shoulder-length blond hair. Before he could answer the door opened wider and my mother ambled onto the street. His shoulders rounded in on themselves and he clutched me tighter.
