She finished with most of her chores by midday, working in silence. Azam was in his room for most of the day; he must have been writing to someone because when he came down later, there was a sealed letter in his hands. He went off to post it before shecould see or ask who it was addressed to, and she chided herself for being nosy.
She couldn’t help it! She wanted to know everything there was to know about Azam. He was so interesting to her, and the more she learned, the more she wanted to, like reading the first book of a series and loving it, then waiting for the rest.
When he came back, it was just in time for lunch, which consisted of sandwiches of sliced tomatoes from the garden topped with milky cheese and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and crushed black pepper.
‘Mm, delicious,’ Azam said, taking a bite. He was sitting across from Sonya, his maroon waistcoat buttoned up.
‘Who did you send the letter to?’ Kiri asked, pouring him a glass of strawberry lemonade.
Sonya’s ears perked as she nibbled on her lunch.
‘The tailor,’ he said, his focus trained on his lunch. ‘I’ve been assigned to a project that I can work on at home, so they don’t need me in the shop for at least a few weeks.’
‘But that’s wonderful!’ Sonya said, immediately thinking of their conversation from last night. She was determined to convince him. ‘That means you have more than enough time to reopen the shop!’
‘Opening the shop?’ Kiri asked, delighted. ‘What a marvelous idea!’
‘Isn’t it?’ Sonya agreed, joining forces with Kiri sitting beside her.
‘I mean, I haven’t quite decided—’
‘It’s what you’ve always wanted!’ Kiri said. ‘What better time than now?’
Sonya could see that he was hesitating to take the step. ‘We know you can do it.’
He took a long sip of his lemonade, then set it down, giving her a wry smile. ‘I’m still thinking about it—but, right now, we’re going somewhere.’
‘Are you only saying that so we won’t pester you?’ Sonya asked, arching a brow.
‘Perhaps.’ He finished off his sandwich, then stood. ‘Come along!’
‘Wait!’ She finished the last two bites of her sandwich, then wiped her hands along her apron. She was wearing the uniform dress beneath it since she had been cleaning. ‘Do I need to change?’
He shook his head. ‘No, we’ll be outside.’
Dania stood up on her chair next to Azam’s. ‘Me, too!’
Azam bopped her nose. ‘Next time, sweet.’
Dania stomped her foot, pouting, but Kiri reached across the table for her hand. ‘If you leave too, who will help me bake?’ she asked. ‘There’s some browning bananas we must see to! I was thinking banana bread?’
Dania’s face lit up. ‘And we’re going to add chocolate chips?’
‘And we’re going to add chocolate chips,’ Kiri confirmed. Dania sat back down, placated.
Thank you, Azam mouthed at Kiri. Kiri waved a hand, then winked at Sonya.
After finishing off her lemonade, Sonya took off her apron and followed Azam to the hallway, where they put on their shoes. Hers were still a bit big, no matter how tightly she laced them, but she had added folded napkins to the back, which helped a bit.
They headed out, and the day was warm. Sonya had noticed that the weather in the Outskirts was warmer than what she was used to in the castle, but that might have been because of the castle’s cold stone walls.
They walked through the Outskirts toward Castletown—it was easy for Sonya to tell the way because they were going uphill. Asthey got closer to the border, Sonya’s chest tightened with apprehension. Tucked away in the Outskirts, it had been so easy to forget she had run away.
Her fingers fidgeted as she tried to think of an excuse as to why she didn’t wish to go into Castletown. The chances of her being recognized there were higher, but she couldn’t exactly say that to Azam.
But when they reached the forest that divided the Outskirts from Castletown, he turned to the right.
‘Where are we going?’ Sonya asked, as they moved further into the forest. It didn’t matter to her; she was happy to just be walking alongside him.
