“You’re sure?” Florian quirked his head to the side. “Because from where I’m sitting, it’s been what, four months since you-”
Keira’s eyes flared angrily, and Florian’s sides shook.
“I only know if I had gone that long without… Well, any port in a storm.”
She’d rather drown. Her expression must have said as much.
“As you wish.” Florian held up his hands. “Can’t fault a man for trying.”
The barmaid set down the ales in front of them.
Keira drained the dregs from her mug, but ignored the others. “I’m turning in,” she said, setting it heavily on the bar.
“Enjoy the succor of your loneliness,” Florian called after her.
She shook her head in a long suffering way, the ghost of amusement stirring within her. He meant well.
After acquiring the key to her room, she made her way upstairs. The room was tiny. Just large enough for the narrow bed and a trunk for storage. It was almost strange these days sleeping in a bed. She had grown so accustomed to sleeping in the library of Grimlocke House. The old townhouse had been inherited by Knox and Lilith when their aunt died years ago and now served as the party’s primary residence. It was comfortable enough, even if it was a bit crowded and… eccentric. With the limited options, Keira had adapted to sleeping on the sofa before the fireplace. It wasn’t a wholly disagreeable arrangement, especially when she slept in the form of a cat. She’d even spent a few oddly comfortable nights roosting in the towering bookshelves in the guise of a barn owl.
Her thoughts turning to feathered things, Keira opened the small window over the bed. It was a struggle to unstick it from the frame, but soon a refreshing night breeze wafted in. She wasunsure if Thaddeus would make his way back to her or spend the night hunting, but she still left the way open lest she be woken by an irritable tapping in the middle of the night.
It was only a short time later, as she had finished preparing herself for bed, that Thaddeus perched on the windowsill, announcing himself with a loud caw.
She turned, preparing to tell him to hush, when she saw he was holding something more than an unfortunate rodent.
“Come,” Keira instructed, holding out her arm.
He flapped over, gripping her bare skin gently to avoid leaving a mark. Keira took the note from him, and Thaddeus hopped away, observing from the bedpost.
Keira’s brows furrowed, knowing who this message was from without question. To send word through her familiar, this was Ignatius’s doing. She hadn’t heard from him since she left home. Three years stretched taut behind her as she reeled to consider if it had truly been that long.
Thaddeus came to perch on her shoulder as she opened it and read:
Keira,
My health is failing me. My magics have stretched my lifetime as far as nature will allow, and I can feel that my days are now numbered. I know that I have caused you terrible pain, that you left in anger toward me. It is one of my great regrets. Consider it my dying request that I should see you again before the end of this life. I wish to make amends and to pass in the company of my only family.
Your guardian,
Ignatius the Red
Keira’s arm fell limp, the page falling into her lap as she lost herself in her thoughts. The idea of Ignatius dying… It justseemed so impossible. He’d never, not once, appeared weak or ill or even aging to her. For a single moment, she considered that this might be some sort of ploy to get her to come home, that it couldn’t be true. But despite all he had done, Ignatius had never lied to her.
An icy feeling ran down her back. It was fear, panic. She’d already lost Caspian. When Ignatius was gone… she’d truly have no one. She would be alone. Entirely. Completely. Numbness encircled her, slowing her thoughts and warping her senses until even her racing heart seemed miles away.
“Keira?” a soft voice drew her back to reality, to the tiny room in an unfamiliar town. Florian’s head was poking in her door. “I knocked, but you didn’t say anything. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn’t want you to think I-”
Keira shook her head. She knew him too well to take offense to his ways. All his flirting was harmless. He knew his charms lifted spirits and lowered defenses, and he shared them freely as long as they were wanted. After she had signed on with the Blades of Fate, Florian had been the first one to speak to her in the interest of friendship. He’d been a dependable companion ever since, always there with a joke or a song, or even a simple friend in the silence. And yes, there had been one night where he hadkept her companyin a more meaningful way, but it had never been anything more than that.
Keira looked down at the page, half expecting it to have disappeared as if it were some ill mannered apparition, but there it remained, wrinkled in her grip. A tear fell from her cheek, staining the page.
“What’s wrong?” Florian slipped inside, closing the door behind him.
She wiped her eyes lest any other wayward tears fall.
“It’s from my- my guardian,” Keira’s gaze fell back to the letter. “He’s unwell.”
“Is he with the rest of your family?”
