An intake of breath caught in my throat, and I ignored the longing in my heart that spewed forth.
“Well, that was certainly one way to do it,” Roman said, coming over and grabbing my shoulder. “But thank you. I never expected a sleep singer.” We turned to the young girl, and she blushed. “Powerful, for one so young.”
“I didn’t want to,” she mumbled in her own language. “They threatened my father.”
“I’ve no doubt,” Roman said back, in her same language. He took her hand for comfort. “Do not worry.”
Roman sighed, turned back to the original women watching us. My heart still yearned for her, it calledfateconstantly, but I didn’t know her. Had she been planted to reveal me? Had that been another facet to a plan that was being woven around us, a noose tightening at the Whiteclaw necks?
“I have our way out,” Roman said.
“What do you mean?” I said. “We’re waiting for the siren singer to come, let alone go.”
“Of course,” Roman said. “But after that. With all that’s happened just now,” he paused, a small smile. “We do need to leave. You’ve created a mess that I don’t think we’ll want to be here for. Lucky for your father every pack leader was with him. And you weren’t in any pack colors. But who are you, will be the big question?” He shook his head in awe.
I felt incredibly self-conscious in front of the girl. Suddenly it seemed idiotic to be talking about who I was and my prophecy.
“So,” he said, turning to her and her friend. “Why do you want to head to Jebra?”
My eyes bulged and I snapped towards the pair. Even the singer girl’s eyes bulged.
“I–” but she went silent looking at me. “I need to go,” she said quietly.
Roman stared at her, then squatted down on his haunches. “People need to go to the market, they need to see sick relatives, they don’tneedto go to Jebra.”
“Well, I’m not people,” she replied.
Roman nodded. Satisfied. Something clicking in his mind he wasn’t telling me of. “What’s payment then?”
“We can’t seriously consider this?” I asked. My heart yelled for me to stop. My wolf howled in anger, wanting to do nothing less thanbe with her. My embarrassment turned red, and I made out I was angry. I’d just rejected this girl publicly, and now I was to travel with her? “Jebra is a legend anyway,” I said.
“No. It isn’t,” Roman replied. He turned back to the girl. “What is payment?”
“Payment?”
“You wouldn’t expect us to chase the wind for free, would you?” I was trying to cover my smitten feelings with anger now. Why was I pushing this girl away that I wished to be near?
“Well–I didn’t–I don’t have–”
“We can pay with this,” her friend said. She took a small bag of money from her pocket, and the two earrings from her ears.
“That is Lassigian money,” Roman said, gently pushing the purse back towards them. “And while sentimental, these earrings are worthless.”
The girls were crushed, a look passed between them of fear.
“But I will take you regardless,” Roman said.
“What?” the girls, and I, said together.
A loud screech sounded above. Everyone flinched and ducked, all but Roman and I. The Siren Singer flew quickly, its great shadow passing over the stable darkened the already lowly lit building. Murmurs of awe came from below, saying exactly what was on my mind too.If the singer’s shadow was that big, how big would the creature be?
But Roman still sat as he was, looking at me with a stern face imploring me to see something that I was blind to. But he was blind too. I was trying to avoid this girl, and yet he was insisting she be near me. Hadn’t he seen the rejection?
“We will take you there. But it is a long and difficult journey. We’ll need supplies and–”
“What about her?” I asked, pointing out the Sleep Singer. She looked mortified at having the spotlight on her. “We must return her to the village she was taken from.”
“Where are you from?” he asked her.
