“It is like most places. Fraught with corruption. The haves and the have-nots. How strange it must be for you, my love,” she said quietly, touching my cheek, “to be a part of this world now. The great tygress rider. Water always finds its own level.”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”
Edith shrugged and avoided my eyes, but I didn’t press her. The last few weeks, she had seemed older, more tired, her sharpedges dulled by something I couldn’t quite name. Whenever I asked her about it, she’d wave me off with a huff.Stop fussing, Rubi.But I saw the way she rubbed her temples when she thought no one was looking, the way her shoulders sagged just a little more each day.
—
“It’s entirely too crowded,” Quinnsaid, his shoulders twitching as he shoved through the growing horde toward us. “I say we take the lot we’ve got and head back, ribbon girl.”
His arms were full of bags of fabric and small hanging containers of delicacies we wanted to try. Edith stepped forward with a nod, but something caught my ear, a musical performance.
“You go. I want to stay, just for a bit,” I said, ears straining to take in what I was sure was happening on the other side.
“If you’re sure, Rubi,” Edith sighed. “Be careful.”
I patted the hanging pocket of my dress where I’d stowed my ribbons. “Always am.”
She leaned up and kissed my cheek, patting it with her palm as she took Quinn’s offered forearm for her to walk.
I pulled my cloak tighter around me and stepped backward into the throng of people. Folks were dancing, I realized.
The music wrapped around me like a spell. A harp stood at the center of the ensemble. Runes pulsed along its frame, and as the mage guiding it flicked his fingers, the strings shimmered and plucked themselves, spilling out a lively melody. Beside it, a drum’s wide bronze surface thrummed in perfect time. With each strike, glyphs glowed along its rim, shifting with the rhythm.
My fingers twitched at my sides, my body thrumming with the urge to move. The music wove through the square like a living thing, pulling people into its rhythm, sweeping them into motion. Around me, revelers twirled and swayed, their laughter ringingthrough the crisp night air. A couple spun past, the woman’s skirts flaring as the man lifted their giggling daughter onto his shoulders.
For one reckless second, I ached to be a part of it all. I wanted to be as happy as that small, beautiful family.
But then I looked closer.
The father was tall and broad-shouldered, moving with an easy, effortless strength. Perched on his shoulders, the little girl grabbed at his hood with tiny hands, yanking it back in a playful tug. The fabric slipped away, revealing a tousled sweep of his bronze hair, a sharp cut of his jaw, and a face I knew far too well.
Blake.
It couldn’t be.
“Is that the Ambush Master?” a voice asked, making my body jump.
I spun to glare at her.
“Calla,” I snipped, “you scared me.”
“Sorry.” She smirked, definitely not sorry at all. Her eyes went back toward where we were now spying. “I didn’t know Axefire had someone. All of the fine court ladies will be so disappointed.”
I stared, too, biting a little too hard on my tongue. The clench in my chest wasn’t jealousy.
Of course it wasn’t.
Just surprise. A deep, unsettling shock that lodged itself in my heart like a blade. I hadn’t expected the ever-controlled Ambush Master to have a secret family. That was all.
“She’s beautiful,” I said.
The woman at his side was young with soft rose gold hair braided over one shoulder and warm, lively eyes. She wore a simple dress, the kind woven for comfort rather than courtly display, but it suited her. She belonged here, in the gentle light of the festival, her arms loosely wrapped around his neck.
And their child had his eyes. That unmistakable ice blue, butwithout the weight of cynicism that too often shadowed Blake’s gaze. The little girl was bright and unburdened, clinging to his shoulders, eyes sparkling as she spotted a street performer.
“Yeah, cute family.” Calla shrugged. She looked at me carefully. “You don’t seem so good. Are you okay?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
