My hand reaches for the dagger, strapped to my leg beneath my dress.
“Damia.” Corrin’s fingers fasten around my arm, trying to stay my hand. He curses when I pull his wrist back in an unnatural direction, forcing him to let go.
“You can’t help him,” he says in a furious whisper. “You’ll blow everything.”
But I can only see the man’s battered face and hear the woman’s helpless cries. The crowd watches on, tense and terrified, but they’re all letting this happen, this murder in the name of the gods.
Something sharp sinks into my thigh, and I hiss in pain, my hand clamping over my pocket.
You bit me!I send the message to Barb with my magic, shocked and appalled.
The human isss right…leave now…lisssten to him…she hisses back.
I glance toward the post once more—furious and helpless, and all themorefurious precisely because I feel so helpless—before turning and striding away from the courtyard, forcing Corrin to follow. Every step is an effort, especially as the woman’s cries get louder and more frenzied.
My feet fight me the whole way, but eventually we get far enough from the courtyard that those sounds start to fade. I stop at a corner, taking a moment to calm myself. When I look up, we’re in a quiet neighborhood, far removed from the ugliness of the sanctuary.
“Well, I think we’ve both earned ourselves a drink, don’t you?” Corrin says, eyeing up a pub on the nearest corner.
“I’m not exactly in the mood to swill beer and make chitchat,” I say.
“Me neither,” Corrin says. “But I think a stiff drink is precisely what you need right now.”
I throw him a glare, but it’s halfhearted. I’m not angry athim. He was only being smart, stopping me from intervening. It’s me who nearly lost control. I’m just annoyed he witnessed my lapse.
“I’m sorry,” I say, letting him lead us toward the pub. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m not normally so…undisciplined,” I admit through gritted teeth.
“I have no doubt about that,” Corrin says. “But I’ve watched you getting more and more tense with every reminder of the Templewe’ve passed. It started with that attack at the duke’s, didn’t it? I saw how it shook you up.”
I pause just outside the pub door, glancing around us to make sure no one’s nearby before I answer.
“I’ve been a soldier longer than you’ve been alive, Wadestaff. I don’t get ‘shaken up’ by fights.”
He tilts his head at me like he’s asking me to be serious.
“Not usually,” he says. “But that one did.”
“Let’s just get this drink,” I sigh, passing by him to stride into the pub. I order something strong and caustic, and we find a dark corner away from the other tables, made even darker with the subtle help of Corrin’s shadows.
“Was it your cousin?” he asks once we’re partway through our drinks. “Is that the reason the attack at Ribold’s hit you so hard?”
“Corrin, I’m not doing this,” I say abruptly.
“Doing what?” he asks, raising his eyebrows innocently.
“Pouring my heart out to you.”
“Ah, so you admit you have a heart,” he says with a wink.
I don’t allow myself to be baited, too distracted by something else he said.
“Most people would justassumewatching my cousin die was what upset me,” I say, my eyes firmly on my drink. “But you asked about it like it’s not the obvious answer.”
“Because nothing is obvious when it comes to you. I believed you when you said he was better off dead. My guess is that’s not what bothered you about it all, but I wanted to make sure.”
I stare at him. This man has gotten so good at reading people because he’s made a career of manipulating them. So why do I find myself wanting to trust him?
“Finish your drink,” I say, downing my own. I get up and go to the bar, returning with two more glasses. He has the good sense to accept his without another word, waiting for me as I sit down and take a gulp. Then I start to speak.
