Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,74
lucky I took you in at all. No one else in this city is open-minded as I am. I could report you just for being on land,” she added, looking directly at me.
“What?” I asked, my stomach twisting.
“I know who you are.” She lifted her pointy chin with an impressive degree of imperiousness. “And I know what you are.”
The blood drained from my face. There was nothing about my appearance that marked me as a Varenian, which meant Ceren must have put the word out about us. “What do you want?”
“Coin,” she said with a gap-toothed sneer. “Or I’ll call the king’s guard myself.”
“Do it,” Adriel whispered to me.
I removed the small coin purse from my waist and handed it to the woman, who hefted it greedily. “Enjoy your dinner,” she said and closed the door behind her.
“We have to leave,” I said the moment she was gone. “I don’t trust that the innkeeper won’t call the guard anyway. Not if there’s any kind of reward involved.”
Adriel was already stuffing her belongings back into her bag. “I’ll finish packing. Get Zadie and Samiel.”
I nodded and opened the door a crack, listening. The only sounds were coming from the common area downstairs, along with a faint creaking from one of the rooms down the hall. I darted out and knocked briskly on my sister’s door.
There was no answer. Heart pounding, I tried the door and found it locked. “Zadie,” I hissed. “Open up.”
I was just beginning to panic when the door opened to reveal a shirtless Sami, blinking sleepily. He scratched at his bare torso. “What is it? We just fell asleep.”
“The innkeeper knows who we are,” I said, pushing past him. “We have to go, now.”
Zadie sat up. She was clad in only her shift, her hair in loose waves around her. “What’s wrong, Nor?”
“Just get dressed and meet us in the alley behind the inn. Quickly.”
I returned to my room and grabbed my pack, motioning for Adriel to hurry. “We’re meeting them in the alley. Let’s go.”
We made our way down the stairs slowly, but they groaned beneath us anyway. Fortunately, whatever was happening in the common room seemed to be wildly entertaining, judging by the whoops and howls of laughter.
I pulled my cloak up over my head and opened the front door of the inn, peeking outside. People were going about their business in the fading daylight. There was no sign of Ceren or his guards.
“Come on,” I said, waving Adriel behind me. I glanced around, looking for Shiloh. She was leaning against her horse to the side of the building, smoking a pipe. When she saw Adriel and me, she straightened immediately.
“What are you doing out here?”
“The innkeeper knows who I am,” I said. “We need to head for the woods.”
Shiloh nodded. “I’ll get the horses and meet you there. You should get moving. It might take me a while.”
“Thank you.” I took Adriel’s hand and headed back into the alley. Straight into one of Ceren’s guards.
I would have known he was one of Ceren’s even without the black armor and the bloodstone hanging from the chain around his neck. He had that same dazed, stupefied look in his eyes as the captive in Galeth. But the moment he saw me, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks in his blue eyes, as if some part of his brain had just activated.
“Halt in the name of the king,” the guard said, but Adriel and I had already turned back and were moving toward the front of the inn. I heard the man shout something behind us, and another guard stepped out from a shop, his eyes finding mine instantly.
“Thalos,” I breathed. “Where are Sami and Zadie?”
“I’ll wait for them,” Adriel said. “You should go.”
“We are not splitting up.”
“Yes, we are.” She shoved me aside as the guard’s pace quickened toward us.
“Halt in the name of the king,” the men said in unison, one in front and one behind.
“I’ll catch up,” Adriel shouted as I broke into a run, heading into the streets of Riaga.
I had no idea where I was, and I couldn’t have been dressed worse for the occasion. My stride was restricted by my skirts, and the corset made it difficult to fill my lungs. The streets were less crowded than they’d been earlier, but no one moved out of my path as I tore past the shops and stalls where merchants were hoping to sell off the last of their goods.