like that.”
He grinned. “You have a way of seeming so small and pathetic that my instincts kick in and I want nothing more than to protect you.” A flurry of images came at me.
I blushed and fidgeted with his cloak, and then I gasped as I saw his thoughts. “You went back and beat up the other man who accosted me. You found out from Tobias and went after Clive. That’s how you injured yourself here.” I pointed to the wound that had slowly stopped bleeding.
“Who told you?” Liam’s hand covered his side.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I retorted. “You didn’t have the right to challenge them to a duel, no less.”
“I never mentioned a duel.” His brows furrowed.
I clamped my lips shut. Cora came out of the back room with a chemise, corset, stockings, and boots.
“Here you are,” she sang out in a cheerful voice.
“She will change here and wear them out,” Liam stated.
“Certainly, come into the fitting area, dear.” Cora gestured to a silk screen panel for me to change behind.
I stepped behind the screen and was about to pull off my nightgown when I glanced at my dirty fingernails and hands. It was a shame to ruin a perfectly clean dress by putting my dirty body in it. I hesitated to change without getting a bath, and then I heard the door jingle as it opened and closed.
Liam had left, and the assault of thoughts came barraging at me.
Like putting lipstick on a pig. Nothing she does will help her sickly, sewer rat figure. I had that gown put on display to catch Nicolette De Tourel’s eye during her morning walk. Now, I have nothing thanks to this scrawny thistle.
I crumpled to the ground and held the clothes in my lap. Once, I had thought of my magic as a gift. One that allowed me to spy on my sisters in good fun, but that was in the safety of our own home. Anywhere beyond our front door, and it became a curse. A debilitating curse that could freeze anyone like the children’s rhyme; sticks and stones will break your bones, but words can never hurt me. That wasn’t the same for thoughts. Those were like poison that ate away at my soul and self-esteem. With my guard down, the horrid and mean could send me into a dark spiral.
The door jingled, and I heard a mumble that sounded like my name. I tried to answer, but my limbs felt like lead. Liam rushed behind the screen and saw me crumpled on the ground, the dress untouched.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I don’t deserve this,” I said under a shuddering breath. “I’m not worth it. I’m a sickly thistle.”
Liam turned and glared at Cora. “Did you say that to her?”
“I-I did no such thing,” she said unconvincingly.
“The truth,” he roared.
“I would never say such a thing to my customers’ faces,” Cora hedged.
Liam put things together. “Let me guess, you didn’t say it, but you thought it?”
Cora paled.
“You also thought I was a hot slice of man pie too,” he intoned.
Cora blushed and stammered. “What? I-I don’t know. H-how?”
Liam looked over at me and reached to help me stand. “I think I understand now.” He gathered our purchases and headed for the door. He stopped at the counter where he had placed the gold coins and plucked two back. “That’s for your rudeness toward my sister, and your uncouth thoughts toward me.”
Cora’s mouth dropped open, and we left. The door slamming behind us.
Liam helped me into the waiting transport, my new clothes bunched haphazardly and discarded on the opposite bench. He didn’t even attempt to sit across from me, but immediately pulled me close to his side and wrapped an arm over my shoulder.
“Does this help?” he asked.
I nodded.
He rapped on the ceiling and told the driver to head out of town, and fast. The horses took off, and soon Hinsburg was just a speck of dust on the horizon. I pulled away from Liam and moved to the seat next to my rumpled clothes.
He crossed his arms and legs and looked at me through narrowed eyes. “So you read people’s minds,” he stated.
I swallowed and looked at my folded hands, noticing the dirt under my thumb nail. I tucked it into my fist to make it disappear. “No, I hear their thoughts. They pop into my mind whether I want them to or not.”
“The day in the woods when I thought I was dying. I heard someone in