by Linda Kage
That earned me a condescending smirk. “It’s obviously been a while since you’ve visited High Cliff, hasn’t it?”
I nodded. “Just over five years now. Why?”
“Well, there’s a posted notice going around the kingdom that’s requesting the capture of at least one live Graykey. Or a Graykey could always surrender themselves before the crown.”
Quilla snorted. “Surrender, my ass,” she muttered. “Death would be preferable.”
I turned to her, sensing anxiety and fear in her emotions just under the layer of spite in her tone. She honestly believed execution was preferable to being taken alive.
“Why do they want one of you alive?”
“For my blood,” she answered. “What other reason?”
Shaking my head in confusion, I glanced at Melaina for an explanation.
The mistress of disguise fluttered out an unconcerned hand. “They have apparently concocted a magical potion, or ritual, or something that will help them accurately track down and find the rest of the Graykey clan. All they need to complete the process is the blood from one live Graykey.”
“Wait. So we could find the rest of your family with a sample of your blood?” I asked Quilla with a certain amount of hope in my voice. “Like, say, Qualmer?”
She sent me a scowl.
Melaina answered, “Yes, but we’ve no interest in finding my evil son. Besides, from what we’ve heard, the extraction process is brutally intensive and painful, plus we believe the blood donor dies during the procedure.”
“Oh.” Well, that was a different story, then. I winced toward Quilla, silently apologizing for even considering the idea of putting her through that.
She rolled her eyes with a glare—telling me I was not forgiven—and trotted ahead of us.
“So you pretended to be a High Cliff knight who’d just captured a Graykey and was taking her in to turn her over to the king, to get through the canyon pass, didn’t you?” I asked her aunt.
Melaina nodded and sent me an admiring glance. “Well now, I guess you can be smart after all.”
I shook my head, hissing out a curse. “That was dangerous, Melaina. They could’ve checked you for a glamour anyway and caught on to your ruse when they realized you weren’t a High Cliff knight after all.”
“But they didn’t.”
“What if the same guards are at the entrances this time too? Or smarter guards are on duty, because seriously, why didn’t they question the fact that you were going north through the pass, out of High Cliff? Not toward the capitol where the king is?”
“Oh, they did ask,” Melaina assured me. “But I just told them the procedure was taking place in Far Shore.” When I merely gaped at her, she shrugged. “What? For all we know, maybe the procedure does take place in Far Shore.”
“Well, it’s way too risky of a plan to put Quilla through a second time.”
“As if you have a say in the matter.” She sniffed and faced forward, prepared to ignore me again.
My eyebrows lifted. “She’s my mate,” I said, “so I’m putting in my say, anyway. And I say she’s not doing it. It’s too dangerous.”
Stopping her horse’s canter, she whirled in the saddle, eyes flickering with rage. “Then what do you suggest we do, oh wise and mighty one? Because we are going to the village of Tyler, whether you like it or not.”
I glanced forward to where Quilla was riding on ahead without us. Beyond her, I could make out the ferry station in the distance. Turning back to Melaina, I said, “There are two ferries at this station, aren’t there? One that merely crosses the river to get to the pass and another that goes downstream to Moore?”
Melaina nodded. “Yes. So?”
“So I say we take the ferry going to Moore. Then we can double back up toward Tyler, avoiding the armed checking station at the canyon. Besides, they charge an inordinate amount of coin at the toll to get through the pass. It’d be cheaper this way, and we could probably afford to stay in an inn or two along the way if we went through Moore.”
I knew the idea of room and board would appeal to her.
And what do you know, one of her eyebrows perked up with interest. But then she sighed and shook her head. “No, that would be going too far out of the way and take us twice as long to get there.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I sneered with a roll of my eyes. “I didn’t realize we were in such a hurry after it took us nearly until midday before we even broke camp this morning. Who the hell cares if it takes longer? Quilla will be safer this way.”
“Quilla can take care of herself.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve seen her do so. But why needlessly put her at risk? Quilla should be protected.”
“Quilla can talk for herself, you know,” Quilla spoke up, suddenly before us.
I jumped, not realizing she’d come back to check on us.
“The prisoner disguise thing at the canyon pass is a bad idea,” I blurted to her. “I don’t want you to do it.”
“Too bad you don’t have a choice in the matter, then,” she told me smarmily before sending her aunt an icy glance. “The ferry station approaches. We all need disguises before getting on the boat.”
Melaina huffed out her impatient annoyance. “Oh, alright,” she said before twirling her finger in Quilla’s direction, then mine.
A crawling sensation, like a million ants had just made their residence on my flesh, covered my skin. I instantly began to scratch at my arms. “What the—”
“Don’t rub it,” Melaina ordered. “You’ll ruin the glamour. Just stand still and take it like a man.”
Falling reluctantly quiet, I glanced toward Quilla, only to discover she had turned into the old man I’d first seen her being.
“Him again,” I said, nodding. “Smart thinking.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, darling,” Melaina answered haughtily. “I know people always pay less attention to the elderly.”
Thinking she’d do the same for me, I looked down at my hands to see they no longer appeared to be shackled and that I was becoming the girl she’d changed Quilla into the second time I’d met her.
“A child? But everyone pays attention to small children.”
“The more eyes on you, the less on Quilla,” Melaina explained before giving Holly a condescending glower. “And you. Stop pretending to be a damn zebra. You stick out like a sore thumb. Either turn into a respectable-looking horse or that alley cat mongrel you like being so much, or I’m revealing your true form to the world.”
Holly growled at her, the tenor resembling a cougar’s snarl.
Wincing, I leaned toward the unicorn’s ear. “I hate to agree with her, but the zebra is kind of, er, noticeable.”
Snuffling in aggravation, Holly sent me an annoyed glance over her shoulder. But then she huffed out a breath, faced forward again, and immediately changed into a plain brown horse like the two Quilla and Melaina were riding.
“Great. May we proceed now?” Melaina wondered, already riding ahead.
“Aren’t you going to disguise yourself?” I called after her.
“I only hide all my amazingness under the direst of circumstances,” she tossed over her shoulder.
“Well, that’s safe,” I grumbled sarcastically. “It’s a miracle you two haven’t been caught and killed already,” I told the old-man glamour.
Quilla glanced my way, and I realized Melaina had left her eye color the same. She hadn’t given the man as irritable a disposition as she had the first time either. Today, he looked sad, worn down, and tired of this life. A pocket of pity filled my chest, as I wondered how these two continued to do this day after day, always operating under such precarious measures. It had been selfish of me for being so upset over learning they planned to leave the Outer Realms.
Leaving was the only chance they had at attaining a real life where they didn’t have to look over their shoulder and hide all the time. Of course, they couldn’t stay here. The helpless, panicking rage I’d felt when I’d learned she wanted to
permanently vacate the world I lived in was stupid. Because she had to go. I knew that.
But she couldn’t leave me behind either. I would make sure of it.
“Just how sure are we that there’s another amulet in Tyler?” I asked, following when she started her horse into a canter.
“Not at all,” was her blasé answer.
I whipped an incredulous glance her way. “Are you serious?”
The old man gave a rather young-looking shrug. “The jeweler we went to Pinsky to question said we should talk to another jeweler in Tyler.”
“Jewelers?” My nose wrinkled in disgust. “You’ve been interrogating jewelers about this?”
“Since it’s jewelry we’ve been seeking, yes. Who did you think we’d been talking to? Stable masters?”
“Jewelers are the shiftiest lot of deceitful liars in the Outer Realms. You can’t trust a thing they say. They’re only after their own self-interests and the fastest way to make a coin.”
“I’m aware,” Quilla told me dryly.
“Then why are you letting them send you on a wild goose chase? They’re testing you, you know? Volleying you back and forth between their network of crooks, seeing how valuable this treasure is by how willing you are to go wherever they lead you. If they think you’re onto something big, they’ll put a tracker on you so they can steal whatever you’re seeking as soon as you find it.”
The old man sent me an irritated glance. “Then what do you suggest we do?”
“Stop and research,” I immediately answered.
She blurted out a harsh, disbelieving snort before asking, “How?”
“By asking reliable sources, to begin with.”
“Oh, so we’re just supposed to abandon everything we’ve done for the past eight years and follow your lead now, huh?”
I shrugged. “Why not? You haven’t had much success so far. And what could it hurt? I guarantee it wouldn’t take me years to find the second amulet,” I countered, chuckling when the old man sent me a sharp, scowling glance.
“You mean, the first amulet?” Quilla corrected. “We’re still looking for two.”
“Three,” I contended, winking at her. “Now that I’m tagging along, we’ll need three.” I glanced ahead to make sure her aunt was out of hearing distance before I leaned closer and added, “But if you want to pretend you haven’t already found the first one, that’s fine. I’ll play along.”
The old man arched an eyebrow slowly, looking convincingly confused, but I felt Quilla’s panic and surprise clearly under the glamour.
“Hey, I get it,” I told her. “Your traveling companion is perhaps the most unpredictable person I’ve ever met. How can you trust her not to take the amulet for herself and go through the portal without you? It’s smart of you not to let on that you already have an amulet. God knows if I had one, I’d do the same thing to ensure you didn’t leave me behind.”
“Do you have one?” she asked cattily. I felt her amusement pass through the mark as she spoke. She liked talking to me, I realized. Bouncing ideas off each other. Bantering.
I grinned, enjoying her interest. “Feel free to search me. Anytime.”
She groaned. “You never give up, do you?”
“I blindly followed Nicolette into enemy territory by myself, where a group of locals caught me, immediately pegged me as High Cliff scum, and tied me to a pyre of wood, planning to burn me at the stake. And I was only fond of her.” Shaking my head, I sighed. “If you think I’ll give up that easily on you, you’re sadly mistaken.”
The old man blinked slowly. “They tied you to a pyre of wood? How in the world did you escape?”
I batted my little-girl lashes at her playfully. “Would you believe I’m just that talented?”
When she snorted, I laughed. “Or perhaps Nicolette happened along and rescued me?”
“Now that I would believe!”
“Why?” I countered irritably. “Because it puts me in a helpless light, making me look incapable of taking care of myself, and ruins all my vain hopes of impressing you?”
She laughed aloud, and the sound broke over me like a freezing tonic, paralyzing me of all rational thought. This was honestly the first time I’d ever heard her laughter. True, joyous laughter.
It was intoxicating.
“I guess that settles it, then,” I said, gazing at the old man, unable to stop staring at him as Quilla’s amusement rattled from his wrinkles. “Since it’s your favorite, we’re going with that story.”
Her mouth dropped. “Are you seriously trying to tell me you escaped from a torch-bearing mob while being tied to the top of a pyre all by yourself?”
“Nope,” I announced happily. “Because I was rescued by who is now the Queen of Far Shore. Of course.” Except it totally sounded like I’d saved myself.
Quilla frowned suspiciously. I could tell she didn’t know which version to believe, and that amused me to no end.
“What’s taking you two so long?” Melaina hollered from in front of us.
Jumping in surprise, Quilla tore her attention from me and trotted forward, leaving me behind. Even decked out as the old man, she was absolutely adorable with the way she straightened her back, lifted her chin, and tried to hide the fact that she’d been so absorbed in talking to me.
Grinning, I followed behind at a slower pace, thrilled to know I was definitely growing on her. This, I could work with.
Chapter 20
Indigo
I was still grumbling to Quilla about my reservations to cross the canyon pass as we boarded the ferry. But just as Melaina had, she ignored my objections too. Neither of them seemed to care what kind of risk they were putting her through. So when the ferry master pushed his oar against the shore propelling us out into the water, my heart gave a jerky shudder of anxiety.
Here we went, whether I liked it or not.
Too busy squinting ahead to the other side of the river and the vague outline of mountains to either side of the canyon, I didn’t notice anyone else on the bank behind us approaching and hastily purchasing fare to cross the river as well until someone yelled, “Wait!”
I turned to see who was making the call, and everything else just kind of faded away as I blinked dumbfounded at the sight before me. The small, dark woman was decked out in nothing but gold beads and red scarves. Rubies clung to the thin golden chains that dripped from her headdress while great golden hoops swung in her ears. More gold wrapped around her biceps and wrists while rubies and turquoise stones plunged into her cleavage where her fitted bra top was layered with more golden baubles.
The sun glinted off the piercing in her belly button, calling even more attention to her bare midriff and the four black stars tattooed on her side, running from her tiny waist and down over the healthy curve of her hip where a turquoise and red hip scarf—interspersed with gold coins—held up her transparent harem pants that had slits in both sides and showed off her toned legs. Gold cuffs held the pants closed at the ankles, and even her slippers were ostentatiously beaded with gold, rubies, and turquoise.
Since we were the only customers on the ferry and we were still close enough to shore, the ferry master was able to shove his staff into the water and pause the progress of the pontoon, so the woman and her two companions could easily jump across the gap of water from the dock to the boat.
They carried no traveling packs, no mode of transportation, no nothing that usual people on the road would possess.
“Well, that’s not something you see every day,” I murmured, unable to stop staring, as I wondered if she was some kind of performer, and we were going to get a dancing show on our trip.
Quilla and Melaina, who’d been standing on either side of me, turned as well.
“What the fuck?” Melaina murmured, drifting forward in a daze.
Quilla elbowed me in what looked like the side of my glamour girl’s head, but what was actually my rib cage. “Stop staring,” she growled.
“I’m not—” I started au
tomatically, thinking she was referring to herself. She only ever told me to stop staring at her. But when I realized she wanted me to look away from the half-dressed woman oozing steamy lust, I blinked at her, stunned. She was jealous of my attention to another woman.
Irritated envy blasted from her feelings like shards of splintery ice.
I smiled a very pleased smirk.
“I was just thinking her outfit was awfully flashy and superfluous to be wearing for a grimy boat trip across fish-scented waters,” I explained before winking and nudging her. “Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing you in that bedlah.”
Snorting in answer, she shook her head and turned back to watch her aunt approach the other woman as if moving in a trance.
“Who the hell are you?” Melaina murmured, her voice full of awe and adoration as she lifted her hand to touch all the irresistible shininess.
“I am Nalini,” the flamboyant woman answered, only to raise amused brows at her companion, who smacked away Melaina’s hand before Melaina could touch the star tattoos dotting her hip. “It’s okay, amans,” she told him, stroking his arm lightly. “I don’t mind if she touches me.” She turned back to Melaina, her smile bright and eyes glittering with interest. “Please excuse my lover. He gets unreasonably jealous sometimes.”
Quilla’s aunt spared Nalini’s paramour a glance, only to hum deep in her throat and reach for him with her other hand. “No need for jealousy, handsome,” she assured. “As you’re welcome to join in too.”
“Oh, Jesus.” I shook my head and sighed. “She really just can’t help herself, can she?”
“No, she can’t,” Quilla murmured as I finally turned my focus to the other two travelers with Nalini. I had noticed she wasn’t alone from the beginning, but it’d been impossible to look past all her opulence and really see them until now.
The man she called her lover was slim—small in comparison to me but still considerably larger than her—with freakily pale blue eyes, dark skin, and shorn black hair. I squinted at him, convinced he looked familiar, even though I couldn’t pinpoint from where.