I was about to respond, but a melodic voice drifted from the other room.
“Gather, children,” it said, and notes of a legend poured through the wide doorway.
Tolek froze, too, head cocked.
“That voice,” he muttered. And then, he was pulling me through the door, my boots scuffing over the piles of chiffon trailing across the floor in the spacious room, cushions and tapestries overflowing onto every surface, comfort fit for a veritable den of proclivities.
Tolek stopped before the biggest divan, a circular, turquoise velvet cushion large enough to hold four bodies.
It only hosted three currently, though. Two of which were very intimately involved, but the third sat with her legs crossed at the round edge nearest us. A small gaggle of warriors lounged on the floor before her as she spoke, utterly entranced with her words.
Tolek sliced right through her sentence. “What are you doing here?”
“You know her?” I asked, gaping up at him as something hot roared in my gut. “Spirits, Vincienzo, I don’t think I want to know?—”
“Not the way you’re thinking, Alabath.” His hand tightened on mine, but his eyes remained locked on the woman on the divan.
And it was then that I followed his stare. That I traced up her bare feet and legs, the gold jewelry adorning them. Right up the lilac and brown chiffon scarves that wrapped around her hips and breasts.
Those long, willowy limbs were…familiar. The dark hair spilling around her shoulders, the tenor of her voice…
“I saw her once,” Tolek explained, “at an inn we stayed at in Bodymelder Territory, on our way to Firebird’s Field. She was telling a story about a prince who sacrificed himself for his kingdom.” He blinked as if the thought was scattering.
The Storyteller’s dark eyes met mine, and a memory came crashing back to me. Not in Bodymelder Territory…no, I had not seen the Storyteller there.
But I had seen this woman once before. In a different inn, many miles away across the mountains, on my way to rescue the man now standing with his hand locked in mine.
“Aimee?”
She gave me a bold grin. “It’s lovely to see you again, Revered.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Cypherion
“Got what you need, Stargirl?”I asked, finding Vale at the front of the tent Erista had led us to. Orpretending tofind her.
I never wanted to let Vale out of my sight again. She called me overbearing, but she smiled every time she said it. And every one of those smiles seemed a little more like she was coming back to life, finding her new self after the ordeal of the tattoo severance. Like she’d been forged into something new, more ruthless and determined than ever.
Now, as my hand landed on her waist, stroking that bare inch of skin above the band of her long skirt, and she flashed me that same knowing smirk, I waited for her retort.
“Acting as if you didn’t see me pluck it from the crate over there?” she teased and gently placed the tinctures she’d been after into the draw-string pouch hanging across her body.
“I’ll be more discreet next time,” I said, bending to kiss her forehead and turning her back to face the street.
I could have feigned innocence, but the way her voice had lilted up at the end…I’d missed that. I’d missed her. I was soaking up every minute, especially the ones as simple as strolling through a market together without Titus on our heels.
Even if it took every ounce of carefully-honed control not to take her back to the inn and make up for those weeks we’d been apart. To remind her I came back for her, she was free, and no one could take anything else from her.
My hand tightened on her waist, and she froze, turning to face me.
Damn all the people in the stalls—all the vendors and patrons and even Erista, kindly pretending not to overhear our conversation as she wandered ahead with Celissia. Because Vale’s face was serious once again, her eyes dim.
Butsheaskedme, “What’s wrong?”
I blinked at her, my other hand resting on her waist. “What?”
“You’re tense.” She rubbed her hands down my chest. “What happened?”
