“Merron?” I arced a brow. “Why him?”
He shot me a glare. “Because you saw fit to give away Zephyrine’s dagger, and now you’re of little use to me, beyond the keeping of the keys.” He opened a desk drawer and rummaged around, then slid a sheathed dagger across the desk. “You can take this, but it isn’t anything like the last one, so you’ll have to take the head steward with you. Just in case.”
I took the weapon and fastened it to my belt. “In casewhat?”
“You see Vick again.” He gave me a hard stare. “We don’t know what he plans on doing with Zephyrine’s dagger.”
“Feed people, I imagine.” That was really all that man had wanted. To play savior to a broken people. “Or maybe change his hair to a less offensive color.”
Olivian lowered his brows, unamused. “The point is, you’ll need someone capable.”
I slitted my gaze. “A man, you mean?”
“Yes, a man. And Merron happens to be one. Take it or leave it.”
“We’ll take it,” Amryssa said quickly.
Olivian resumed shuffling his papers. “And be back by nine, not ten. We haven’t had a nightmare in weeks, and I don’t trust the weather not to turn. I want all of you back here before it can become a problem.”
Amryssa nodded and swept out before her father could change his mind. I swallowed the burn in my chest and followed, but Olivian grumbled my name.
I turned back. “What?”
“I...” He cleared his throat and looked down, as if the papers in his hands had offered up brand-new information in the last two seconds. “...just wanted to say...I was perhaps...a bit hasty, when I banished your husband.”
My feet turned leaden. I couldn’t have moved if I’d tried. “Kai. His name’s Kai.”
“Right. Kai. I...”
I waited, my breath held.
“Look. You can write to this Kai of yours. Let him know he can come back, if he likes.”
My stomach somersaulted. This was...unprecedented. By a long shot.
My silence seemed to fluster him. He grabbed a pen and tapped it against his papers. “Hewasremarkably useful when it came to chopping wood.”
I gave a slow nod. “That’s...probably the kindest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Kindness has nothing to do with it. He was useful.”
“Sure. Still. Thank you. And I might’ve been a little hasty myself, when I said all those things to you that night.”
“No. Every word you said was true.”
Shock cascaded through me. Olivian tugged at his collar, clearly uncomfortable with that admission, and I hurried to change the subject. “The thing is...I have no idea where Kai went. And even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. We never would’ve worked. But thanks for the offer.”
“You’re welcome.” He still didn’t look up. “Now do me a favor and get the hell out.”
I laughed. For the first time in days, I laughed, then did exactly as he’d asked.
That evening, Amryssa and Merron and I went dancing.
I couldn’t bear to visit the theatre, much less the pub where Kai had conquered my defenses over ale and an apple. Thankfully, Amryssa found some other place—a back-alley hovel where yellow lamplight and fiddle music spilled from the door.
Inside, we joined a throng of bodies, the crowd so dense that I exhaled in a way I hadn’t in weeks. I lost myself in the jaunty music, the shout of conversations, the scent of spilled gin.
Still, people stared at me, and a few raised crossed fingers in my direction. But when Amryssa began whirling in time to the fiddle, a glittering hush spread through the crowd. Gazes followed her, people orienting to her without realizing, everyone subconsciously answering the draw of Zephyrine’s child.
