Kye’s arm tightened a fraction, drawing me an inch closer. “Yes, or no?”
The merchant smirked, his gaze lingering over me. “Where is she from?”
Kye answered in Rivean, a single word spat across the table. The man laughed softly, though his smile remained shallow, his eyes dark. “She clearly isn’t fromhere.” He grinned into his table, a lazy finger pointed in the blacksmiths’ direction. “Two-fiftyúcet.You will not get that from a stand that doesn’t specialize in precious metals.”
I dared a glance at Kye. He wore his mask, the one he reserved for deep thought, as he sized the jeweler. With a soft click of his tongue, he pulled a second ring from his pocket.
I watched as he dropped it onto the satin cloth, an antiqued silver band inlaid with a stunning blue stone. I opened my mouth to tell himno, but he plunged his hand back into his pocket, withdrawing a gold timepiece, the Calderian royal insignia embossed over the outer casing.
The jeweler opened it, staring at a lapis lazuli interior, golden face inside flush with the edges. Tiny, faceted diamonds lay in place of each number. His disinterested act fell away, and helifted the sapphire ring in his other hand, weighing it gently, tilting the stone back and forth in the sunlight.
His eyes drifted back to Kye. “What did you say your name was, my friend?”
Kye didn’t answer. Stepping fully in front of the table, he lowered his voice. “Three thousand for all three.”
I bit my lip, my breath tight as my eyes burned into the sight of the sapphire ring in the jeweler’s hand, horrified Kye was willing to sell it.
The man set the three objects on his table, tapping his fingers in thought. “I don’t have that amount with me today. If you were to come back tomo—wait. Wait, my friend.” He scrambled around the table as Kye scooped up his jewelry and turned to leave. “What do you need? You came to sell, because you need to buy, is that right?” He glanced us over, taking in our bedraggled clothes, the answer plain. “Two of my brothers are merchants in this market. What do you need—clothes, shoes, horses? I can give you one thousandúcetand you can shop their wares on credit.”
“Which ones are they?” I asked. The man snapped his attention to me.
He held an open hand in Kye’s direction for the rings and pocket watch, but his eyes drank me in, the corners of his mouth curling.
Kye shifted between us, his shoulder cutting off my view. “Which ones are they?”
The merchant pointed across the square to a man behind a table laden with textiles. “My name is Veles. Jarek is there,” he said, swinging his finger to the other side, toward the stables. “And Reija is the red-haired man by the paddock gate.”
“You’re all fucking red-haired,” Kye snapped, thrusting his jewelry into his pocket. “We’ll see.”
Veles inclined his head politely as we turned to leave. Behind us, I listened to the bump and shuffle as the jeweler hurriedly packed his table into his horse cart.
He ran ahead, stopping at Jerek’s stand first, animatedly speaking to the clothing merchant. Jerek flashed us a grin as we neared, but his smile fell when Kye passed.
“Horses first,” Kye murmured. I glanced at him, but his eyes followed Veles, charging through the middle of the field to reach his other brother. Kye scoffed, the noise in his throat between annoyance and amusement.
“You don’t have to sell it,” I said, calling his attention back to me.
“We need supplies.” Kye paused for a wagon to pass.
I pressed my lips together. I’d been in Rivea for days now, foraging for food and sleeping under stars. Somehow, I’d rather another month of the same if it meant he kept his mother’s ring.
I didn’t know why.
Maybe because I owned nothing of my mother except a tattered book on an island far away. But Kye likely owned many things. She’d been a queen—she’d probably left her children chests full of precious stones and heirlooms.
Butthatring was the one he wore.
My thoughts halted as we neared the paddock.
Five horses stood posted for sale, their leads tied to heavy stakes in the ground, prices chalked in white numbers on their hides. My eyes swept past all of them to the single creature in the paddock.
She wasn’t the largest horse I’d ever seen. She probably wasn’t the most beautiful either, though she was a thing of beauty. Her black coat shined like liquid, as though she’d been painted and hadn’t yet dried, the sunlight almost blue between the curves of her muscles. Her mane fell in streaming waves, fluid and wild.
She pawed the dirt, tail swishing with impatience. As we neared the paddock, she lifted her head at us, pulling back her lips. When we didn’t stop, she charged. An arrow released from a bowstring, she bolted to the side of the paddock, pulling up short to avoid colliding with the fence. The blast of her wind teased strands of hair from my forehead, ruffling the loose fabric of my shirt.
The mare flattened her ears, hind legs kicking absently behind her. An experienced horseman, Kye darted out of the proximity of an outstretched hoof.
But I stood rooted to the ground, transfixed by the creature. Caged and angry. Isolated from the others. Desperate to be free. A cool shiver ran down my spine, not unlike myspiculaewhen I laid eyes on another Naiad, the sudden urge to sing to the creature thrumming in my chest.
