As the crowd cheers, Kellyn reaches over to his enemy’s mug, raises it into the air in a salute to the room, and downs it in one go.
“Now,” Temra says.
“Now what?”
“Now is the time to talk to him.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere near him!”
“What choice do we have?”
None. We have none.
Resigning myself to my fate, I follow Temra toward the big brute. She’s careful to put herself directly in his line of sight.
“It’s Kellyn, isn’t it?” she asks, putting on a bright smile. She uses the tone I recognize as her “flirty voice.”
“It is,” he says, hailing down a serving girl for another glass of mead.
“I’m Temra,” she says, sitting in the chair right beside him.
I panic for a moment. Should I stay back as Temra’s shadow? No, I can’t let her do this alone. Steeling my courage, I take the seat vacated by Kellyn’s opponent, the one right across from him.
Kellyn’s eyes fix on me, and I try desperately not to squirm in my seat.
“Don’t I know you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I swear I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
My chin-length hair combined with Kellyn’s drunkenness is the only thing sparing me from utter mortification right now.
“This is Ziva,” my sister says.
“The magically gifted smithy!” Kellyn exclaims. “I came to this city to seek you out.” He laughs as though that were funny before taking a drink. “Can I order you both a round?”
I have to turn my head to the side to hide my disgust. He thinks we’re propositioning him!
“We’re sisters,” I hastily bite out.
“Even better,” he says.
Temra laughs like he just told a joke. “I’m afraid you have us all wrong. We’re interested in your fighting talents. Are you for hire?”
Kellyn takes a hefty swig from the new draft placed before him. “What’s the job?”
“We’re looking for safe passage to Thersa. We can pay a hundred ockles a day.”
“If she makes me a magicked longsword, I’ll take you anywhere you’d like to go in Ghadra.”
“That’s wonderful!” Temra says. “How soon can you be ready to go?”
Kellyn burps loudly into his cup, which only heightens the sound.
I find myself struggling to remember why I ever thought this man was attractive.
But then he turns those beautiful brown eyes on me. His lips raise into an openmouthed smile that makes my stomach do a flip. “As soon as I sober up!” He downs the rest of his cup’s contents, sloshing more over himself.
I look to Temra in a panic. “Is there someone else we could hire?” I ask, hoping the universe will magically provide a solution.
“No. Well, he was an option.” Kellyn nods at the passed-out man on the floor. “But since you just got a good look at his fighting skills, I doubt you’d want to hire him. But none of that! We have an arrangement, and I will be ready to leave posthaste!”
Kellyn stands with his empty mug, takes one step toward the stairs, which likely lead up to his room, then tips forward. He catches himself on a wooden beam holding up the ceiling, before lowering himself to the ground.
“Actually, I think I’ll have a little lie-down first.”
And then he’s out.
Temra raises from her chair, leans down, and slaps him across the face.
He doesn’t budge.
“What now?” I ask.
“Go get the horse, and I’ll meet you outside.”
“What are you doing?”
“Just trust me, okay?”
Gathering my cloak about me more tightly, I stride outside and pay the stable boy to bring Reya around. I reattach Secret Eater to the weapon’s bundle.
Then we wait. I’m unsure what for, and every passing second makes me more and more anxious. What if something happened to Temra? What if she’s been caught by the warlord’s men? What if—
The doors open, and Temra comes outside, followed by four big men, carrying something.
No, someone.
Kellyn.
Temra directs them to lay him atop the horse and pays each of the men a coin.
I turn to her in horror. “This is your plan!”
She smiles. “What choice do we have?”
“We can’t just take him!”
“Not like this. Help me strap him down.”
“Temra!”
“Ziva, you got us into this mess. I’m getting us out. Now, are you going to help me or not?”