An hour of rooting myself against the cave where I’ve grown into a wallflower, not moving from this spot. Several feet away, the fire still burns brightly, though the meat that was cooking has been all but picked clean, nothing left but bones and the remnants of dripping fat that make the flames hiss and spark.
My gloved hands are still clutched around the wine cup that Lu shoved at me, though I’ve only taken a few sips. I want to have a clear head to make sure my magic doesn’t creep up and take me unawares. But I haven’t felt a thing.
Slowly, I’ve been able to relax. Yet that’s when I noticed that the people of Drollard are…odd.
It’s not the staring. I’m used to that. Plus, I think with a village this small, any new face would be cause for staring, whether they were gold or not.
As soon as I walked up with Lu, attention snapped to me. The people at the tables, the ones milling around the fire pit, more beneath the mountain’s overhang—they all turned to stare. There was even a terrible squeak from someone who was playing a small stringed instrument on his lap.
But with a few introductions from Lu, they seemed to relax, their overt stares changing to discreet flicks of their eyes. So it’s not the staring and the uneasiness around a stranger. It’s something else. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.
Lu and I are sharing a seat on part of the cave wall that juts out as the perfect bench. I’ve been content to sit back and watch, while Lu’s gone into more depth about pointing out little things about the village, probably just to fill the silence and make things less awkward.
“So, you feeling gold murdery yet?” she asks. “Have the urge to make gold start pissing down the walls?”
“Umm…no.”
“See? You’re doing great.”
With a snort, I shift my weight, trying to get a bit more comfortable, but a jagged edge of the mountain scrapes against one of my severed ends. I flinch up with a hiss, pain shooting down my spine.
“You alright?”
A shaky exhale leaves my lips. “Fine,” I grit out.
From my peripheral, I can see her dark brown eyes watching me, yet not with pity or concern. “It hurts?”
I give her an incredulous look, because of course it hurts. “Yes.”
She points right at my face, the gesture catching me off guard. “But that means you feel. That means you’re alive.” This isn’t the laid back, friendly Lu talking. This is Lu, the captain of Fourth’s army, addressing a soldier.
A hard swallow jostles my throat. “Only part of me,” I admit.
Twenty-four strips didn’t make it.
“That’s okay,” she says without a hint of doubt, a hard glint caught in the edges of her eyes. “Just make that the strongest part.”
My lips tip up, her words stabilizing my spine and making the pain dull slightly.
“That’s the plan.”
She knocks her cup against mine again. “Good fucking plan, Gildy. Best one you’ve ever had, I think.”
I think so too.
“Thanks, Lu.”
She doesn’t ask me for what. She knows.
Lu kicks a foot up in front of her, arm dangling over her knee, while my eyes dart around to the villagers once again. “Can I ask you something?” I ask.
“Go for it.”
Luckily, we’re far enough apart from people that I don’t think our voices will carry. “It’s… Something seems…off.”
She spares me a fleeting glance from the corner of her eye. “Was that a question?”
I blow out a frustrated breath. “I can’t explain it, but something just feels strange about the people here.”
I’m anticipating Lu rolling her eyes or making a joke or calling me out for my paranoid and very vague description, but she doesn’t. Instead, an indiscernible look crosses her face as she turns away and lets her head rest against the wall behind us. “Hmm.”
My brows crinkle together like paper. “Why do I get the impression that you’re not telling me something?”
“Probably because I’m not telling you something.”
Before I can demand some answers, she shakes her head. “It’s not my place.”
My lips press into a thin line. “Slade,” I say, not even really needing to ask.
“There’s a reason he needed to make sure Deadwell became part of his territory. There’s a reason Fourth’s outpost is right at the border, not far from here. There’s a reason that people might seem…off to you.”