Page 4 of The Fury She Holds
Carrick pinched his thick lips into a thin line, his focus on the door. “Egan found no trace. None of us did.” His forehead wrinkled. Carrick had been outraged when he learned that Pochette planned to betray them, though Talwyn herself had expected it to happen years ago. His boyish face contrasted the rest of him. The muscles covering his upper body flexed as he sat stiffly in the chair. His knee bounced under the table, bumping Talwyn’s own. “The pouch held five pieces of the king’s gold.”
Talwyn stilled. “You’re sure?”
Carrick nodded and slid one toward her.
She dragged it across the table until it fell into her waiting palm. A flaming willow tree witnessing two crossed swords shone in the low tavern candlelight as if the fire on the coin itself flickered. “So, our new cloaked friends may not be from outside the kingdom after all.” She pocketed the coin and took a large swig of her drink, making a face. The liquid had gone warm during her musings. “He called it an apparition.”
Carrick swore, scrunching his button nose. “What in the hells is that? And why would Pochette negotiate with one?”
Talwyn hesitated. She wondered this as well. Thanks to its lack of resources and poor state, the kingdom had gone unnoticed by the outside world for the last twenty years. If they believed Pochette, the apparition connected to something that could spell danger for the docks and Meladair as a whole. “Any word from the coven?”
Carrick frowned and shook his head. “No one’s seen or heard from the witches in over eight weeks. You don’t think anything has happened to them, do you?”
“They’re likely in hiding.” Talwyn didn’t voice her thoughts. If enemies were nearby, their friends with earth-given magic might have found trouble.
“Does this change things?”
Talwyn bit her lip. Plans had been set in motion months before their discovery of Pochette’s betrayal. They originally decided the docks needed a change of hands, and the rendezvous tonight merely pushed things along. But they hadn’t prepared for a new, more powerful rival.
Egan and the twins joined the table, interrupting her thoughts.
“Could you two have been more obnoxious?” Egan teased the twins, presenting a platter of food. His short, lithe frame snuck past Talwyn into the chair beside her, and his plain features twisted into a mocking smile.
Sybil scoffed and held her hand over her heart. “We were tasked with keeping watch at Gale’s tavern. Nothing, and I meannothingis more conspicuous than a sober patron at Gale’s.” Her beak-like nose turned up at the smaller boy. Given her unusual height, Egan could only peer up her nostrils. Sybil leaned her broad shoulders over the table and turned her attention to Talwyn. Her hair, so black it swallowed any surrounding light, fell in front of her face. She flipped the shoulder-length waves back over her shoulder. “Nice to see you awake for once, Talwyn. How does it feel to be sober?”
“I’ve built up enough reserve magic to take care of one thug,” she responded. She chose not to respond to Sybil’s question. “Do I have your visions to thank for moving things along, or did your little act get out of hand?”
Sybil winked. “I can neither confirm nor deny whether my actions were part of the plan or merely a stroke of genius.”
Sybil’s air magic made her a seer, lending her glimpses of the many possible outcomes in a yet unwritten future. Despite her words, she would have known if her drunken act would reveal their presence or move things along.
“And where were you?” Sybil pointed a roasted pigeon leg at Egan.
“In the shadows, as we all should have been,” Rainier chastised in a raspy voice.
Sybil’s twin, Rainier, could not be more unlike his sister, with broader shoulders and black hair roughly cut at his ears. Where Sybil was boisterous, Rainier was observant. Where Sybil acted on pure instinct, her brother made precise calculations before taking the first step. His gift was no different. Sybil’s magic allowed her to see another’s future like the branches of a tree all based on a single decision. Rainier’s allowed him to influence others with only his voice, his magic carried on the wind that gifted it to him, and his victim would do whatever he said as if they had come up with the idea on their own.
They had been an interesting addition to Talwyn’s little gang. It appeared the gods had gifted each power with a purpose. The impulsive one received the ability to see consequences, while the methodical one received the ability to make choices for others—they balanced each other out. They bickered more than anything, but their fierce loyalty to each other and the rest of the crew was invaluable.
“Then why did you join in with the act?” Sybil retorted. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoyed it.” She tore off a large chunk of meat and sat back in her seat.
“You gave me no choice. I had to make sure my cocksure sister didn’t draw the attention of every drunken fool in the establishment. You’d do well to remember that not everyone knows you can kill a man without blinking. We didn’t have the time nor the space to clean up your messes tonight—”
“Enough,” Carrick interrupted. His attention remained on a crowd growing at the entrance.
Talwyn withheld a groan. In full metal armor stood Daire, the captain of the palace guard, and Talwyn’s most annoying mistake. He carried his helmet under one arm and rested his free hand on the pommel of his sword. His eyes twinkled as he approached.
The captain was handsome enough. Growing up training with the king’s knights had sculpted his body into a muscular physique worthy of making even Sybil swoon. His thick, chestnut hair fell over his eyes, and his thin lips curled into a hungry smirk that grabbed Talwyn’s attention as a young teen.
They’d formed a friendship after he happened upon her at the royal stables, and years later it had turned into something more. She would study his pointed nose, his hard jawline, and get lost in his sky-blue eyes. But at some point, the confident teen had turned into a misguided young man. Instead of swapping stories, he criticized Tal for her actions, and the fantasy extinguished. When she ended their little fling, he had the nerve to be sad about it, which infuriated her.
Carrick rolled up the sleeves of his loose cotton shirt and faced the newcomer, his muscles on full display.
“Tal, you’re looking wonderful tonight.” Daire flashed what he believed was his champion smolder, and the twins groaned audibly while Egan did his best to dissolve into his seat.
Talwyn took another gulp of the warm ale and slammed the cup on the table. “Go away, Daire. I’m busy.” She sighed at the cup, refusing to meet his eyes.
He placed a hand on his metal chest plate, feigning hurt. “Am I that unwelcome? Have you forgotten our time together already, my love? I certainly haven’t.” He leaned into her ear and whispered, “I still dream of my name on your tongue, your gasps in my ear as I—”
