Page 104 of A Yulean Sister’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped

The inn was even quieter now, the lutist long gone and only a few straggling patrons left.

One of them looked a bit older, making me think about what the barmaid said. He had a black fisherman’s cap on and a raincoat, probably some kind of dock worker or fishmonger. His beard was long and gray, and his skin was tanned and wrinkled.

I went and sat next to him, ordering myself a drink and asking for a refill of his.

“Thanks,” he said, taking the glass without question.

“It’s no worries, I like helping people out.”

He nodded. “So, what do you want from me?”

“Who said I wanted anything?”

He side-eyed me under his fisherman’s cap, his bushy gray brows following. “I’ve been alive long enough to know nothing is free.”

“Fair enough,” I adjusted in the bar stool. I didn’t prefer sitting in chairs, they were never the right size, but I made it work. “I’m looking for Maralda. Do you know how to find her?”

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, kid.”

I hadn’t been called ‘kid’ since Tungesten was alive. “I just need her help.”

Something in my gaze, maybe my sheer desperation, had him shaking his head. “You want to go out the south exit of town. Travel that way for a while until you reach a fork in the path. Turn right. Once you’ve gone… a few miles, they’ll be a purple bush.”

“Purple bush?”

He huffed. “Do you want my directions, or not?”

“Sorry.”

“Make a left there. That’s where the path ends. From there there’s nothing to follow but the bushes. Keep going and eventually you’ll find her.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” he confirmed. “Just don’t get yourself lost. I don’t want that guilt on my conscience.”

“We won’t.”

He grumbled. “I want another,” he said, tapping his tankard on the counter.

I paid for that too before slipping back upstairs, leaving my drink all but untouched.

The directions ran through my mind, committing to memory.

South exit, fork in the road, purple bushes.

It sounded easy enough, too easy. Almost as if I was being tricked. But what other choice did I have?

When I got back to the room, Sage was dead asleep still.

I crawled in next to her, wrapping my tail around her and tucking her against my shoulder.

It was going well so far, I just needed it to keep happening.

Chapter 35

Sage

“How long will this take?” I asked Adrian, who was buttoning up his tunic, both of us preparing to leave at the early hour.