Page 54 of Star Bringer
“Nothing to do with us.”
I glance around. On the corner of the street is a food vendor selling the local spicy buns. I buy a couple and hold one in front of her face. Maybe if her mouth is full she’ll stop asking so many questions.
She scoffs. “I know what you’re doing.” But she’s leaning toward it, breathing in the warm, yeasty smell.
“Is it working?”
She doesn’t answer, but her stomach rumbles—which is an answer all in itself. Then she reaches out from beneath the robe and snatches the bun out of my hand.
It disappears beneath the hood, and seconds later, her hand reemerges, empty. Amazing—she had to have eaten it in record time.
I take a more leisurely bite of the other bun—I’m hungry as well, but unlike the princess, I’m used to it—and start walking. She falls in behind me.
“Why don’t you just leave me here?” she says. “You obviously don’t like me—wouldn’t you like to get rid of me? And if the security forces are on their way, I can just hand myself over.”
Not for the first time, I think about it. She really does seem insistent that her mom would take care of us, but my gut is saying the Empress can’t be trusted. Once we’ve got Milla and can make ourselves scarce, then sure. But now? Not a chance.
Not that I plan on telling her any of that. Instead, I change the subject. “Who blew up theCaelestis?” I ask.
“What? How would I know?” She sounds confused and more than a little offended.
I don’t answer. There’s a garment shop on the corner, and I enter with Kali close behind me. “Later,” I tell her. “Pick some clothes. And be quick.”
“We have enough for me to get something, too?” There’s surprise in her tone.
“You didn’t think I was going to leave you in that dirty robe, did you?”
It’s her turn to evade the question, which means she did. I’m not sure if I should be insulted or pat myself on the back. She obviously thinks I’m as big an asshole as I wanted her to.
“Just pick something out before I change my mind.” I walk toward the back of the store, where they keep the boots.
“Are you always this bossy?” she demands, following me.
“Yes. Are you always this slow-moving?”
She growls a little at me, which makes me grin for no reason I can understand. Then she moves to the center of the store and turns around in a full circle. The shopkeeper is watching, of course, but Kali clearly isn’t the first questionable character to do questionable things in her store. From her bored expression, she’s probably not even the first one today.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here,” the princess says in a whisper.
“Choose what you want, pay for it, leave. What’s the problem?”
“I’ve never done that before.”
I wonder for a second how she got all the fancy clothes I have no doubt that she wears. Then decide I don’t want to know because it’s probably too infuriating. “Just pick something.”
She sighs. “It’s all so…dull.”
“You’re not going to a goddamn ball. It doesn’t have to be shiny,” I growl, annoyed because now the shop assistant is looking atme.
I get the impression she would like us to leave but is put off from suggesting it by the laser pistol at my waist. I head on over. “Do you have anything with a little more…color?” I ask her.
“Not purple,” Kali adds.
The shop assistant’s eyes widen.
“I don’t think that will be an issue,” I tell Kali in a what-the-fuck voice. “Only the Ruling Families wear purple.”
I get out a wad of planetas and wave it at the assistant, hoping it will make her forget Kali’s faux pas.
