Page 188 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
She can’t be!
Shorty had been living on Earth for more than a decade before he’d captured her. How she talked and carried herself was evidence enough. And she’d been living there with herfather. But the king hadn’t left the Spring Palace since—
Oh, he wouldn’t drudge up that memory.
Regardless, the king had been in Evereostre during Shorty’s life on Earth. Hadn’t he?
And he’d never have sent his firstborn through a portal with a chronopath to a different time and world. Without protection against the blood curse she’d inherit when he passed. The prospect was ludicrous. Simply ludicrous.
Still—
After an age, Pete cleared his tightening throat. “I take it you mean to collect that reward.”
“I’d rather collect the bounty Gentian’s offering for her.”
Of course, Gentian would outbid the Spring Palace for its princess. Its queen.
Still, this reassured Pete that Shorty and the princess were different people. Why would Gentian send him a private ordination to retrieve the princess—if Shorty were, in fact, her—only to later open the ordination to the rest of his harbingers before Pete’s job was done? Aye, Pete was dragging his feet delivering Shorty, but he was still well within an acceptable timeframe for ordination completion. So, they had to be two separate marks with two separate blood curses. Hadn’t they?
“How much is he offering for her?”
Dando’s fangs glistened. “An entire estate in Lithalaly. Five-hundred bloody acres, Pete, and a lordship atop it.”
Faith and begorrah!
Pete didn’t know how to react when Dando smacked him like a wayward brat and snatched back his broadsheet. “That’s why you can keep the zephyrist, McKenna. I’ve got bigger fish to fry. My party leaves for the Shadow Palace today to catch her regal scent. Rumor has it, the bogeybat what did in the king brought it back with him.”
Dando turned on his buckled heels and strutted from the tackle shop, leaving Pete a speechless wretch in sore need of whiskey.
Amy
Petelookedlikehe’drushed back to camp. His tan face had gone ruddy in patches, and his usual stride was more like storming. Panting, Sionna scampered right to the stream to wet her whistle, ignoring Kit, who splashed about, playing.
“We’ve already got the wagon packed and ready to go,” I allayed Pete as he passed me on his way to the wagon. “You didn’t need to hurry back.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, though his expression lost nothing of its tension. “Your dander was up again when I left. I thought I’d best return posthaste with your new garb.”
I arched a good-humored brow. “Thought you could buy my forgiveness, hm?”
The second corner of his mouth lifting with the first, Pete handed me a linen-wrapped package. “Can’t I?”
“Maybe.” Giggling, I ambled over and snatched the parcel from him, needing fresh, dry fabric against my skin after sweating the morning away in leather. “Thank you.”
Pete gestured toward the copse of palms I’d designated as my private quarters. “Go change. We’re wasting sunlight, aye?”
Grinning at Sedge, I skipped on my way.
I had to say, Pete’s choice of outfit for me—pretty damn perfect. The top was a dark-green leaflike material sewn into a mesh lining, forming a crop tank top—both comfortable and flattering. And the bottoms were heaven-sent. With the feel of absorbent cotton and the look of crepe wrinkle linen, they ballooned out from my drawstring waist into something resembling gaucho pants, cuffing my legs just above my knees. My boots didn’t exactly go with the ensemble, but they were the only shoes I had, and they hadn’t yet rubbed me the wrong way.
Delighting in the breeze against my bare parts, I gathered my other clothes and headed back to “the boys.”
They stood just where I’d left them, neither speaking. Sedge’s pallid brow creased as Pete tinkered in his satchel, stiff as Aunt Aylie being backtalked. Had they had a disagreement? Why did Sedge look mildly troubled?
“Well, they fit,” I broke their silence, dumping my old togs into my open bag in the wagon. “You did good,” I praised Pete.
Pete’s cocky smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Finally, I’ve earned some credit with you.”
Chuckling, I zipped my bag.
