Page 22 of The Uncrowned Prince

Somehow they’d frozen there, huddled so close beneath the counter’s concealing shadows that he could hear her breathing. See the slight flare of her nostrils. Feel the softness of her lips beneath his finger and wonder how quickly she would slip that knife between his ribs if he closed those last few inches and kissed her…

What the devil was wrong with him? Why was he imagining kissing someone who had more blades than the average castle armory and was more prickly than an offended cat?

“I… uh…” And what on earth was wrong with his mouth? Inspiration might desert him, but his wits never had.

“You are very fortunate,” Karreya said, her voice low and hard as flint, “that you are not dead. But you are also very foolish. Interfere with me again and I will not hesitate to leave you bleeding in the street.”

His hand dropped. He was foolish indeed, but he had also not been entirely wrong.

“I apologize for touching you without permission,” he said quietly. “I know you don’t like needing my help, and I have no doubt that you are perfectly capable of handling whatever situation arises. But I was genuinely only trying to keep you safe. You are faster and more deadly than I am, but there are times and places where I will be able to prevent the need for fighting, simply because I know this place and these people better than you. Please allow for the possibility that we can accomplish more if we actually worktogetherinstead of remaining at odds.”

He’d surprised her. Those golden eyes blinked, the dagger disappeared into its sheath, and she settled back onto her heels to regard him with a crease between her brows.

“Please,” he repeated softly. “I don’t want to have to watch them drag you away. Nor do I want you to be forced to take any lives to defend yourself. Not unless it is absolutely necessary.”

Her expression did not change, but those eyes betrayed her again. Clear and earnest, they fastened on his face with almost alarming intensity.

“Your concern is strange,” she said slowly. “I have not been trained to consider others as a part of my decisions. Only to achieve my goals and survive when possible. However…” Her tension eased as she seemed to reach a conclusion. “I can see the wisdom in what you say. And I apologize for failing to heed you. In this place, you are the master, and I have much to learn.”

One of her knees hit the dirt and her chin dropped. Waiting for him to… what? Berate her?

What sort of life had she lived, that she expected punishment as the result of a mere disagreement?

“I’m not angry, Karreya.” Vaniell allowed himself to linger over the feeling of her name on his lips, hoping to disguise his unease at her response. “In fact, most days I rather enjoy a spirited disagreement, so long as it does not involve weapons, blood, or paperwork.”

Karreya raised her head, tilted it to one side and regarded him with a sort of puzzled fascination. “You are very strange, Abreian. But if your strangeness can help me find my father, then I will acknowledge it as wisdom.”

Wise he was certainly not. Wisdom would never have embarked on this perilous course in the first place. Wisdom would have bent her head and submitted to the tyrant who held every life Vaniell cared about in his hands. And she would not now be flailing about aimlessly in a foreign kingdom, hoping for clues to something so elusive, it might as well not exist.

“As a font of wisdom, I will likely disappoint you,” he said, hiding his own pain behind a self-mocking grin. “Let us both hope I prove more adept at aiding you in your quest than I have at choosing my own course.”

Rising to a crouch, he glanced at the back of the booth and decided those odds were better. “We’ll leave through the back door. I don’t want anyone associating us with this ‘Senaya’ until we’ve had a chance to meet her. Are you ready?”

Karreya’s gaze was coolly assessing, but she nodded, and followed him soundlessly as they slipped out into the narrow alleyway that ran between the backs of two rows of market stalls. No one was in sight, but even on a busy day, merchants and their apprentices would be using this path to resupply their stock, so they must not linger.

It was a quick jog down the cluttered aisle to the end of the row. No words were exchanged as they darted out to blend with the crowd, made their way towards the edge of the market square, then out and into the less congested city streets. They were three blocks south before Vaniell could take an easy breath again, though he continued to keep a wary eye out for guard patrols.

“Perhaps we need to find you different clothing,” he suggested. “The more we can conceal what you are, the smaller the chance you’ll be stopped by the guards at every turn.”

“How is my clothing a problem?” Karreya gazed down at herself with evident puzzlement. “This is an approximation of accepted Abreian style, is it not?”

Yes, but also no.

“You can dress a storm cat like a sheep, but no one will make the mistake of expecting it to eat grass.”

“I beg your pardon?”

How to explain in a way that wouldn’t get him stabbed?

“You stand out,” he said simply. “Not only because you hesitate over everyday situations, but because you are both beautiful and clearly dangerous. Each of those things alone is bound to attract some measure of attention, but when you put them together…”

She was impossible to look away from.

To his astonishment, Karreya turned unmistakably pink. “I do not… No one has ever… That is…” She could not seem to finish the sentence, and her gaze appeared to be roaming everywhere except his face.

He hadn’t even intended it specifically as a compliment, but as a simple statement of fact. And as he contemplated her evident embarrassment, Vaniell began to wonder whether anyone had ever complimented her before. How was it possible that no one had told her she was beautiful?

It took a few moments for her to regain her equilibrium enough to respond in a more normal tone. “I will change my clothing if I must,” she said. “Within limits. I will not wear anything that prevents me from running or climbing, nor will I lay aside all of my weapons.”

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