Page 10 of A Court Bright and Broken

Just thinking about letting it go, my heart contracted in a painful squeeze. The locket was all I had left of my mother. Butdesperate people did desperate things, and our situation was truly desperate.

The market thieves were desperate, too, no doubt. If they hadn’t been beating the tall man so mercilessly, I would probably have ignored them.

But as much as I’d wanted the annoying stranger to stop following me earlier, when I’d seen him being pummeled, I’d known I had to do something.

He deserved at least that much for trying to warn me against the thieves.

Now he lay in a filthy heap at my feet, his face covered in a mixture of blood and spittle from the men’s mouths, his hair matted with mud.

He was alive though. I had a feeling if I hadn’t acted when I did, he wouldn’t be.

For a moment, I’d worried I was too late. Then his eyes had finally opened. They were moving around slowly as he seemed to be attempting to get his bearings.

No doubt he was muddled in the head, if not completely nonsensical. I squatted beside him, and those hazy eyes focused on mine. I sucked in a sharp breath.

Though surrounded by a ring of muck and already beginning to bruise, they were surprisingly beautiful, a shade of blue so pale they were almost like ice. Of course I’d seen his eyes earlier, but I was so intent on getting away from him I hadn’t taken time to look him square in the face and take in their unique nature.

He reached up with a grimy hand and touched my cheek.

“Are you… an angel?” he asked in a gruff voice.

Despite his piteous appearance and the damaged sound of his voice, I giggled. No one had ever asked me such a silly question before.

“No, I'm Raewyn,” I said. “And this is not the hereafter. You’re in the market. You were beaten by the men you warned me about.”

He was quiet for another moment before pushing slowly to a sitting position and looking around.

“Where are they?”

“Your attackers? They have run away,” I informed him.

“Why?”

“Because I threatened them.”

He didn't respond, just eased to his feet with a grunt of effort and pain. Then his eyes came back to me, roaming over me so thoroughly I felt my cheeks and neck heat.

“Youthreatened them?”

I nodded. “Yes. With a torch. As they were all thoroughly covered in fish grease, an open flame was not something they wanted to encounter.”

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“How did you know it would work?” he asked. “That they'd run?”

“I didn't know, but what else could I do? There were four of them, and they were murdering you.”

“Why would you even care?” he asked.

“Well of course I cared,” I said. “Any decent person would care if they saw a man being murdered in the street. Besides, I suspect the reason they attacked you was because you intervened and protected me earlier. What kind of a coward would I be if I just turned a blind eye when you were the one in trouble?”

“Happens all the time,” he said in a bitter tone. Then he added, “Thank you. Truly. I think you saved my life.”

After a pause, he asked, “What did you say your name was again?”

“Raewyn.”

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