Page 30 of Degradation

“Did she tell anyone else?”

Suspicion crept into his gaze.

“Why?”

“I need to know what tale to weave since we can’t very well tell her I snuck out dressed as a man, can we?” He watched me wash my face and frowned when I motioned for him to turn around.

“I won’t escape out the window, Liam. I simply wish to change before the others return.”

He stood and presented me with his back. I quickly shed his clothes and slipped into my own.

“Edmund was out looking for me,” I said as I laced my gown. “When did you return?”

“An hour before dusk.”

“That is unfortunate. I’m finished dressing.”

He turned around.

“Why unfortunate? Because you were discovered?”

“Of course.”

He tipped back his head and closed his eyes. “You’re going to drive us mad. I can see that already. Brandle will find a stone home and lock you in a room with no windows and no thatching.

I withheld my sigh and fought not to give in to my frustration. Even my mother, who loved Eloise and me very dearly, had never sought to restrict us. She’d guided us to make better choices, certainly, but she’d never kept us from doing as we wished. And that was what it felt like the men in my life were trying to do. I knew that wasn’t truly the case—they had no wish to confine me but only to keep me safe—however, in their minds, confinement meant safety, not a loss of freedom.

Rather than address that, I said, “Shall we wait for the others downstairs?”

Edmund was just entering the common area as I reached the landing at the top. I sensed the innkeeper at her work table.

“Did you find her?” she asked Edmund, not seeing me or Liam.

Edmund glanced at me, and I quickly shook my head.

“I checked the dress shops you mentioned, but none of them had seen her.”

“Perhaps your brothers will have better luck. Dinner will be ready shortly. She was very curious about Adele.”

Edmund sat next to Andrew, who also hadn’t yet noticed me.

If I simply descended the stairs, I doubted the innkeeper would believe any tale I might tell about slipping past her unnoticed twice. While I knew I could remove her memory of me coming down the stairs and replace it with something believable, I also knew none of the brothers would like that. So I decided to try something else. If I could move air and absorb the energy from water until it disappeared, could I not do the reverse?

I drew energy from my well, willing it to form water in the air. Mist gathered at my feet, and I quickly withdrew my energy. Filling the inn with fog was hardly an inconspicuous entrance. How else could I hide myself from her sight?

With a glance at the lit hearth, the candles casting light in the room, and the open door, an idea formed. Smiling, I created a wind that swept through the room. It extinguished the candles and made the fire sputter and spark dangerously.

Smoke roiled from the hearth, filling the room.

The innkeeper ran to stomp out the sparks that landed on the wood floors. Edmund rushed to help her. With their backs to us, I pulled Liam down the stairs with me and then pushed him toward the others as I slipped out the back door.

“That’s never happened before,” I heard the innkeeper say.

“Let’s hope it never happens again,” Liam said.

Coughing lightly, I walked in through the back door and waved a hand in front of me.

“Why is it so smokey?” I asked.

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