Page 21 of A Storm in Every Heart
I frown, trying to think back to all those cold, miserable years in Dyaspora. I remember the wailing coming from the ocean late at night, and I knew there were men who walked into the waterand never came back, but honestly, I wasn’t all that surprised. It never occurred to me that they were compelled by anything other than their own misery.
“I suppose I never really noticed,” I say finally.
“Really?” He furrows his brow. “I assumed it just didn’t work on you. It doesn’t work on me either.”
“Why not?”
Daemon narrows his eyes, still looking amused. “Why are you suddenly so interested in this?”
“I was just surprised. I’ve never seen her do anything like that before.”
“She’s never liked using it. There must have been something she really wanted from that shopkeeper.”
I stiffen. Well, now I won’t be able to stop thinking about it until I know what she wanted.
I get to my feet before I know what I’m doing. “Can you wait a second? I’m just going to go…”
I trail off, not waiting for Daemon to answer as I stride across the pub toward the shopkeeper. He sees me coming, but there’s no spark of recognition in his face. “Can I help you?”
“You’re the shopkeeper from next door.”
“And what of it?” he asks snidely.
I clench my jaw. I guess I should just be grateful his brain isn’t coming out of his ears, but I still have to restrain myself from reaching out and teaching him some manners. “There was a woman in your shop earlier. Red hair…unusually beautiful?”
His eyes spark in recognition, and his lip curls. “Yes, the king’s sister.” He glances behind me, and his eyes lock on Daemon before he looks back at me. “You’re one of them too?”
I don’t know exactly what he means, but it doesn’t matter. “Yes,” I say roughly. “What did you talk to the woman about?”
“Why?” he drawls.
My jaw clenches even tighter. “Watch your tone.”
He sneers. “No, I don’t think?—”
Before I know what I’m doing, I slam a palm down hard on the bar beside him. The man jumps, and I lean so close I can smell his breath and see his eyes dilate in fear. “Listen, I don’t want trouble. Or, more like you don’t want trouble with me. Understand?”
He nods rapidly. “Understood.”
“Just tell me what you talked to the king’s sister about. What did she want?”
“A ship in a bottle,” he says quickly.
My eyes narrow. “Was there anything special about it?”
He shakes his head. “No, it was practically worthless.”
What the fuck? Why would Odessa want that enough to use her siren powers on this man? There must be something special about the ship that the shopkeeper didn’t notice.
I reach into my pocket and extract a handful of gold and count out five coins, passing them to the man across the counter. “I could just demand that you give me the ship, but this is for your delivery fee.”
“I don’t deliver,” he says in a quaking voice.
“You do now. Go back to your shop, get the ship, and bring it to me. It shouldn’t take you more than ten minutes. If you’re late, I’ll come over there myself…and you don’t want that.”
He scowls, but doesn’t seem willing to gamble on whether I would actually hurt him. He just nods and walks out of the pub, my gold clutched in his shaking hand.
“Do I want to know what that was about?” Daemon asks when I return to the bar.
