Page 6 of A Storm in Every Heart
The boy shrugs as if to say, “It is what it is,” and takes a step backward into the crowd.
“Wait!” I yell before I can stop myself.
The boy pauses, looking over his shoulder at me. I reach into my pocket and grab the brass key, and toss it at the boy. As if on instinct, he raises a hand into the air and catches it. His face twists in bewilderment.
“To cover the debt,” I explain. “I don’t like leaving things unfinished either.”
The boy’s black eyes meet mine, but then the crowd shifts, swallowing him up as the soldiers keep shoving people out of their way. I stare at the place where the boy disappeared, a sense of satisfaction washing over me. We might never see that boy again, but my father promised the key leads to treasure…and it’s not as if it’ll do me much good now that I’m leaving Hydratta.
Daemon turns to me, looking baffled. “What the hell was that about?”
I press my lips together, looking from the king’s soldiers to where the boy disappeared. Finally, I glance at theHMS Kastian Stormbreakerbobbing in the harbor. “I think that might have been someone who prefers to be underestimated.”
ODESSA, PRESENT
“Fifty gold coins.”
“Absolutely not!” I scoff. “It’s hardly worth five.”
“Fifty,” the shopkeeper repeats, “or I’m not selling.”
I let out a whine of frustration and have to resist the urge to stomp my foot.
I’m standing in front of a lengthy wooden counter in the middle of a cluttered shop. The shop itself is cozy and packed to the brim with an eclectic array of treasures. Shelves upon shelves groan under the weight of timeless antiques, vibrant fabrics, and tarnished jewelry. Sunlight streams through the grimy shop windows, casting a warm glow that dances through the motes of dust suspended in the air.
In contrast with the warm atmosphere, the shopkeeper seems carved from ice.
The austere Fae male stands on the opposite side of the counter, glowering at me. Just above his head, a miniature shipinside a green glass bottle sits upon a shelf, tantalizingly out of reach. It’s barely worth five gold on its best day, but to me it’s nearly priceless.
“Ten gold,” I offer almost desperately. “That’s twice what anyone else will pay.”
The shopkeeper looks down his long nose at me, his expression apathetic. “Don’t act as if you don’t have hundreds of gold spilling from beneath every cushion in that mansion you live in. It’s fifty, or no deal.”
“Oh, I see what’s going on,” I bite back a humorless laugh. “You know the ship isn’t worth anything close to fifty gold, but you think you know who I am and you’re trying to extort me.”
“Sorry.” He gives me an unapologetic smirk. “It’s not every day I have the king’s sister in my shop. May as well try to recoup some of the useless taxes I’ve been paying all these years.”
He turns away, dismissing me, and I sigh, leaning against the counter in defeat. Part of me wants to argue with him—to point out that he’s mistaken. The taxes he’s referring to were imposed by the previous King of Vernallis and have nothing to do with my brother—but I know better than to waste my breath.
It’s been just over a year since Daemon and his soon-to-be-wife, Alix, ended the curse on Vernallis and ascended to the throne. Since then, they’ve become popular rulers. They haven’t charged the citizens a single cent. More importantly, they’ve been working non-stop for months to help the kingdom recover from the century-long curse inflicted by the last king.
Unfortunately, you can’t ever please everyone. Some Fae—especially the older ones—are still wary of the new court. This shopkeeper is obviously one of those who dislike royalty on principle. I should probably take that as a sign to give up on the model ship and leave, but I can’t.
“What’s so important about a ship in a bottle anyway?” the shopkeeper asks, still with his back to me.
“I like to collect things from the human realm,” I answer shortly.
There’s far more to it than that, but I don’t need to tell the shopkeeper that the ship looks just like the one I grew up on, or that I’ve always had a weakness for beautiful things and I like the way the green glass glitters in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the shop window.
I reach into my pocket and extract a collection of treasures. There’s a thimble, three shiny stones, a piece of blue glass that caught my eye shimmering on the road just outside this shop, and five…ten…fifteen gold coins. I pick out the coins one by one, then return the rest of the items to my pocket. “Fine, fifteen gold. That’s literally all I have at the moment, and three times what it’s worth.”
The shopkeeper sneers. “Are you still here? Run along and come back with more money or don’t come back at all.”
Alright, that’s it.
My eyes narrow, and my famously quick temper sparks. Perhaps I should feel guilty about what I’m about to do, but I don’t. Here on land, and with no ill intentions, it’s a harmless trick. Anyway, the shopkeeper tried to scam me first, and all is fair in love and shopping.
I plaster on a smile, smooth out my dress, and lean over the counter, letting my long hair drape over my shoulder. “Listen,” I begin, infusing my tone with a persuasive lilt.
