Page 50 of The Demon's Delight
“Are you going to spendallthe coin you traded those spoons for?” she teased as I stopped at yet another food stall, this time retrieving us some kind of meat skewer with roasted potatoes sliced in fancy spirals around the stick. We’d had stewed fowl and root vegetables in a bread bowl, fruit covered in a crunchy sugar shell, and I’d enjoyed a couple of tankards of local ale. I was beginning to feel very spoiled, given most of our journey so far.
“Not hardly.” The jeweler had been more than happy to buy the pieces, and my pockets were heavier than they had any right to be from our exchange. “Besides, the spoons were yours, Moonflower. What I traded them for belongs to you. Would you like to carry the coin? I should have offered straightaway.”
She finished her food and, with a shake of her head, tossed the thin stick into a nearby trash bin. “No. I don’t want it.”
“But—”
“I took the spoons and the jewelry for just this reason, so I would have money to travel on. So I could get back home. Spend the coin however you like, I’m just glad it didn’t stay in that horrible house or benefit those men. If there’s some left when we get back to Ravenglen, we can talk about it, but I don’t care. It’s not mine, even if it is part of what was owed to me for the time I was there.” Her somber expression left me regretting I’d even mentioned it as we wandered slowly past a few tables. “Come on.” She tugged at me this time, and I followed her willingly.
“Cosmetics?” I asked as she turned over a small tin of rouge in her hand.
“Can I help you, miss?” The heavily painted woman batted her eyes at me, though she addressed Hailon.
“Yes, I’m looking for some nail lacquer.”
“Ah! Yes, of course. We have these.” The woman displayed several tiny pots, the pigments all in reds and pinks.
“Anything darker?” she asked, subtly glancing at me.
“Darker?”
“Yes, like purple or black?”
The woman pulled a face. “No, we don’t carry such colors. No demand for them.” She turned a judgmental eye on Hailon, and when she looked back at me, I gave her a smile that included my teeth. She flinched.
“Shame. I’d have liked to get myself fixed up.” I wiggled my fingertips at her, the black now nearly all chipped away.
Her mouth dropped open, and she started to babble something apologetic, but Hailon was already halfway to another table.
“She was rude,” Hailon sighed as I jogged up to her side.
I was beaming. Hailon had just tried to do something nice for me. It hadn’t worked out, but I didn’t care, the intent was there, and I was awed by the gesture. In fact, I wasn’t sure anyone had taken any interest in how I kept my nails at all before now. The behavior of the stall woman had barely made an impression on me because of that, but I could see it had bothered Hailon.
“Would you like me to take care of her?” I asked, already reaching for my blades.
“What? No! Why would you think I wanted that?” She covered my hands with hers, glancing nervously over her shoulder to see if anyone else had noticed my threat.
I shrugged. “She offended you.”
“Seir.” This time I was the cause of her deep sigh. “People are rude sometimes. There’s no need to threaten someone’s life because they were more interested in impressing you than being polite. There’s a time and place for everything.”
“Impressing me?”
She stopped walking, mouth partly open as she stared at me, incredulous. “Are you being serious?”
I shrugged. “People do that eyelash batting thing to help sell whatever it is they’re peddling. Doesn’t mean I’ll buy it.”
“She definitely wasn’t just trying to get you to buy herrouge, demon.” Hailon huffed a little laugh.
“Oh, I’m well aware of that, Moonflower.” I winked at her and her cheeks colored, which made it all that much more entertaining. “But I’m here withyou. I’m not buying anything she’s selling, now am I?”
The red color spread to her ears. “Do you threaten everyone who flirts with you?”
“Only the ones who do it in a way that displeases you. Though… perhaps it should be anyone who does it in front of you? Or at all? It’s quite disrespectful.”
“Should I feel murderous toward anyone who looks at you the way she was?”
I brightened, a light fizzy sensation careening through my veins. “Do you?”
