Page 143 of Ruthless Scoundrel
Tall buildings of plaster, wood, and brick line the large main road into the city. Ox-drawn carts full of harvest produce move through the thoroughfare into side streets, and people hurry about their evening errands. It’s warmer here than out in the forest, but it also reeks. The smell of human waste isn’t as bad as in Alvara, but it’s not pleasant.
“Princess,” one woman says, bowing her head as she walks by.
Reina’s grip on my hand tightens. “Where do we go now?”
“Where can we meet your rebels?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to the Underbelly.”
Her skin is pulsing blue and her pupils are tiny pinpricks. Ask her to face down a sha’kara, an eksteinvas, or even an evilshadow apparition and she’s perfectly at ease, but navigate a foreign city full of people who all know her face—dread.
“Let’s find a tavern to get a decent meal, a bed for us, and stables for Winifred. Then we’ll strategize, all right?”
She nods vigorously. “Yes, good idea.”
We walk the main road for a while, but all that’s here is gambling establishments and brothels. Not a place appropriate for my love. At a particularly wide alley, I turn right, the scents of roasted food leading me. Roasted food means a tavern.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Reina asks hopefully.
“Yes,” I say with much more confidence than I feel. I know I’m following the smell of food, but not much else.
A moment later we arrive at the Cherry Kiss. It’s a nice enough looking establishment—but it has one of the black-clad guards standing at the door.
“Princess Reina,” the guard says, dipping her head.
“Not this one,” Reina says, and I agree.
I hold her hand tighter as I turn us away, only to come face to face with the most vicious-looking woman I’ve ever seen. Her left eye is a gaping hole filled with swirling teal magic and a long scar runs from her eyebrow to her cheek. Blood-red hair is braided over one shoulder, and she wears a similar black getup as the rest of the guards.
Reina gasps and draws back.
I put myself in front of her and brandish my pistol.
The woman pouts in a fake, overly dramatic way. “Is that how you greet your eldest sister?”
Chapter forty-four
Reina
Eldest.
Sister?
I peek around Jasper at the terrifying woman. “Belle?”
“It’s Scarlett now.” She grins and opens her arms to reveal she has no weapons. “Scarlett the Bloodletter, Spider Queen of the Underbelly, and a Princess of Ruin.”
My brain stops working.
“But…” Apparently my mouth hasn’t stopped working. “Where have you been?”
She chuckles. “I was hiding, biding my time until I could come rescue you.”
“Rescue me?” I ask with much more incredulity than I intended. The brain is still not joining the party.
“Notjustyou, little sunflower. All the Princesses of Ruin.”
“You keep saying that,” Jasper says. “What do you mean?”
