Page 133 of Silverbow
She flashed him a warning look that was probably unnecessary. “Don’t make me reconsider.”
Oryn
Perhaps Enya did think mischief so close to Sun Day was sacrilege because she did little more than spend her coin and get rip roaring drunk on fire wine in one of Misthol’s open air markets. Oryn ground his teeth in the shadows of an alcove as he watched her dance between Aiden and Liam.
On Sun Day, with fire wine roaring through their blood, even the stuffiest of Estryians seemed to temporarily forget their stark ideas of propriety. They would invoke Solignis’s name to defend this dance intended only to generate heat and friction, as if it were needed in the sweltering heat. For a people who hardly held to the gods at all, they found a convenient scapegoat for their sins in the God of Fire.
Distantly, he wondered if Enya had ever seen a Sun Day celebration quite like this. This kind of debauchery was common in the cities, but it was difficult to picture against the backdrop of Westforks. He watched her stumble back into Aiden, the fire wielder catching her around the waist with a laugh, holding onto her for a heartbeat too long. Oryn watched his broad hand slide around her waist and thought he might crack a molar grinding his teeth.
“Easy,” Colm murmured next to him. He was doing a poor job of masking a smirk.A bloody smirk.
“Is something funny?” Oryn growled.
Colm lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, an unspoken question in his eyes.
Oryn turned his back to stop himself from doing something he would regret. “Keep her alive. I’m going back to the inn.”
Master Kimball had already turned over to lunch service by the time a bleary eyed Enya appeared in the dining room the next day, rubbing at her temples. Aiden had taken one look at Oryn and made himself scarce, but the haggard looking stable boy either lacked the awareness or didn’t care as he sank into the chair next to her. She winced when he dropped a spoon and sent it clattering against a platter.Good.
“Did you enjoy yourselves last night?” He asked coolly.
Enya only hummed and pinched the bridge of her nose, but a slight blush crept into Liam’s cheeks.
“Will we be doing any burning and pillaging today, or just more drinking and dancing?”
She took the first sips of her tea and groaned. “Today, I’ll be trying to get rid of this throbbing headache.”
“How long are we going to stay here, Ansel?”
She shrugged. “Until I say otherwise.”
“Why?”
She ignored him, closing her eyes as she inhaled the steam.
“Every moment we sit here is a risk. What are we waiting for, Ansel?”
“Maybe you should have asked Hylee.”
Colm studied the dregs of his tea as if he might find the future in them. He knew what it was she was up to, Oryn had no doubt, but he still hadn’t let on. Oryn reached into his coat pocket, sliding the neatly folded piece of parchment across the table to her in a strange kind of peace offering.
Enya went back to rubbing her temples. “What’s this? Another bounty?”
“Memorize it.”
With a frown, she picked it up. The boy peered over her shoulder as Enya read. “Who is Lara Fischer?”
“You are.”
She looked up at him across the table. “Where did you get this?”
“Does it matter?” He sighed. “It’s real, if that’s what you want to know. And she’s not likely to come looking for it.” Her eyes widened and she dropped the parchment, letting it flutter onto the table. “Gods above, Ansel, I didn’t kill her for it.”
“Did someone else?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did you get it?”
