Page 59 of Silverbow
sixteen
Oryn
The girl blinked at the ceiling, her brow furrowed. In the next heartbeat, she scrambled up, pressing her back into the wall, her eyes darting wildly around the room. Recognition flickered as she took in his companions, but her look turned calculating as she eyed her belt knife sitting on the side table. Emerald eyes darted between him, the knife, and the door behind him.Great.
The room was crowded with all of them in it. Oryn could have done without Bade and Aiden hunched over the little table, but they had insisted. Seeing as they were the ones to retrieve her, and seeing Aiden took a wound for it, Oryn gave in. Colm leaned casually against the wall, his arms folded as he studied the girl. The stool Oryn sat atop beside the bed was too small for his broad frame, but it was better than being left to loom over her.
“I’m sorry we had to knock you out,” he offered.
“I’m not,” Bade growled.
Oryn hadn’t been terribly surprised to learn the horse lord’s daughter put up a fight, but it had been a surprise to see Bade marching up the street with her limp form thrown over his shoulder. Even more surprising was the split lip he was sporting. Aiden grinned despite the blood soaking his coat from a knife wound to his shoulder. He had scuffled with some of the men who had chased her through Trowbridge, providing a distraction for Bade’s retreat.
“Next time you want to adopt a stray, perhaps find one that doesn’tbite,“ he added.
The gold amongst the emerald in her eyes seemed to flash as they turned toward the other blademaster. “I will not bemanhandled,“ she hissed.
Oryn blinked at her, taken aback by the outrage strong enough to punch through in her scent. Most shrank before Bade Bandone’s granite gaze, but she showed nothing but unfiltered anger so palpable, it seemed to occupy space in the room.
For a girl on the run, she looked well enough. Her face was thinner and more haggard than when he’d last seen her. Dark circles under her eyes confirmed Colm’s notion that she hadn’t been sleeping and Bade hadn’t known how she’d come by the lash under her eye that was still oozing blood, the metallic tang of it filling the room. But all in all, for being alone on the road, he’d expected worse.
Mosphaera, thank the blessed gods, seemed to be settled. As soon as he’d neared enough to hear the strange hum he’d first heard at Ryerson House, his gifts had gone quiet, returning to their usual place deep in his chest.
Bade finally shifted his glare to Oryn. It was a look that demanded answers. The girl dropped her gaze to the things piled neatly on the bedside table: her belt knife, a stack of coins, two jars of lamp oil, flint and steel. Her hand flexed toward where the pocket of her cloak would be, but her eyes found it hanging on the peg behind Oryn.
“You’re bounty hunters,” she said, still staring at the cloak. That too caught him by surprise. Of little consequence Ryerson House might be, but it was well connected to ferret out what they had been about in Westforks.
“Very astute,” Aiden grinned.
A muscle in her jaw ticked. It was the only warning she gave before she dove for the belt knife. Oryn was faster, springing from the stool to snatch her wrist. She jerked against his hold, and he caught the other fist that swung toward his jaw. Bade chuckled darkly as she struggled against him.
“Let me go,” she hissed.
“It’s considered rather rude to stab people who are trying to help you.”
“Help me?” She seethed. “Is that what you call this?”
“Yes,” Oryn bit out as she swung a booted foot in his direction.Gods above.“If we wanted to turn you in, we’d have taken you straight to the outpost.”
She stilled, her gaze locked on his face. There was no flutter of her heart or pink creeping into her cheeks as there had been at Ryerson House. There was onlycold, murderous rage. Tentatively, unsure if she would relent, Oryn let go of one wrist. When she let the hand drop to her lap, he released the other. She backed away slowly, folding her knees into her chest as she shrank against the wall. “You turned out my pockets,” she accused.
“I did.”
Lines of confusion were etched into her brow. “And that’shelpingme?”
“It is,” Oryn answered without explanation. She carried nothing that would explain what Ralenet wanted with her, or more importantly, nothing that would land them in hot water if one of Davolier’s men demand they turn out their pockets.
“You had no right.”
“Actually,youhave no rights. Or hadn’t you noticed there is a bounty on your head?”
She opened her mouth to argue and then promptly closed it. Colm, ever the gentleman, crossed to the table and poured a cup of tea. He reached around Oryn to press it into her hands. She accepted the cup, but she eyed the contents warily. Oryn wondered if he would be dodging a teacup next.
“We wouldn’t poison you, Miss Ryerson,” Colm said.
Bade huffed a laugh as she reluctantly inched closer to where he perched on the stool to slide it onto the rickety side table. He supposed that was better than the alternative. Sighing, he picked up the cup and took a swallow. “It’s only tea.”
“Don’t your kind have superior healing or something? How do I know you aren’timmune?”
