Page 33 of Knightfall
“Be still.”
“What are you doing?”
“Just a moment … ah! There!” She yanked a piece of my hair triumphantly.
Unfortunately, that piece was still attached to my head. “Ow!”
Avia didn’t apologize. She laughed instead. “Quinn marked you.”
“What?”
Avia fingered a small bead knotted into my hair. She held it up in front of my face. “You didn’t research the spy master who was after you? The one you were supposed to marry?”
“What research was I supposed to do in a wheat field or tavern disguised as a commoner? It’s not exactly as if they’re publishing tomes on him,” I retorted, snatching my hair out of her hand and examining the bead. It was a small brown bead and blended perfectly. If Avia hadn’t found it in my tresses, I’m not sure I’d ever have noticed it. It could have passed for a small knot.
“You know Quinn’s mute,” she said.
“No. He’s arrogant. Too smug to talk to the townspeople. Rubs his air of mystery in their faces. Just expects them to know who he is,” I muttered, thinking back to the complaints at the whorehouse in Tera. They’d also complained he’d never spent any coin with them.
“He’s mute.”
“He’s not. I’ve heard him,” My eyes shot to hers.
“You what?”
“I heard him speak when we first arrived. He called me wife.”
“Are you sure this wasn’t in your hair then?”
“We’d just transformed, so I doubt it.” But I gnawed my lip. He’d fingered my hair. Had he placed it then?
“His power is thought transference. He can send his thoughts to you. And pick up on any thoughts you project loud enough,” Avia grins. “Its price is his voice. He just tries to put on a mysterious air.”
Her words caused my stomach to drop like a stone. A million images from the morning shuffled through my brain. The naughty thoughts. The dirty words. “That fat-kidneyed ass. He’s been putting dirty thoughts in my brain all day. I thought I was delirious.”
“Really?” Avia’s eyes glittered with mirth. “So, you pictured a naked Lady Agatha barking during tea?”
“All morning.”
She burst into laughter. “Ah! Of all your husbands, he’s my new favorite.”
I rolled my eyes. “Take him.”
“Oh no. I don’t want to deprive you.”
“Deprive me of what?”
“The joy of revenge.”
A slow, evil smile made its way across my face. There would most definitely be revenge. I’d make Quinn Byrne suffer more than any spy he’d taken to the dungeons below. I went to the bell-pull next to the bed and rang for a maid. When one appeared, I gave her a grin. “My sister and I will need wine and glasses. We have some planning to do.”
Avia hopped in place and clapped her hands. “I love when you turn into the evil villain.”
I shook my head and looped my arm over her shoulders. “Not the villain. The avenging angel.” I winked. “Now, let’s plan a man’s downfall.”
Chapter Ten
Three glasses of wine later, Avia held quite a list in her hand.
