Page 41 of Path of the Dark
Grinning, the merchant picked up the dice and cast them once more with a flick of his wrist. “Thirty-six!” he said, victory gleaming in his eyes. “I suppose that means I win?”
Frustration exploded within Ryana, and her fingers curled around the table edge. She glanced down at the chalk board, her mouth thinning. Of course it did. The oily prick had only needed twenty-five points to win anyway.
The merchant reached out a blunt-fingered hand and swiped the coins from the table. He was still grinning, a sight which made Ryana grind her teeth together. “It’s been a pleasure, lass.”
He rose to his feet and moved away toward the counter to fetch himself another tankard. Ryana cursed under her breath and glared down at the six dice scattered across the table. Her purse was now empty. She’d have to sing for coin if she wanted any more tavern meals or tankards of ale this month.
Ryana ran a hand down over her face. She wasn’t sure why she did this to herself. Her restiveness only got worse when she ran out of coin. It seemed as if the only thing that brought her pleasure these days, besides spending far too many hours inThe Black Boar, was her training sessions with Ninia. And even those didn’t take the edge off for long.
Having an empty purse just made her life feel more restrictive.
She was staring down into her half-empty tankard, inwardly berating herself for gambling her meager resources away, when someone took a seat opposite her.
All the booths were taken this evening. Ryana had managed to get herself a small corner table instead. She didn’t intend to share it.
“This table’s occupied,” she growled, glancing up.
Elias met her eye, the corners of his mouth lifting. “Usually drink alone, do you?”
For a few moments Ryana merely stared at him. After everything that had happened between them, he was the last person she’d expected to see inThe Black Boartonight. He was also the last person shewantedto see, and yet her heart leaped at the sight of him.
When she finally spoke, her voice was unnaturally high-pitched. “What are you doing here?”
“For the same reason as you, I assume,” he replied smoothly, raising a tankard filled to the brim with frothy ale. His tone was relaxed although the gleam in his eyes told her otherwise.
Tension shivered between them.
Ryana swallowed hard, panic fluttering up. It suddenly felt overly hot and airless inside the common room. “I doubt it.”
She’d come to the inn to distract herself for a few hours, to distance herself from her thoughts, but Elias had the look of a man with an intent purpose.
He gave a soft laugh, his gaze dropping to the dice. “How about a game?”
“I’ve no more coin.” The admission made heat rise to her face.
He cast her an amused look. “No wonder that man who just left your table wore a smug expression.”
“Yes, well you can do the same.”
However, Elias didn’t move. Shadows take him, he looked even better than she remembered. A day’s stubble shadowed his jaw. His black silk shirt and leather breeches molded to his tall, muscular body.
A body that had been crushed against hers just two nights previous.
Ryana’s fingers tightened around her tankard. She didn’t want to think about that—not now. And yet the frustration that seethed within her, told a different story.
Elias was all she’d been able to think about since that night. How she cursed him for it.
Steeling herself, she met his gaze once more. He still wore that lazy, amused expression, although his dark eyes were riveted upon her, intense and searing.
“I suppose it’s just as well we ran into each other again,” she murmured, feigning casualness. “I wanted to apologize for the way I broke the news about your brother. I should have said something earlier.”
His gaze narrowed. “Aye … you should have.”
Ryana took a sip from her tankard. “I’ve heard about how things work in Anthor,” she continued. “Do I now owe you some kind of blood debt?”
He huffed a laugh. “We’re not savages, Ryana. Blood debts are part of the old ways.”
“You don’t want reckoning for Saul?”
