Page 43 of The Sorcerer's Thief
“I take it you disagree?”
“I do, but arguing with you is like calling a deaf dog to come. Useless.”
Thinking too deeply about that will do neither of us any good, so I tell him some of what I know. “The coin is centuries old and possesses an ancient magic. Forged by a court blacksmith for a court jester long before our time. As such, it has its own sense of humor, its own sense of self, and its own agenda, but you knew that bit, didn’t you?”
“I suspected as much when it chose to protectme,a thief of all people.”
“You are just as worthy as anyone else.”More worthy.
“I think it wanted to be found. Maybe by me, maybe by anyone, as long as they wouldn’t keep it locked away in a black velvet box like the prince did. I heard its song even before I laid eyes on it.”
Hmm, that’s interesting. “The coin called to you as it does to me.”
“Yes.”
“I felt it manipulating you, drawing you to me like a moth to a flame. Likewise pushing me toward you.”
“And is that so bad?”
His reaction surprises me. “The coin is manipulating us. Of course that’s bad.”
“What if it isn’t? What if the coin is only amplifying what’s already there?”
I’m stunned to silence. That was an admission on his part. One I feel as well, but fear keeps me from voicing the truth aloud. But I have to say something. I can’t leave him hanging on a statement like that.
Words die in my throat.
Chapter 13
Cricket
Afew more days of travel bring us to the bustling merchant town of Willowood, where I’m both delighted to be almost home and on edge because there may be guildsmen around in a town this big and seedy. I’ve yet to strategize a plan to stop Julian from his goal of becoming a murderer.
We arrive midday, eager to find refreshment. With Slinger safe at the town’s stables, we take a lap of the main streets to get the lay of the land.
Willowood may not be as grand as Lemossin, but it’s as close as we’ll get to it this far south. The nice section isn’t quite as nice, and the seedy section is far, far seedier than anything I saw in the royal city.
Julian is wearing his false face again. Julian-like but all smoothed over and feminine. His hair is lighter and a bit shorter, and I don’t care for it at all.
I study him. “It’s very odd to look at you and not seeyou.”
He closes his eyes, sucks in a breath—rather dramatically, I might add— and puffs it out through his nose. When his lids flutter open, he’s back to being my Julian. “Better?”
I’m surprised he did that for me. “Yes, but…you don’t need the disguise?”
“It’s still there. You’re seeing through the mask.”
Wow. No need to keep it inside. “Wow.”
A pleased little chuckle escapes his lips, and I’m glad I said it out loud.
We pass an incubus brothel, and I wonder what the incubi are doing now that the queen has decried their freedom? The incubi who were being held as slaves and pets must be benefiting most from the new laws, whereas the ones in brothels were freer to begin with. But still, with no need to earn money, how has life changed?
As we stroll by, the air is perfumed with floral incense. Carvings of naked bodies contorting with one another line the deep entryway.
I’ve never been inside a brothel, and I’ve never met an incubus, though I saw one once. A beautiful purple creature, huge, with thick muscles, curling horns, and a long tail wound around the bars of his cage. He was paraded through town like an animal, staring from bright silver eyes at those who lined up to gawk at him.
Terrible business.
