Rowan placed his hand on my chest. Right over my protection stone. “If that were true, your little trinket would send me flying backward on my ass. Besides.” He dropped his hand. “Killing you wouldn’t be fun at all. I’d miss that mouth too much.”
Before I could spout off a response, I heard… something. It came from deeper in the forest.
“Is that music?”
“Come with me and find out.” Rowan’s hand slipped into mine. “Unless you’re too scared.”
“Me? Scared?” I huffed and struck my best tough guy pose. His lips twitched. “You must not have heard of my courageous exploits in the forests of Bremloc where I faced off with a bloodthirsty thorn bush and lived to tell the tale. I’m sure bards are singing about my bravery as we speak. Evan the Brave, they call me.”
“Okay, Evan the Brave. If we see a thorn bush, I’ll give you the honor of fighting it off.” Rowan tugged me along with him as he stepped toward the direction of the distant music. “In the meantime, try not to trip over your own two feet.”
Letting him lead me away from town and into the dark forestprobablywasn’t smart. But my gut told me I could trust him, and it hadn’t led me astray yet. The dense foliage, especially at night, unsettled me, but it didn’t seem as scary with his hand in mine.
Light appeared ahead of us through the trees, and the music grew louder. The steady beating of a drum, along with flutes and a fiddle. Voices mingled together, growing in intensity the farther we strolled. Something amazingly delicious tickled my nose too. Food?
Reaching the tree line, we stepped out onto a cobblestone street filled with people. There were food stands, games, and music. The drastic change from dense forest to a bustling celebration was jarring and took me a moment to process.
People danced to the music while others sat in a small courtyard, drinking from large tankards and eating meat and vegetable skewers. Some strolled along the street, shopping and taking in the sights. The crowd consisted of men, women, children, and demi-humans. Colorful paper lanterns hung from tree branches and decorated the roofs of nearby stalls that offered food and goods. Merchants displayed wares such as coin purses, hair ornaments, jewelry, and flower crowns.
“A festival?” I turned to Rowan.
He smiled. “Can’t get a thing past you, can I?”
I swatted his arm. “Smart-ass.”
“So feisty.” He tugged me closer. “If you’re not careful, I’ll drag you back into those woods.”
“You don’t scare me.”
His impish expression faltered as a genuine smile took its place. “Glad to hear it.”
He didn’t want me to be afraid of him.
“So.” I touched one of the hanging lanterns. It reminded me of the ones from the Festival of Lights that we’d madewishes on and sent floating up into the air. “What’s this festival celebrating?”
“Damn if I know.” Rowan shrugged. “I heard about it earlier when we got here. All that matters is there’s food and rum.”
I laughed. “Are you sure you’re not a pirate?”
His brow arched. “Who said I wasn’t?”
“Ah, okay. So, you’re an adventurer with badass shadow magic who pickpockets his way across the world and who plunders villages for every drop of rum in his spare time? You’re quite the man of many trades.”
When Rowan laughed, there was a plinkin my chest. He led me farther away from the trees and along the path. His hood was still up, and I reached over to lower it.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I wanted to see your face.” I took in the sight of him, now hood-free.
“My ugly face, according to your knights.”
“You heard Duke?” When I tried to link our fingers, Rowan prevented me from doing so. Hand holding was fine, but only loosely, I guess. Noted. “He doesn’t mean anything by it. He calls everyone ugly. Even the one person he loves.”
“Baden.”
“Wow,” I said, impressed. “You’re perceptive.”
“Comes with the line of work.” He trailed his gaze among the festival. “Sometimes your eyes and ears are your best weapon.”
