Page 38 of Dishonor Among Thieves
“Oh, thank the gods.” Odile rubbed her face and sighed. “I had the strangest nightmares last night. No doubt in part because we have a dying goblin in the sitting room, but still. I am truly relieved. I’ll look in on him before breakfast.”
She wished Flynn a good morning and headed into the sitting room, closing the door tightly behind her.
“A…a…goblin.Dying.In the…sitting room…” Flynn looked as though a frog had leapt into his hand and begged for a kiss. The color drained from his face, and he tilted to one side like he might tip over.
I rushed to his side and offered him my arm. “Doesn’t Flynn know about goblins?”
“He assists with much of the work we do, but some things we haven’t dared share with him,” Gia explained. She propped up Flynn’s other side, shaking her head. “Until now, I suppose.”
“The boy has a point,” Rain said thoughtfully. He curled his hand into a fist and tapped his knuckles against his lips. “Perhaps Syndrian can be of assistance. We can take the dagger to him. Ask about its manufacture, finishing. Anything an expert cutler can identify might lead us closer to answers.”
“We need information we don’t already have,” Neo insisted. “This is a goblin dagger. What else matters?”
“If it’s enchanted? If its craftsmanship suggests human origin? Maybe this weapon was simply in their possession, left behind by someone local? We won’t know what we don’t know until we ask. And we can trust Syndrian.” Rain gave his brother a look that made me curious about what relationship the cutler had to the family—other than the fact that his little brother was an apprentice thief.
“It’s worth the inquiry, Neo,” Gia agreed, releasing Flynn as the color returned to his freckled cheeks. “Perhaps you and Brex can visit the cutler’s guild this morning. Pay a visit to the girl who is waiting for that mask and let her know it will be delayed. Rain and I have business with the shire-reeve today, but that won’t take long. We’ll return after to keep watch with Elgit in case Odile is called away.”
“Happy to take you to my brother,” Flynn said. “After I have some of Antonia’s breakfast.” He rubbed his hands together and licked his lips in expectation but then froze, his hands pressed together in front of his face. “And, by the gods, will someone please introduce me to this goblin?”
Rain, Gia, and Flynn went into the sitting room, leaving Neo and me alone. I stepped up to my husband and placed a hand on his arm. “I agree with you,” I said quietly. “We should ride to Haeloc’s manor. Perhaps after the cutler?”
Neo’s lips disappeared as he clenched his jaw so hard the muscles at the corners twitched. “I will not willingly lead you into doom,” he said. “We will go into the village together. That will give us time to talk. You need clothes and weapons. We’ll pay a visit to the cutler. But you will not go to Haeloc’s manor.”
He grunted, and rather than wait for me to respond, he yanked open the sitting room door and held it open until I passed by him to join the rest of the family. As unreal as that word felt as I passed through those doors, I wondered at how much my life had changed in such short time.
I had more interesting things to ponder. Like how I was going to get past my husband to investigate Haeloc’s manor for myself.
* * *
By the timeI mounted Sara for the ride into the village, the sunshine was bright. The peak of my hood fell back as I lifted my face to the sky to let the gentle morning rays warm my cheeks. Woody, late-season grasses swayed with the breeze as we rode past, teasing my nose with scents of the earth. Neo’s horse clomped along beside me, her rider’s face a tortured mask.
I, however, felt a curious and unusual sense of peace. I had a full belly and a feeling of purpose. I let my thoughts travel freely to my past, to my sister. What I might do if I could accumulate the means to go back to the foundling home. To demand—or buy—answers. Not even Neo’s mood could diminish my sense of hope.
I looked curiously at my husband. “Why haven’t you insisted I fulfill my marital obligation?” Of course, I was referring to the very information he’d married me to achieve, but it was clear by the sudden startle of his body and the uneasy expression on his face that he’d assumed quite another meaning in my question. I laughed, clutching Sara’s reins and shaking my head.
After a momentary look of thunderous rage, Neo softened, his lips curling playfully. “You’re dangerous, Brexia.”
I returned the smile, coyly shrugging one shoulder.
His grumpy intensity broken, he breathed in deeply, the cloak that flowed over his massive shoulders rising and falling. “Now hardly seems the time for a confidential conversation,” he said. “But I would like to continue this in a more private place.”
I met his eyes, no hint of embarrassment between us. I nodded and focused on the road and my memories. “It’s so very strange,” I mused, shifting the conversation away from lighter banter. “Sometimes I feel as though I cannot fully grasp my memories. I cannot see my sister’s face clearly. It’s like I know she is there, but her face is just out my reach. Specific memories elude me. It unsettles me.”
Neo nodded. “You miss her. It’s understandable that your mind grasps after that which the heart has lost.”
“I pray she’s all right.” Frustrated that I could not picture my sister, my thoughts turned to the girl whose death mask we’d recovered. I contemplated the lengths she would have gone to just to secure a safer, happier future. “Do you ever tire of it, Neo?” I asked. “Tire of the constant struggle? For food, for fresh water. For the feeling, no matter how fleeting, of peace and safety?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “I always assumed that was the foundling’s burden. But I am beginning to believe that life for all of us, no matter our circumstances, is a constant battle against some form of death.”
Our arrival at the farrier’s ended the conversation. Neo dismounted his horse and reached a hand up to help me down. Once my feet were solidly on the ground, he snaked a hand behind my hair, his strong fingers at the back of my neck. He leaned his face beside mine, his lips grazing my ear. I sucked a breath at the immediate flow of sensation as he spoke against my ear.
“There are moments,” he breathed, “that provide true rest to the weary. The hope of more of those moments… That is what makes the pains of life tolerable. Sometimes the promise of even one more beautiful moment can be enough.”
There was no denying the effect his closeness had on me. And no ignoring the reminder in his words of the true rest we’d shared last night.
I closed my eyes, battling now not hunger or the needs of my physical body, but the longings of my heart. I rested my temple against his jaw and breathed the scent of his skin, clean-shaven and smooth. I pictured the tiny scars of his lips and reached for his forearm, holding him to steady my weakening limbs.
“Come,” he whispered, “before we make a display of newlywed affection that draws more than just curious stares.”
As I adjusted the hood over my hair and separated from him, I could see he was right. Lord Oderisi arriving in the village with a woman in his arms seemed indeed to attract more attention than was wise. I felt the unfriendly looks as sharply as if they were pebbles tossed at us in derision. Whatever Neo had done to create such a reputation in the village would clearly extend to me. No wonder the farrier had been so quick to warn me off the job I’d said I was after. And I was so much further in now.
