Page 26 of A Blade of Lies and Spirits

“Do tell.” I regarded him. “Go play spy with the Guild girls, Chance. I don’t want your help.”

His mouth tightened, then he pulled out his reasonable voice. “Ethan could get the geas off you.”

A faint warmth fought with the anger. He was persistent because he didn’t like the thought of me trapped. Chance cared, he was just a jerk about it, most of the time.

Caring about people was hard sometimes.

“When I decide, Chance,” I made sure to emphasize the ‘I.’ This was my decision to make, and he had to respect that. “When the time is right for me, then I’ll go to Ethan. Not because you’ve ordered me to, and certainly not because you feel guilty. How did you find me?”

Chance backed away, then held up a hand. The hair he’d taken from me was braided around his wrist.

I flipped a knife. “How sweet. Why are you here now?”

“Your current boytoy asked me to find you and let you know you could come back. Since you’d hidden so well that he couldn’t find you. Do you use nets in case of falls? Stick strictly to beds and simple positions?”

He’d gone to the height jokes. I hated jokes about how short I was.

The knife sank into the wooden wall a few inches above Chance’s head, mostly because I was laughing as he ducked and I didn’t want to clean up the mess it would make. He vanished as I strolled forward. He’d teleported away. Chance had learned a lot in the time he’d been gone, that was a powerful magic.

He had passed the message on. Walker wanted to talk to me. While I wouldn't go with Chance, I was ok with being with Walker.

I walked past the boundary stones that marked the border. I was now revealed to anyone who was scrying for me. As I walked on the grass of the Guild’s side of the border, my skin prickled as various seeking workings arrowed into me, followed by Walker appearing without invoking the Road.

Too many people were teleporting around me today. It was a dangerous magic risking the magic user reappearing in the same space as another object, a wall for example, would mean a messy death for the teleporter.

“How did you do that?” I squeaked, knife in hand from startlement. A warm feeling flooded through me at the sight of his face, like I imagined coming home again would feel like. Could a person be like home?

He smiled at me, and the warm feeling increased. My answering smile bubbled out of it.

“I’ve been looking for you. I missed you. Come with me?” He extended his hand.

“Of course.”

* * *

We appeared in a park,one I recognized from walking with Dmitri and Kara. I hurried to keep up with Walker’s long strides. Annoyance pricked at me after he glanced down at me and slowed his pace.

“How are the Dumonts?”

“They’re fine. Silver got Greene’s family to withdraw the contract yesterday. Robert Dumont took on additional security. Even if the Wolves get a fix on your location, and pursue you for no money, I’ve got good security. A night or two more, hopefully spent with me, to be sure everyone knows the contract is void, and you can go back. I dropped by to talk with them and see that Kara was fine. I met her younger brother, Dmitri. Is there something you’d like to tell me about, Alys?

I glanced over at him. “Probably. But not just now. It’s hard to talk about.”

He took my hand and kissed it, then resumed walking. The setting sun illuminated a perfect early summer day, gilding bright leaves, and flowers planted along the clean, broad sidewalk. Expensive clothing and wealthy people sauntered past us, even as Walker took us down a side street. The sheer luxury on display set my teeth on edge as excess competed with unobtrusive wealth.

I’d seen decent people die for want of a tenth of the extravagance parading by us. I saw it when I was in Capitol with Dmitri, but it hadn’t lost its ability to infuriate me.

Curious glances skittered away from Walker’s cold eyes and set expression. I hoped to master the understated menace he projected. Mine, often too blatant, sometimes backfired. His dark suit fitted him perfectly, a richer fabric and cut than the clothing I'd seen him in Outside. The red gem he bore caught the light. It shone pale against his deeply tanned skin.

I shivered as a sharp breeze caught me. Capitol’s elevation, even in a hollow between mountains, caused the nights to become chilled fast. They didn’t bother with as much weather control in the evenings, and the weather witches did nothing for free.

That bright to mind darkness, cold, more unfinished business…

“Where is the shadow? Is it still confined?” I asked. “And the shadow doesn’t have any of me in it, right? Just the Wendigo?”

“In my workroom, and none of you. I can’t say if it’s only the Wendigo without more research; I think the shadow contains a portion of the soul of whoever it's possessing.”

“Show it to me.”

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