Page 72 of The Demon Crown

“You know, I don’t know how long I’ve even been here! Part of it, I was passed out. Injuries make me lose track of time, and for all I know, I’ve been here for weeks!”

Ivo launched a leaf at her back, nearly toppling her off her feet. “You haven’t been here that long. And you said there wasn’t anyone wondering where you were.”

Ouch. It wasn’t all that fair for him to bring that up. “That’s not nice.”

“What’s not nice?”

“Pointing out that there’s no one waiting for me if I die doesn’t make me feel great,” she grumbled. “It’s not an easy thing to swallow that I could disappear for a year and it would take that long for people to wonder if I was dead.”

“You haven’t been here a year. You’ve only been here sixteen days.”

Sixteen days? She had healed so much faster than she’d expected. Her ribs didn’t even hurt anymore, and she was certain that had to be because she’d been here at least a month. Sixteen days?

Wait, a minute...

“Oh.” She turned around, heading back the way they’d come. “If I’ve only been here sixteen days...”

She wasn’t too late. Varya had anticipated that she’d already missed the Festival of Lights. But because she’d been so quick to heal this time, likely thanks to whatever magic Greed’s healers knew, but that meant that she could get back to her people and still partake in the festival.

It was her favorite time of year. Hundreds of people gathered in the middle of the desert. Everyone brought food and water, nothing else because it wasn’t about trading or making money. And it was the only time of year that everyone called a truce on the stealing. They gathered together, made paper lanterns they lit, and then let the desert wind take them up into the sky.

It was an honorable night, full of the old ways that had been passed down for generations. Leaping over bonfires. Eating good food and reminding your friends and family that you loved them, even if you didn’t all that much anymore. It was beautiful. Everyone was so happy and she could be there this year.

Varya hadn’t gone to the festival in six years. Such a long time. But she’d been busy trying to find all those artifacts, and then the Horde had been an issue and she’d been tracking them for ages.

She found the stairs fairly quickly and started up them. Greed had dresses delivered to her room, but those wouldn’t suffice. She’d be laughed out of the festival if she showed up in silk and gossamer fabric. She could just imagine Altan’s face now.

Rummaging through the pile of clothes, she couldn’t find anything that would work. Sighing, she leaned back on her haunches, hands planted on her knees in frustration.

Maybe Ivo could...

Glancing up, she saw him hovering in the doorway. “What is going on?” he asked.

“Do you know where I can find better clothes?”

“Better?”

“I can’t wear any of these around my people. They’ll know exactly what happened. They’ll think that I’ve taken up with Greed, and that’s just not true.”

His eyebrows crept up. “Is it not?”

“No, I’m just here until I’m healed.” Which... she supposed was now. “They cut my clothes off me when I was injured, didn’t they?”

“They did.”

Damn. It had taken her months to get those leathers made for her body. It would take her months to get the same person to make her armor again. The woman had probably gone up in her prices, too.

“Fuck.” Varya shook her head. “What’s the least flashy garment in here?”

Ivo pointed at her nightgown. It was as thin as moonlight and glided over her body like the cool touch of the wind. She absolutely couldn’t wear that out of here, but he was right. The pale nightgown was the only thing that didn’t look like she’d pulled it out of a genie’s bottle.

Clapping her hands to her thighs, she sighed. “It can’t be helped them. To the servants.”

“The servants?”

“Yes.”

Varya swiftly ran through the halls, racing down the corridors to the rooms where the servants slept. There was no one in the room at this time of day. Why would they be? They had jobs to do and people to take care of. Which meant she could walk right in and pluck the first clothes that would fit her.

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