Chapter Ten Wren
Chapter Ten
Wren
They came from the sky and blessed the earliest mortals with hope. Yet it was the tokens they gifted that kept the people worshipping them.
—Origin of the Fates, Chapter Twenty
I was immediately thrown off-balance by how little light illuminated the space.
Walking to the long wooden bar, I located an empty stool and took a hesitant seat as I swept my gaze over the dozens of tables and mismatched chairs arranged haphazardly in the main room.
A stage stood front and center, a guitarist currently playing a lively tune, singing about some place called the Black Dahlia and its many…
delights. Even during the daytime, people were half drunk and deep into their whiskey or ale, clapping as the man onstage finished his song and started another.
I’d never been to a pub before, I realized, and a sudden burst of adrenaline made my blood turn icy and then much too warm.
I prayed to all three Fates that I looked like I knew what I was doing, or that I’d been to a pub at least once.
Judging by some of the curious—and somewhat menacing—stares directed my way, I suspected I’d failed.
“What can I get you, miss?”
A jittery huff left me as I turned around on the stool and came face to face with the burly man behind the bar.
Eyes harder than stone, his lips curled into a cruel frown like he grasped that I didn’t belong.
I didn’t, though a secret part of me wished I did, if only to experience some of the joy the other patrons displayed openly.
They swore and danced and barked obscene jokes met by laughter; everything I’d been forbidden to do.
I might as well have stepped into a whole new universe.
“An…ale, please,” I mumbled, fishing out a copper with Dusk’s face stamped on the back and placing it on the bar top.
He nodded and snatched a glass to fill up at the tap.
Mercifully, neither my hands nor my voice had trembled.
My acting talents were improving. I supposed my time in the interrogation room had paid off.
With a grimace, I remembered that I planned to weasel information out of this giant of a man. He looked the sort who would take pleasure in ripping my head off if I blinked wrong.
Inside, my heart beat like a fist against my rib cage, and sweat trickled down my spine.
Such blind confidence I’d had when I made this plan.
All bluster, all desperation. Actually sitting here, being in the Void, thinking I could find this deceptive cretin—it all felt idiotic. I was na?ve to think I could—
“Wren?”
The familiar voice jolted me, the muscles in my neck and shoulders turning to stone.
Wiping the grimace from my lips, I plastered on what I hoped resembled a smile. Swiveling in my seat, I regarded the very last person I would ever have expected.
Everett.
So many vile curses shouted in my mind. If anyone had peeked inside my head, they’d have been aghast at the vulgarity. Or impressed by my vocabulary.
Gratefully, a foul word didn’t escape, but the squeak that left me was somehow worse. It was all I could muster.
Everett chose a seat to my right as if he had countless times before, his demeanor relaxed and easy.
My smile immediately strained upon seeing what he wore: simple trousers, a plain button-down, and none of his usual finery.
Even his dark blond hair appeared like he raked his fingers through it rather than using a comb, and his chin sported a dusting of coarse stubble. He looked…different. Wild, somehow.
I hated that my heart gave a little leap when he leaned closer.
“What are you doing here?” His striking blue eyes scanned the room before turning back to me. Concern creased the corners of his mouth, a furrow marring his brow.
What was I doing here? Hell, I should be asking that question of him. He should be in some white-walled office with his stacks of notebooks and numbers. I wondered if he had his enchanted glasses on him, or if he’d taken the day to himself. But why here?
“Wren?” he pressed.
“I…” I what? I want to hunt down the man who robbed you of your watch because the missing Fate wrote me a letter instructing me to retrieve my stolen gift containing dangerous magic?
Oh, and she ordered me to locate this cunning and deceptive thief who might very well kill me. Everett and I weren’t that close.
“I needed some time away…away from—”
“From the north,” he finished for me, nodding like he understood.
“I heard what happened, Wren, I mean, my lady. I hope you’re doing all right.
” Everett let out an awkward cough, his muscles tensing at his shoulders and pulling at his shirt.
His body was much broader than I’d originally assumed when not hidden beneath a finely tailored suit, and my damned eyes lingered.
Everett swallowed hard, barely maintaining eye contact.
He had no idea how to act around me outside our usual surroundings. That much was clear.
I boldly placed a hand on his exposed arm and shook my head. “Please. It’s just Wren. And I’m fine.” When his stare landed where my hand curled around his muscular forearm, I immediately dropped it, my cheeks flaming. His seemed a little redder too.
I would’ve expected him to demand I take a carriage home.
To leave the south and never speak of it again, but he didn’t.
Everett had been surprised, yes, but he’d immediately fallen into a seat to strike up a conversation.
Not to judge or scold. He wished to talk, by the looks of it.
That made me like him a little more, giving me hope that he wasn’t like all the other brutes Mother paraded in front of me.
And his attire? I found the roguish look suited him much better than the stuffy suits I’d seen him wear before.
Maybe it was his true look. This, his true self.
“Wren,” he whispered gently, seeming to taste the sound. “Are you here by yourself?”
I nodded, noting how his jaw clenched.
Obviously it had been foolish, but I wasn’t going to enlist my parents.
Or Callie; I would do my best to protect her from our father’s temper.
By some twist of destiny, I sat beside a lord I hadn’t thought much of weeks before, and now, his welcoming smile relaxed the tension in my shoulders.
He hadn’t even asked if the rumors were true about my arrest. He just asked if I was doing all right.
Why did that make me feel…more? Was I that deprived of affection?
“I won’t tell you it’s dangerous here, especially on your own, but would you mind if I keep you company and walk you home afterward?” His smile broadened, becoming a breathtaking grin, and another beat skipped in my chest. “If you would take pity on me, it would make me feel better.”
“Why are you here?” It flew from my lips, partly from curiosity and partly as a method of deflecting his question. The practical side of me remained skeptical despite his being nothing short of kind since coming across me. In the very last place I should be.
“Same as you.” He signaled the bartender for a glass. “I needed to get away from the petty chatter of the north. All they’ve been talking about for weeks is…” He trailed off, a horror-struck expression taking over his handsome features.
“Me? Dusk? If I murdered a Fate?” I finished for him with a knowing scoff. He sighed heavily, an answer if I ever heard one.
Like I’d done moments before, he placed a gentle hand on my arm.
“I don’t believe a word they say,” he affirmed, his voice drenched with conviction.
“You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, Wren. I hate that you’ve been through so much over these last months.
I know we don’t know each other that well, but I can’t help but feel a kinship,” he added with a rueful smile.
His sympathy was a balm I hadn’t realized I needed. I still didn’t know if the police considered me a true threat; I hadn’t the nerve to ask Father. Maybe, in truth, I hadn’t asked because I didn’t wish to hear the answer.
The bartender chose that moment to bring us our ales—mine obviously some time after I’d asked for it, though I thanked him before grabbing the bubbling amber and lifting it to my mouth. Sucking in a collected breath, I took my very first sip of ale.
What? Ladies were never allowed anything but lemonade or champagne. I was breaking all the rules, so why not another?
Everett, who’d been watching my reaction intently, chuckled, the sound deep and comforting. “Your face says it all,” he remarked.
My nose wrinkled and my brows dragged together, the unusual flavor assaulting my senses in an intense way. The bubbles didn’t help.
“That obvious?” I choked out, putting the glass back on the bar. I’d have to deliberate whether I wanted another sip.
“You get used to it.” His eyes dazzled as he tried and failed to repress his smirk.
“I hope so. It tastes like bitter spices and musk.” I giggled for the first time in weeks when he snorted, the sound so unlike a well-bred gentleman.
Yet when he took another sip, I matched his movements. Hmm. Not nearly as bad the second go-round. I took a few more gulps, enjoying how my belly warmed, and emptied the glass to the halfway point.
Everett shook his head. “You are more fun than I suspected, Lady Hayes. And quite…adventurous.”
“Excuse me?” I teased, setting down my drink. Some of the liquid sloshed over the rim. “That sounds like you didn’t believe me fun at all.”
His cheeks reddened. Again. “Shi—sorry, that’s not what I meant.” He lowered his head, a wayward blond strand dipping into his eyes. “I meant it as a compliment. You always stood out to me. You know that.”
“Because I’m a bore at parties?” I supplied, smirking.
“No. Believe me, there are others who are exceedingly boring, and you are anything but. As I told you at the ball, I admired how you shone even when trying to keep yourself hidden. An impossibility, I might add.” He glanced down at his drink, hiding his grin.
“You take in all of society with such a serious face, and I wonder what goes through your head. If your thoughts are like mine.”
Fates, I hadn’t realized I came across that way.
It wasn’t like I despised everyone in society.
If someone enjoyed a ball, then I applauded them.
Hell, I was jealous. Everett didn’t realize I stared because I wanted to fit in and hoped that if I observed people well enough, then perhaps some of their behavior would rub off on me.
“I am not thinking about anything serious, I promise,” I said. “I just…I don’t always enjoy the stimulation. It’s loud, even when it’s quiet, if that makes any sense at all.”
“The judging, you mean?” Everett supplied, the side of his muscular thigh brushing my own.
His heat seeped through my dress, and Fates above, my body reacted, tingles shooting down my back.
I suppressed a shudder. What on earth was wrong with me?
“It could be pin-drop silent in a ballroom, and you’d practically make out every single thought,” he added, peering off to the side.
“So maybe I do know what you mean. People expect a lot from me, especially my father. I suppose we both have a lot riding on us.”
Everett Sinclair surprised me. By being here, by his genuine concern.
By the way he studied me at balls, silent yet understanding.
I’d believed all the suitors to be boring, pompous asses.
Everett intrigued me so much that I had forgotten all about my mission and why I shouldn’t be wasting time speaking with him.
I cleared my throat, my palms growing clammy. Nerves. Everett had made me nervous. I blamed that dazzling smile. It was lethal.
“I need to use the ladies’ room,” I rushed to say. “Are you aware of where I may find it?”
“In the far-right corner from the stage,” he directed. “But you better come back, else I’ll have to finish your ale.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Try it and find out what happens.”
He held up his hands. “Fine, but no more threats. I have a sensitive constitution.”
I couldn’t help beaming as I slipped off the stool and charted my way back and to the right.
The modest ladies’ room needed a good scrubbing, the lock barely affixed to the wall, but I hurried and made do.
As I washed my hands, I studied the woman in the mottled mirror.
A glow brightened her cheeks, and her lips weren’t pinched.
Even the worry lines on my forehead had smoothed. I looked different. Alive.
After drying my hands, I exited the room and shut the door—
Only to walk directly into a solid wall.
No, not a wall. Muscle.
“Miss me, sunshine?”