Chapter Twenty-Six
Theron pushed the tavern door open and held it for me, the noise hitting suddenly loud.
Merchants in fine coats haggled over prices at one table, voices clipped and businesslike, while a few tables over, pirates perhaps chuckled over some story.
“There.” Theron nodded toward the back, directing me to go first.
Fraya’s red hair stood out even in the dim light, easy to spot before I could make out anyone else’s face.
Minha, Jina, and Ranis had claimed the corner table, half-hidden in shadow where the lantern light didn’t quite reach.
Likely Minha’s doing, no doubt, always picking the spot with the clearest view of the door.
Someone had piled a plate between them with nuts and strips of dried squid.
Jina wrinkled her nose every time she pulled a piece apart but ate it anyway.
Minha and Fraya tore into theirs like they hadn’t eaten in days, washing each bite down with a gulp of ale.
Ranis sat with his back to the wall, his eyes drifting toward the door every so often, the same watchfulness he’d carried since Russo’s ship.
“You’re back.” Fraya patted two empty seats.
Theron took the one next to Fraya, and I sat on the one next to Ranis. I should have asked Ranis to switch with me, put some distance between us, but I bit my tongue and stayed put. Every small movement he made settled somewhere under my skin I didn’t want to acknowledge.
“The kids settled well?” Jina asked.
I reached for a strip of squid, to keep my hands busy, and bit off a piece. Salty and chewy. Not bad. We had some in the cavern, but uncooked.
“Selene…” I cleared my throat, swallowing the piece. “She’s good with kids. I mean… she greeted him well… I mean us. Taking good care of him… I meant the kids.”
Oh dear gods. What was the matter with me?
Fraya’s grin spread behind her tankard. I hoped she didn’t think I was jealous.
“Who’s Selene?” Jina chomped on some nuts.
“I’ll tell you later.” Minha snorted into her drink, nearly choking.
Fraya raised an eyebrow, biting back a laugh. Ranis found his cup very interesting. Theron said nothing, but amusement flickered across his face.
He had to have known. Known what, though? I didn’t even know what I was feeling about him.
“Anyway, should we drink?” I tore off another piece of squid like it had personally wronged me.
“I’ll get them.” Fraya rushed over to the bartender before I could protest.
Fraya hadn’t even made it back to us yet when Theron leaned in close, his voice low enough that only our table could hear.
“You shouldn’t be carrying the stones.” His eyes flicked briefly to Minha, Jina, and Ranis. “Give them to me. I can keep them safe.”
“No,” I said soft but stern.
His brow lifted. “No?”
“What part of no did you not understand?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “I trust you to row a boat. I trust you to swing a sword.” I roamed his body just the way he’d done mine. “I haven’t decided about the rest yet.”
Oh gods, why was I flushing? I wasn’t good at banter.
I let out a yelp when he yanked my chair closer to his suddenly, my knees between his legs, his face way too close to mine. “Careful, Little Star. Keep talking like that and I might start to think you actually like me.”
Heat blazed up my neck, his low, flirty voice sending all kinds of feelings I didn’t want to have. Just keep your mouth shut before you make a fool of yourself.
Jina leaned toward Minha, whispering but loud enough for me to hear, “Are they arguing or flirting?”
“Both.” Minha winked. “Don’t interrupt. I’m enjoying myself.”
“They should get a room.” Ranis chuckled, chewing on a tentacle.
Fraya came back with six tankards, setting them down with a thud that sloshed ale over the rims. She arched an eyebrow at how my chair and my body was too close to Theron and asked, “What did I miss?”
“Nothing.” My voice went up an octave higher as I wrapped both hands around mine and drank. I hated the taste, but I was hoping the cold liquid would cool me down.
“Word’s already gone back to the queen.” Theron leaned back, one lazy arm draped over the back of my chair, his focus still on me.
“Every soldier at Mount Kael is dead, and you have what she wants.” His jaw tightened.
“Her soldiers and bounty hunters are after you. You don’t understand what you’re carrying.
” He tilted his head to the side like he’d heard a noise to be concerned about, eyes flicking briefly toward the adjacent table.
“Not to mention the King of Jeju is after you too. You’re wanted on two fronts now, Little Star. ”
“Thanks for the update, Pirate Theron.” I tossed a few nuts on the table I had picked up to eat. “Why don’t you tell me something I don’t know instead.”
He lowered his face, his nose inches from mine. “I’ve never once given you a reason to doubt me.”
“You’ve given me plenty. You’re just hoping I’m too distracted to count them.”
I took a slow sip of ale, mostly to buy some time, partly to distract myself from those beautiful eyes narrowed on me, and those kissable lips, and the way he smelled of pine and honey I’d started to crave.
That earned a short and surprised laugh out of him.
He set his tankard down. “Keep the stones, then. But if they start humming a song you don’t like, don’t ask me about it.”
Minha, Jina, and Ranis, who had looked at us like we were entertainment, glanced at each other with wide eyes.
“What humming?” Jina asked.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Minha said.
“Are you jesting?” Ranis leaned forward, brow furrowed.
I went still. The stone sat heavy against my hip. That answered the question I was going to ask my friends. Now, I wouldn’t share that information with anyone. Except… how did Theron know? He heard the humming. What did it mean?
Theron’s gaze flicked around the table, and whatever crossed his face smoothed over so fast I almost missed it.
“A figure of speech.” He waved a hand like it meant nothing at all.
“If it starts feeling wrong. Heavier. Whatever you want to call it.” He reached for his ale like the whole exchange hadn’t happened.
“Pirates say things hum when they mean trouble’s coming. Old superstition.”
“Really?” Fraya snorted into her tankard.
Minha snorted, tossing nuts into her mouth. Jina went back to her squid.
Ranis shrugged. He wasn’t convinced. And neither was I. Theron slipped and was trying to cover it up.
I didn’t ask how he knew about the humming from the pure stones, but I would ask him when I got the chance.
Theron’s stern face didn’t waver, but his eyes held mine a beat too long. “Trust me. I promise I would do no wrong to you.”
The tavern door slammed open hard enough to crack against the wall. Five soldiers poured through, gold armor catching the lantern light, swords already drawn—tall, pale, ears tapering to points. The Seelie queen’s soldiers indeed.
Behind them, one of our carriage drivers from the port jabbed a finger toward our table, his voice frantic.
“There! That’s them, that’s the group.”
I went cold. The customers nearest the exit shoved through the door. The rest pressed back against the walls, chairs overturned between them as they braced for the fight about to begin.
Theron’s contact. His carriage driver. Though it wasn’t him directly, I didn’t stop the words from coming out sharp.
“And you want me to trust you?”
“Fuck!” Theron snarled.
Theron promised safety. He’d promised a contact who’d keep us hidden. And within hours, someone he’d paid had sold us out.
Theron’s chair scraped as he jolted off his seat.
He met the first soldier before he reached our table, caught his sword arm and twisted it the wrong way with a sickening crack of bone.
The soldier screamed. Theron whirled, fluid and fast, and drove his palm into the second soldier’s jaw at an angle that ended with a snap loud enough to silence the room.
Somewhere behind us, a cup hit the floor. Nobody moved to pick it up.
Jina grabbed the edge of the table, knuckles white, counting to herself and unable to look away. Minha got to her feet, dagger drawn, Ranis standing beside her. Fraya, on the other hand, kicked up her feet on Theron’s empty chair and tossed nuts in her mouth.
How could she be so calm?
The third soldier lunged. Theron sidestepped, drew the blade from his own hip in one smooth motion, and buried it beneath the man’s ribs, twisting once before he pulled it free. The smell of copper reached me.
I’d seen people fight before. I’d fought for my life plenty of times. But watching him was different, efficient in a way that should have only frightened me. It didn’t.
I knew without a doubt, those men would take their last breath tonight by Theron’s hands.
The fourth swung a tankard at his head. Theron caught his wrist, slammed it down onto the table hard enough to shatter the cup, ale and blood spraying across the wood.
Theron hadn’t raised his voice once. Hadn’t broken a sweat. There was something terrifying in how easy it was for him, how little it seemed to cost him to take apart four trained soldiers in the time it took the rest of us to process what was happening.
The fifth soldier hesitated, sword shaking in his grip, eyes darting between his fallen men and Theron’s face. The room had gone so quiet I heard the candles hiss.
“Like I said.” Theron’s voice was low, blood dripping from the blade in his hand.
“I can protect the stones.” He pointed at the only surviving soldier.
“Tell your queen you came across pirates. If you tell your queen I protected the very people she asked you to end, I will know. And I swear on the gods I will kill your mother and father in the middle of the night. And if you have a wife and children, I will kill them all. Then I will come after you. Do you understand?”
He nodded, trembling, then ran out the door.
The merchants who’d flattened themselves against the walls found their way back to their tables. Nobody spoke above a murmur. Nobody looked at Theron. They just drank like the last ten minutes hadn’t happened.
Theron waved a hand at the bartender, who gave him a curt nod. They must know each other, or he’d come here often.
Jina relaxed her shoulders. “I think I bit through my cheek.”
Minha sheathed her dagger, looking at the bloody bodies. “We’re not paying for this. They’re at fault.”
Nobody argued about her statement. But I had a feeling Theron would compensate the tavern owner.
“We’ve had enough fun for the night. Go to bed.
” Theron’s gaze cut to Fraya, the edge gone.
He didn’t take his seat back. He continued to stand.
“Take them to their chambers. I must change our plan now that the queen knows we’re here.
” He lifted his mug and drained it in one long pull, not a drop lost.
“We have to escort the children,” I said, my voice stern. “That’s not an option.”
“Selene can handle it.” He set his tankard down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
I crossed my arms. “By herself?”
“No, of course not. We—I—there’s a team.”
“You have soldiers?” Minha stopped her cup halfway.
His voice was barely above a murmur. “There are those of us who have been fighting the Seelie queen long before you knew who she was. We don’t carry banners. We don’t have a kingdom. But we have people in the right places.”
Whoever “we” were, this rebellion, if they were as strong and fast as Theron, they would see the end of the Seelie queen. I hoped.