Chapter 28 #2
The entirety of me ignites in flame, burning away my ability to argue as he keeps walking.
He knows I’ll have no choice but to follow, completely annoyed and having failed to stop my lips from twitching into a smile.
A human woman watches him go and then snaps her head back to me with an expression that’s a mix of admiration and embarrassment.
I avoid her eye and urge my legs to move as he steps back out towards the dockside shops.
Tavi appears and falls into step with us just as I reach him.
“Most everyone has gotten a room already,” she says, her eyes flicking over the bags in his hand and the pie in mine.
“Some said they plan to stay at the inn on the other side of town. I told them we’ll do a headcount here tomorrow at noon. ”
“Thank you. Stiden should be back with news about the repairs, have you seen him?”
Tavi shakes her head, scanning those that mill about on the dock.
Rune nods. “I’ll go check in with him. You two go ahead.”
“You’re sure—”
“I can—”
Tavi and I speak at the same time, and Rune puts his hands up to halt us. “I can handle it. Order an extra ale for me once you get a table.”
Once he goes, I turn to Tavi. “Elio inside?”
She nods. “We’ve actually already eaten. I’ll have to force him to rest soon. He won’t say it, but he’s still hurting.”
I follow as she moves into The Weathered Hull.
“Maybe Otto will find something stronger for pain . . .” I trail off as I see Soraya perched by the hearth, her splinted leg resting out in front of her.
A lyre sits in her lap. The memory of Rune’s voice springs up again.
It was less sound and more a feeling. A rattling, bone deep, sensation of melody that pulled you in.
Now that I think about it, Soraya’s voice tugs in much the same way, but lighter, more delicate.
Elio waits at a table near Soraya, who begins to pluck out a melody. “Rune on the way?”
“He went to go check on Stiden and the repairs.”
I set my wrapped pie on the table, deciding it’s better to wait until my stomach has more in it, otherwise the sweetness alone may make me sick.
The inn has a long bar that’s packed tight with greasy-haired sailors.
Some of the others from The Gilded Hart are scattered in groups and pairings at the tables, many with several empty mugs before them.
Elio follows my gaze, nodding to the packed bodies. “If he doesn’t hurry, he won’t get a room. Tulin said the one down the way is full up, and this place is packed.”
Tavi gives a nearly imperceptible shrug. A server approaches and grabs the empty plates on the table. He’s tall and wiry, with scarless knuckles. “What’ll you have?”
“Two ales, please,” I say. “And whatever vegetables you’ve got, if that works?”
“You should try the lamb,” Elio says, leaning in like it’s a well-kept secret.
“I actually avoid meat if I can.” I shrug, letting my eyes travel over the crowd of faces around us.
“Really? I’ll choose it every time. I spent a long time on a siren diet, but there’s something about a steak . . . it has this texture you can’t find in the ocean.”
“I prefer venison, myself,” Tavi says and I sputter a laugh, trying to decide if it’s a joke at my expense. Her eyebrows raise a fraction, like my reaction surprises her.
“Has Rune really not told you?” I ask, running through the logic in my head. I’d assumed he’d let them know at some point, if not the rest of the crew. But then—he’s surprised me before. And he knows how strange I feel about that side of me. “I’m a deer shifter,” I say, holding Tavi’s gaze.
Elio snorts. “Damn, Tavi, how’d you miss that? You basically just said you’d like to stick a fork in her.”
“I’m definitely going to stick a fork in you,” she says, deadpan. “I’ve spent a long time away from the forest. And I can only scent so much over the stink of your boots.” She kicks at him under the table for emphasis.
Elio brings a hand to his chest like she’s wounded him. “Abusing your patient? You know that only turns me on.”
She bites back, but their words blend into the buzz of the crowd. Rune hadn’t said anything. He’d let me keep my secret. I’m not sure why the knowledge makes my body respond the way it does—with an aching warmth that settles around my wary soul.
They go upstairs just as my food arrives—a whole plate of seared mushrooms and veggies.
I struggle to identify a few, but scarf them down all the same.
Hopefully Otto makes it back soon, he’d probably know every one of them.
When I’ve finished I choose a corner to lean into, uninterested in taking up the whole table for myself.
I hold Rune’s mug and sip mine, checking each body that comes through the door.
It’s strange that I don’t feel that instinct to reach for my old hood anymore, but the amount of people is overwhelming all the same.
I’ve no coin for a room, which continues to feel more and more like an oversight as the innkeeper exchanges coin for keys.
“Odi!”
Otto waves from the doorway and then moves to order at the bar. Rune follows him in, but cuts a path towards me when I brandish the extra mug.
“Things okay?” I ask as he downs it in a swig.
“Yes. It won’t be cheap, but they have what we need to patch it. Once I can make it back to my father’s ports, we can see about a permanent fix. Did you get a room?”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t graced with any pocket change.” I look pointedly to Otto, who walks up carrying three mugs in each hand.
“Good lad!” Rune says, taking two and passing them to me. “Let me go get us a room.”
“Us?” I call after him.
“Rune’s very protective,” Otto chirps, sipping on the first of his ales before tossing his chin in greeting at Soraya, who still sings by the hearth. “Everyone else already go to bed?”
I scan the tables. “As far as I know. Most everyone is too exhausted to bother drinking this place dry.”
Otto nods distractedly and Rune dodges full tables as he returns, his face pinched in a peculiar expression.
“What is it?” I ask.
“There was only one room left.”
I look to Otto. Leaving him without a room isn't an option. “Well, I can—”
“Oh no, I’m good!” Otto says, catching my concern immediately. “Soraya got us a double bed before I went to the alchemist.”
“Oh. Well then, it’s fine.” I shrug at Rune.
“It’s a single. There’s only one bed.”
I shake my head, confused. “The cabin on the ship has one bed.”
His smile grows. “But this one isn’t likely to have a chair, Odi.”
I’d assumed that, but I still take a drink to hide the heat crawling up my neck. I study a point over his ridiculously toned shoulders. “There’s always the floor.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “You’d sleep on the floor?”
I grin, meeting his eyes over the rim. “No. That’s all yours, Captain.”
When he speaks, it’s a purr, sending my mind scrambling around the memory of his body beneath mine, of his pleasant surprise every time he discovered another weapon hidden beneath my clothes. “Oh, I won’t be sleeping on the floor, little doe.”