Daughters of the King |✓|

Chapter Eleven

Another three days passed before Gunnar was well enough to venture out. I was relieved to see him improving, since he hadn't slept much the past couple nights. Not because he slept during the day, but because he refused to share the bed. He would stay up, always in the exact same place and in the exact same position, sitting upright in the chair by the window looking through the cracks in the curtains, as though keeping guard of something.

It unnerved me so much I could barely sleep, too afraid to trust. It felt like he was watching over me, while at the same time longing to be free of my presence and my tangled schemes—my web of lies that he'd become involved in. Sitting there in the dark, he appeared to be staring out into the night, yearning for the freedom the horizon could offer.

My sleep was plagued by feverish worrying. It was a huge relief to me every morning when I'd wake up and find him still here.

He hadn't run out on me. He'd had the opportunity to do it, and he'd chosen to stay.

I breathed a little easier as we walked through town square during market day, all the merchants set up with their tables and stands. It was hot out and the square was crowded with shoppers—voices arguing over the price of cheese, feet shuffling over cobblestones—but I was just relieved the captain was playing his part. His eyes never darted away when they met mine, although he still rarely spoke. It worried me, since even such a small detail could unravel my plans, but I didn't want to push him too far when he was so clearly near the edge already.

The crowd dispersed whenever we drew near. Walking out in the open together like this was probably the most dangerous thing we'd done so far, and yet it was they who were cowering away from us, their eyes chasing and probing.

It gave me a surge of confidence. This was my first time running a con without my mother, and it was working. It made me wonder, not for the first time, if I should even let the captain take me back to her. Hadn't I been longing to escape her clutches for years?

Although I knew he wouldn't let me go easily, and I watched him closely as he talked to one of the merchants, studying his mannerisms, the way he stood just a bit taller than everyone else, just a bit wider.

"Busy today," he remarked to the merchant.

"Ah, yes." The old man nodded. "There's a train coming later, that's why everyone's ventured out."

There was an edge to his voice, like a thinly veiled warning, and I stared at him. He was just an old man with leathery skin and silver hair who was selling some of the things we'd need for our journey ahead. He seemed harmless enough. But then he caught me staring and offered me a blank smile, still nodding his head, as though he were stuck like that.

I couldn't figure him out. Something just didn't feel right. I didn't want to seem paranoid, so I said nothing to the captain as we moved on, but somewhere deep in my chest, an alarm bell was ringing. It just kept ringing and it wouldn't stop.

~

There is a certain tone of voice people use when whispering about things they shouldn't be whispering about. It's not hard to identify, when you're well practiced in the subtle arts of deception and betrayal.

It was by accident that I heard them at all. The twins; sitting in the library with the window cracked to air out the room from the stifling summer heat. When I passed under it, Gunnar was already a few steps ahead, his hands full with our recent purchases.

He didn't hear them. But I did. I heard every word.

"I say we report them immediately," one of the twins spoke in hurried, hushed tones. "The woman shows no signs of fertility and the soldier seems more terrified of her than anything."