Page 15

Melodie studied Betts with interest. Her face was flushed with anger and her hands were balled into fists.

Then she shrugged, turned, and walked away, back to the stairs. She would pack now. Leave now. The thought almost made her giddy.

Perhaps Theo would find a place for her at the barracks, or she could spend a night at the inn on the Kassia and Cervantes side of Illoa.

“Where are you going?” Betts was coming after her, hands still clenched at her side.

“What does it matter to you?” Melodie paused on the second step up to her room. “I’m not eating your food, so you shouldn’t care, either way.”

“What’s this about not eating?” Vinest stood at the top of the stairs.

“She doesn’t get food if she can’t be here on time. You said.” Betts looked up at him, mouth a tight line.

“Oh, Betts was most definitely following your orders.” Melodie gave a nod. The open hostility was new, but obviously Vinest had emboldened her.

“I was joking,” Vinest said. He looked past her down to Betts, and gave a tiny shake of his head.

Melodie’s ring warmed on her finger, and she looked up at him with a cheerful smile.

Liar.

“Well, Betts seems very set on my not getting any of her food, so I’ll go out for some.” She continued up the stairs, wondering if Vinest was going to move out of the way.

A tickle of fear snaked down her spine, because he could easily push her from where he stood. And he wanted to hurt her. Her ring told her as much.

But she would be no good to him, crumpled at the bottom of the steps.

“It’s not her food.” Vinest snapped the words, his look at Betts suddenly furious. “I say who gets it and who doesn’t.”

“And you said she doesn’t.” Betts wasn’t going to let it go. Vinest had tried to make her look petty and foolish, and she was refusing to play along.

“The food at the square smelled delicious. I just came from there. I’ll have a night out.” Melodie angled to the left, where Vinest had left a little space, but as she reached the top, sliding past him, his hand shot out and gripped her arm.

She thought of how Theo had held her in the same spot only minutes before, and the difference between them.

“A night out?” he said.

“After all, that piece I finished for Madam Renali took a lot out of me. It’ll fetch a very handsome fee. Enough for Betts to cook up a storm. Because I certainly won’t be getting much of a share of the payment, will I?” She glanced down the stairs, and Betts drew her lips back to show her teeth at the reminder of who made the money in this household.

“Who was the man?” Vinest asked. “The one who walked you home?”

“A friend of mine.” Melodie said.

“I didn’t know you had such . . . friends.” Vinest hesitated over the word.

She shrugged. “I’m twenty-two. Why wouldn’t I?”

“He looked like he was in uniform.” Vinest didn’t like the soldiers who came and went through town. She had always wondered why.

They didn’t buy jewelry, which was a mark against them from a jeweler’s perspective, but that was the only thing she could think of that wouldn’t be to his liking.

“He’s a lieutenant for the Crown of Kassia and Cervantes,” she said, and Vinest’s grip on her arm tightened enough to make her wince.

She tried to tug her arm away and he looked down as if he had forgotten he had a hold of her.

“I don’t like soldiers.”

She shrugged again. She could do nothing about his likes and dislikes.