Page 33 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Royo

City of Vashney, Khitan

I wake up holding Aeri close. I don’t know how to feel about her, whether I should want her or run, but my body has an opinion.

Thick and imposing everywhere , she’d joked.

I adjust my hips away from her and lie still. I stare at the wall, thinking about hundred-year-old corpses, murdered priests, anything to take my mind off the fact that she smells good. Aeri has a gentle way of breathing, like she’s sipping air. Her long neck would look so pretty curled in pleasure. That mouth should be…

I groan. Maybe I should think about the fact that I can’t trust her.

After last night, though, I do believe her. Thinking back, she seemed as shocked as anyone in the throne room. Then again, I believed her the whole time in Yusan. So either she means it, or I’m the dumbest mark on the continent.

I must have moved, because she wakes up and smiles in that unnaturally happy way of hers. Warmth fills my chest like hot soup on a cold day. I missed this. I missed her.

“Good morning, Royo,” she says in a raspy voice. She doesn’t move her hand from where it rests against my chest.

I force myself to roll away, out of her reach. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and sit up. “Are you ready to go?”

“I will be soon.” She sits up as well and stretches. I like her wearing my shirt, even if it’s huge on her. The morning is gray because of monsoon season, but the light coming in from the window illuminates her just right. She’s so beautiful. Then she turns and glances at the sill. “Oh, my goodness, Dia!”

I whip my head toward the window. What? Who’s Dia?

Aeri gets out of bed and runs over to the window. My shirt barely covers her long legs. Another inch or two and…

Impulses stronger than I’ve ever felt rush through me. I go over to the dresser and gather my weapons, gripping the handles and shoving them into my bag. I have to do something with my hands. I want to do unspeakable things to her—all of which she’d love. But we have a job to do.

I breathe out. I focus. What is she talking about, anyhow?

“Who’s Dia?” I say to the paint chipping on the wall.

“She’s a moon owl I was feeding in Quu,” Aeri says. “She came all this way!”

She says it like that’s a normal thing to do—to have a little owl friend.

Aeri is the strangest person I’ve ever met.

I glance over. Sure enough, there’s a tiny white owl asleep in the corner of the windowsill. Weird. But then I look at Aeri. Her bright smile. Her half-naked body.

“Can you put on some clothes?” It comes out harsher and louder than I meant it.

“Yeah,” she says, unfazed. “We need to get breakfast anyhow. I haven’t eaten in a day, and I want to get something for Dia, too.”

“Why’s her name Dia?” I ask.

She tilts her head at me. “Because I named her that. Owls don’t come with name tags, Royo.”

I stare, unamused, as she laughs. My stomach rumbles, and I remember I haven’t eaten, either. Not since we stopped for gear yesterday.

“Fine,” I say. “We’ll look for breakfast for you and…Dia when you’re ready.”

She lights up and goes into the washroom. I finally relax once she’s away from the bed. The fuck am I doing with this girl? I am definitely not favored by the gods—that’s for sure.

Aeri comes back out in her ball gown. I’m not sure if it’s more or less ridiculous than wearing my clothes, but at least she’s covered. The green skirt of her dress goes down to her boots.

“Let’s find a jeweler,” she says, arranging her hair. “I’ll sell a diamond, and then we can get a good meal and I’ll find proper clothes.”

“Mikail gave me enough money,” I say.

She frowns, looking skeptical. “Probably not. I had to leave everything behind in Quu. Seok set it all on fire.”

Seok, the guy who owns Sora. I run a hand over my short hair. Nobody should own somebody else.

“It’ll be fine,” I say. “You don’t need that much.”

I have a hundred and eighty marks. That should be enough to eat well and get the stuff we need. But if she wants more, what do I care? It’s her diamond, and she stole it anyhow. It’s force of habit to argue with her, I guess.

She better not buy a trunk, though. We’re not carting a wardrobe into the mountains.

We leave the inn and ride inside the city walls of Vashney. The old capital is not as busy as Quu, but it’s just as big and also filled with a mishmash of people. The buildings are carved stone, stained with centuries of runoff. In the distance, there’s the frozen port. All the ships are aground because it’s just a big sheet of ice stretching into the pitch black of the North Sea.

It doesn’t take long to find the gem district. The town is laid out like a pie that’s been sliced—everything runs off the center, where there’s a colossal statue of the Sky King. The gem houses and luxury shops are together in a wedge-shaped district.

Aeri chooses a gem house and then picks a diamond from her bag. She has a bunch. The shop welcomes her. She walks up to the counter, and a man examines the stone. Then the negotiation starts. I’m not sure what he’s saying, but I recognize haggling in any language. They write numbers down on a paper and go back and forth. He bargains with her just like she’s a man. It’s weird.

They settle on three thousand marks as I look around the store. It’s a fortune for a little rock.

Aeri says something as the gem guy hands her the money.

“Wait, you speak Khitanese?” I ask.

“Not really, but I’m a fast learner.” She shrugs and pockets the paper.

I don’t get this language or this place at all. We pass display cases of jade necklaces and bracelets on the way out. Some are almost the color of the key in my pocket.

A lot happened yesterday. I know I turned the lock when the others couldn’t, but I don’t know nothing about being a keeper. I’m just a strongman.

Because of that, I go on alert as we leave the gem house. I don’t have to worry about Aeri being taken here because indentures and slavery are illegal in Khitan. But pickpockets are everyplace, and a gem house is an easy mark.

“Let me hold some of your money, just in case,” I say.

Aeri blinks at me, but she digs into her velvet bag. She hands over all her marks except for a hundred note.

“You don’t need to give me that much,” I say.

She shrugs. “I trust you.”

My palms sweat as I put the money into my bag. I don’t know if she should trust me. I haven’t had a girl believe in me in so long. I don’t know if I deserve it. But I’ll do what I have to in order to keep her safe.

“Royo.” She waves her hand in front of my face. “Stop spacing out and start helping me find a good tavern. I’m starving.”

“Yeah,” I say.

I walk with her to find breakfast. I like this little thief—no point in denying it. But if she lies to me again, I may kill her myself.