Page 26 of In The Dark

“Isa,” he says, snapping me back to reality. “Be careful, and don’t let them think you’re questioning the crown. They’re loyal.”

I find myself nodding because I know exactly what he means, but then I frown, realizing I just chose to trust this stranger over my own realm—my family—within seconds of hesitating.

Alec doesn’t belong here, yet I couldn’t bring myself to kill him, and the thought bothers me. I’ve trained my whole life for this—becoming a weapon. But as far as I’m concerned, I did kill him. It’s not my fault he came back.

“Tomorrow,” he confirms and begins to walk away, then pauses for a moment to turn around one last time. “Oh, I meant to thank you earlier,” he quips with a grin. Now I’m really confused.

“Thank me for what?” I ask.

“For paying for my ale.” His grin is so wide it looks like his face could split in half. It’s breathtaking and annoying all at once.

My head shakes. “I didn’t pay for your al?—”

Then I stop, my eyes suddenly narrowing into a glare realizing that I did, in fact, pay for his drink. I gave him money in his boy form. That weasel.

“You owe me a drink!” I call after him as he continues to walk away, disappearing in the Veil.

He chuckles. “Looking forward to it.”

I wait a few moments under the branches before making my way down the road, my steps light and cautious as I walk to the inn.

It’s late, only a few hours left until sunrise, when I suddenly realize how exhausted I am. It’s only been a day and a half since I was sent to kill Alec, and I’ve barely had any sleep and now… Now I have to keep secrets. Something I’m not sure I want to do.

The inn door opens on a soft creak. I shut it and kick off my boots only to find Ezra waiting in complete darkness. My eyes barely make out his shape as he stands.

“How was your night?” I ask. I’m curious to hear what he might have discovered. “Did you find anything useful?”

“No, not really. I made conversation with some locals but didn’t gain anything of use. I found myself chatting with the innkeeper for most of the night. What about you?” he asks, hopeful and eyeing me.

“I might have found a lead with a local here but I’m unsure how credible it is. This mission is odd,” I lie, already mentally kicking myself for it. “I think we need to stay another day or so to see where this goes.”

He nods. “I feel the same. The scent I picked up at the Silver Lily is spotty—I’ll catch a trail, and then all of a sudden it drops off. I’ll send Ren with you tomorrow.” He turns and kicks off his boots when he bangs on the wall connecting to Ren’s room.

“I heard!” Ren calls out from the other side.

“No,” I blurt, leaving Ezra to glance at me with an arched brow. “I don’t need Ren. He’s the last person I want ruining it. I don’t want to spook the lead and need to go back to the tavern tomorrow night. Let’s do what we did earlier and meet up again to report back. It seemed to work great in my favor tonight.” I smirk, hoping he doesn’t catch the lie.

Ezra holds my gaze, then nods. “I agree, but we need eyes everywhere. Ren can drink at the bar while you meet with your lead. He can keep an eye out.” The words instantly snuff out any relief I had just seconds ago.

“Are you sending the brute to babysit me?” I ask, anger and annoyance present in my tone, suddenly not caring if he overhears me.

“He won’t be in the way. We’ll stay another night because we only have a day left, but Ren’s going with you.”

The decision is clearly not up for discussion, so I give him a short nod, biting my tongue. It looks like I need to figure out a way to distract Ren.

“I’m going to wash up,” I mumble.

When I come back after a few minutes, he’s already sprawled out on the bed, an arm resting above his head and lightly snoring.

Exhaling, I crawl in next to Ezra, who’s quietly dozing beside me. My thoughts whirl from earlier, stuck on what exactly Alec knows and what he could be hiding.

I find it hard to believe everything that was spoken tonight was truthful. I’ve known Ezra and Ren my entire life—since childhood—but I find myself at odds with the conversation I had with Alec. If I should be worried about anyone, it would be Ren.

9

Daytime comesin a blink with only a few hours of sleep, leaving us to head to the front of the inn to retrieve our breakfasts. The bell rings above as we walk through the wooden door, and a dark-skinned female with wild, curly hair peeks out from the back.

“One moment!” she hollers, bright and cheerful as the morning sun, like she didn’t just spend the night chatting with Ezra.