Page 19

Chapter 19

Cyrus

K aya looks like she is about to vomit over the side of the cart. “It’s bigger than I remember.”

Her voice is strained like she’s trying so hard to have a good time that it’s nearly killing her. Maybe if I get her talking, she’ll relax.

“When was the last time you were here?” I ask her.

“I was maybe ten years old? Renen brought me here before he took me to Leafshire Cove.”

The city is a riot of sounds and smells. Chicken roasts on sticks at a stall festooned with thin, red banners. Horses and fine carriages clog the streets, residents calling out to one another as they pass. Kaya grimaces as she tugs on the reins to keep Tamar on the far left of the road to avoid a four-horse carriage. She looks my way and laughs nervously.

“So exciting,” she says, trying to smile.

“I’m sorry this isn’t your cup of tea.”

“No, no. I like it. Some of it. Look at the little goats!”

A herd of black and brown spotted goats bleat and trot by, their shepherd tapping his staff on the cobblestones on either side of them to keep them in line.

“Adorable,” I say. “Did you see the acrobats?”

I touch her chin and turn her face toward the display on the castle keep’s raised stage. There’s always something going on here around May Day. The king and queen enjoy entertaining their subjects. Two figures in bright yellow and blue do cartwheels and then leap onto long scarves that hang from wooden scaffolding.

“Amazing!”

She truly does seem happy to see the sights now.

“What is the address Lady Egrettington gave you for delivery?” I ask.

Her features slide into what I’ve always privately called her “work face,” and she pulls a slip of well-worn paper from the pocket of her apron. The front of the apron boasts her bakery’s name and the two maplecats that are also on her sign at home.

I study the paper. “Ah, this is a receiving area the royals have on the northeast side of the keep. It’s a separate building.”

She raises a brow. “You know everything about every social event in the world, don’t you?”

I laugh. “No, but I did attend the princess’s birthday party there once when I was visiting a friend. I was just a youngling.”

The cart bumps over a damaged spot in the cobbles, and a wagon full of vegetables pulled by a mule narrowly misses sideswiping us. Sio yowls and hisses from Kaya’s lap.

Kaya makes a whimpering sound, but she manages the wagon and Tamar like a natural. “As in the princess who is now queen?” she asks me.

“Aye. She was a wild little thing, let me tell you.”

Kaya steers Tamar through the madness of the city like it’s nothing but another recipe to untangle. I have to give her credit because most would balk at this.

“I’m impressed with your ability to handle the cart in this chaos, Kaya.”

“I handle the reins when Renen and I journey up to the mountains. This is no worse than fallen trees, pitted roads, and rabbits.”

“There are that many rabbits on the way to the cliffs?”

“Yes. More than you can imagine.”

I shake my head and blow out a whistle. “So the old saying about their procreation habits is accurate.”

“It is,” she says.

A pretty pink blush rises in Kaya’s cheeks and I force myself to look away. I can’t see her like that. Must be friendly. Not lusty. I shake my head at myself; I’m fully aware of what a piece of work I can be.

Once we are through the smaller gate at the keep’s grounds, Kaya drives the cart to a shaded spot where maples stretch toward the keep’s various balconies. Sio jumps to the ground to sniff at some yellow flowers planted around the trees. Kaya and I unload the trunk from the cart, and a fairy stable lad flies over with a bucket of water for Tamar.

“Which way should we take this?” Kaya asks the lad as she points to the trunk I am holding. “These are the baked goods Lady Egrettington ordered.”

The stable lad directs us to a side door that leads into the room I remember visiting.

“You sure you don’t want a hand?” Kaya asks me, eyeing the trunk like a mother hen does her chicks.

“I’ve got it, sweetness.”

She nods, wrings her hands—carefully avoiding use of her splinted thumb—and studies the beams of the vaulted ceiling. Carved rosewood tables fill the space, and more of those yellow flowers have been tucked into crockery vases on each one.

Lady Egrettington flutters into the room, her glowing pink wings a blur behind her poofy head of similarly-hued hair. “Oh good! I’m so thrilled to have found you, Baker Kaya.”

She gives Kaya a full smile and Kaya returns it.

“Thank you for the business,” she says. “I hope the queen, you, and your guests enjoy the treats.”

“I know they will.”

A few young females and males—more fairies, a human, and a couple of shifters—scurry out of a back room, and Kaya starts handing off the cloth-wrapped platters of baked goods to them to set on the tables.

I sniff the room discreetly, hoping to scent a dragon shifter. I always do this, and of course, never find one. These two shifter servants smell like birds, perhaps birds of prey. I do my best to help them set up the multitiered tea trays and then set orange-iced scones on the bottom level of each one.

Lady Egrettington stands with her hands clasped. “Perfect. It’s just perfect.”

Kaya is beaming like a ray of sunshine. I can’t look away this time. She stands straight and proud of her accomplishment—she deserves this.

She turns to me. “What is it?”

Her gaze gives me the sensation of her delicate fingertips brushing my cheeks. My heart is racing and blood surges down my body. It’s mad how she can drive me wild with simple, innocent looks.

“I’m happy for you. That’s all.”

Taking my hand, she grins. “You’ve been amazing. You’re a wonderful friend.”

The word cuts as well as that baking knife she has in her kitchen, but I cover my reaction well enough, I think, giving her that grin right back.

“I am pretty fantastic, right?”

A laugh peals from her pink lips and she releases my hand. My fingers, which are never cold, feel positively icy without her warmth.

Lady Egrettington invites us to stay for tea, but Kaya seems uncomfortable and nervous about what she’s wearing, so we thank her, take the two heavy sacks of coins, and head back to the wagon.

Tamar is munching on a small pile of alfalfa, but Sio is nowhere to be found. Kaya takes both sacks of coins and locks them into the small trunk attached to the underside of the wagon’s front bench.

“If it’s just the clothing you’re worried about,” I say, “you can easily get a dress or whatever makes you feel good at the market. I’d be happy to help. And if you think I need something, I’m open to a little shopping for myself, too.”

Kaya shakes her head and looks around the courtyard. “It’s not that, but I appreciate it. I’d rather explore the city with you than make polite conversation with the queen and her ilk.”

“No fear of polite conversation with me,” I say, teasing and hoping for another lovely laugh from her.

She chuckles, then her face pales and her arms fall to her sides. “Sio!”

I whirl around to see a tumbling mass of orange fur, a green pelt, claws, and the sharp beak of a shrub gryphon.