Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
The midday crowd hadn’t come in yet, and she settled into a booth, hugging her knees. That’s when she noticed two slightly familiar men in the corner. Both wore cloaks that hid their faces, but when she looked in their direction, one pulled his hood back and winked at her. The signal jolted through her. Kyra jumped up and headed for the kitchen, only to back up as Idalee came in with a platter of shepherd’s pie. Kyra watched with rising dread as the cloaked men thanked Idalee and slipped her a coin. The unsuspecting girl returned to the kitchen, and Kyra settled herself back into the booth. She wasn’t going to leave Idalee alone with those two.
The men bent over their meals, for all appearances engrossed in their own conversation. Kyra rubbed her temples and tried to concentrate. She had to get everybody out of the tavern, away from the assassins. Perhaps if they escaped out the back? And she needed to find some way to get word to Flick.
By the time Bella came to set the table for lunch, Kyra had a rudimentary plan. She could get one of Flick’s friends to start a fight in the dining room to distract the cloaked men. She’d grab everyone, sneak out the back, and find a hiding place close by until they could get out of the city. As Bella, Idalee, and Lettie joined her at the table, Kyra glanced out the window. Her gaze settled on a familiar face, and she gasped. Across the street, behind the constant stream of people and carts, stood Shea from the Guild.
“What are you looking at, Kyra?” asked Bella.
“Nothing,” Kyra said. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”
She kept quiet for the rest of the meal, trying not to choke on the food that she shoved mechanically into her mouth. Thankfully, Idalee was in a talkative mood, and Kyra kept quiet. There were too many eyes, and Kyra didn’t dare give the assassins any reason to suspect she was trying to warn the others. After lunch, Kyra noticed more Guild members, some outside the tavern and others mixed in with the dining room crowd. With each discovery, her plans for escape unraveled further. She and Flick were no match for multiple assassins, and a simple barroom fight wouldn’t be enough to distract them all. Perhaps she could create a stronger diversion? She ran through a list of possibilities. A fire was too dangerous. Multiple fights, perhaps?
As dinnertime approached, Brendel set up in his corner and began to play. He sang, first of Evelyne’s passionate love with the felbeast, their brief but beautiful time together. Kyra wanted to throw her spoon across the room and cover her ears. In the real world, beasts didn’t turn into men. Instead, it was the other way around.