“What of the cattle and livestock?” Keelynn went on.
I’d forgotten about the animals.Dammit. And this woman thought she wouldn’t be a good ruler. She’d been born for this. “We’ll tell people to sell what they can to the farmers and butchers in Airren. They’ll be able to use the money to buy new animals when we get settled in Iodale.”
She pursed her lips, no doubt considering this from all angles. “That’s a good plan.”
Relief spilled through my chest, calming my thrashing heart. “You think so?”
Her hands slid up and down my arms, warming my skin with each stroke. “I do. I’m proud of you.”
“Hold that thought until I save my people.”
“Untilwesave your people,” she countered. “You’re not alone in this, Tadhg. I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
* * *
Wind blasted tiny shards of ice at my cheeks beneath the hood of my cloak. Although I hated Airren year-round, I despised it even more in the winter, with its wind and rain and miserable gray skies. The only gray I cared to see lived in my wife’s beautiful eyes.
Stones scraped my shoulder when I eased against the wall, peering into the twisting rain, waiting for—
A man with a bulbous waist and chicken legs waddled beneath a nearby streetlight.
Him.
Predictable as feckin’ clockwork. I stepped from the alley, blocking the pub’s door. The Green Serpent sign above creaked on its rusted hinges. When the man noticed me, his footsteps slowed.
“Greetings, Oran,” I said with a friendly smile. “It’s been a while.”
The man’s jowls shook when his head jerked toward me. “Yer Lordship. I…um…” He smoothed a hand over the three hairs left on his bald head as his beady eyes scanned the shadows. “I wasn’t expecting to see ye here.” I imagined his throat bobbed when he swallowed, but there was so much flappy skin hanging from his neck, it was hard to tell.
I pointed my thumb toward the alley at my back. “Let’s go around the corner for a little chat, shall we?”
Oran’s boot splashed into a slushy puddle when he took a stumbling step back. “I’m actually in a bit of a hurry—”
Brilliant. So was I. I caught his collar with stiff, frozen fingers and dragged him into the alley toward the green-door pub at the back. When I tried the door, it didn’t budge.
“Ye didn’t hear?” he choked.
“Didn’t hear what?”
“Yer one was hanged for witchcraft a fortnight ago.”
That couldn’t be right. Orla and I had known one another for ages. If I’d seen her name on the list of those convicted in Airren or in Rían’s ledger, I would’ve remembered.
How many others had been missed? Killed without witnesses. Cast into death and forgotten.
Oran took my distraction as an opportunity to wiggle free. My magic snapped out like a shadowed lasso, cinching around his protruding waist, making him look like a pig tied to a spit. He even squealed like one when he fell forward.
I shoved my own spiralling emotions aside and knelt onto the stones. Icy sludge seeped into the material at my knees. With another flick of my wrist, the man flipped over onto his back.
“Y-yer s-stronger than b-before,” he stuttered.
“Best not to forget it.” Now, on to business. This probably wasn’t the best way to convince someone to help, but here we were. It wasn’t as if I expected the man to do this out of the goodness of his heart. Hopefully his greed would win out over his hatred for me. “I’m interested in commissioning a ship,” I explained, trying to keep the extent of my need from bleeding into my tone.
Oran’s brows snapped together. “Fer what?”
“Moving items from Tearmann to Iodale.” No sense overwhelming the poor man with unnecessary details. His tiny brain could only handle so much.
His thin lips pursed as he pretended to mull it over, even though we both knew he had little choice in the matter. “Suppose I could be persuaded. Fer the right price.”