A few tables down was a male with dozens of tiny glass vials. Oils. It was just a vendor selling oils.
Relief flooded through me as my knees weakened. “He’s not here,” I murmured.
“Who?” Xander’s voice was gruff as he drew me towards him. His mouth was pinched as he studied me. “Who isn’t here? What’s wrong?”
I shrugged, trying to force the thoughts of the king out of my mind. My back twitched, and I knew bloody nightmares would be my companions tonight. “I thought I… saw someone I knew, but I was wrong.”
Xander tilted his head, his eyes shrewd as they studied me, but he didn’t pry. I was grateful for that.
We continued to walk through the Winter Market, and I fell into silence. Over and over again, I watched as the same scene played out.
A couple, or sometimes a father and daughter, would walk over to a table. A female would point to something and the male accompanying her would pay for it. She would never, under any circumstances, speak.
The only female voices in the square were those of children running around their mothers’ skirts. Even their voices were subdued, as fathers, brothers and husbands reprimanded the children whenever they could.
I pulled my cloak tight around myself, feeling more uncomfortable than ever. I had thought that leaving the tower would mean freedom, but this… I was beginning to question what freedom really meant. What good was escaping my captors only to land in another cage?
More than that, would I ever escape this one? I had no idea what I would find if I made it to the coast of the Indigo Ocean.
What if freedom didn’t really exist? What if it was all a lie concocted by our minds? A desire to believe that something—anything—would be better than our current lives.
Were we all just lying to ourselves?
Panic began to take hold of my heart when a shout came from behind me.
“Excuse me!”
I jolted backward as a young brown-haired boy dressed in little more than rags ran into my legs. I stumbled back a step as the child pulled on my skirts. He couldn’t have been more than five or six. His hands were covered in dirt, and I could barely make out the brown of his eyes through the grime coating his skin.
His voice was high-pitched as he asked, “Do you has some money, ma’am?”
“Oh,” I started. “No, but—”
Xander reached down, prying the child’s hands off my skirts. He growled, “Get lost, urchin.”
The boy’s blue eyes widened, meeting mine for a moment. “S-s-sorry, sir. Ma’am.” he stuttered, stumbling away from us.
My jaw was agape as the boy ran up a set of white marble steps that led into a massive temple. The building itself was made of pink stone and filled with dozens of dozens of intricate stained glass windows. A tall steeple housing an enormous bell hung within the steeple.
In front of the temple, a massive statue of Kydona stood watch over the square. The artist had chiseled the goddess out of white marble, her long, flowing hair covering her supple female body from sight.
The boy ran around the temple, disappearing from sight.
When he was gone, Xander turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. His brows were furrowed as he checked me over. “Are you okay, Ana?”
I nodded, picking at a loose thread on my cloak. “Why didn’t you help him? I know you have money.”
Xander continued to propel us both forward. A moment passed in silence as we walked past a booth before he sighed. “If we helped every orphan running through the streets, we’d never get out of Thyr.”
“That doesn’t seem right,” I whispered.
Xander made a non-committal sound, and we walked in silence for a few minutes.
We were approaching the temple when Xander abruptly skidded to a stop. For a male of his size, he moved so fast. “You have got to be kidding me.”
He turned towards me. His face was paler than I had ever seen, and he grabbed my arm.
“I need you to listen carefully, Ana,” he hissed, drawing me against him. He wrapped an arm around my waist before he began to move us with purpose towards the edge of the temple steps and the streets that lay beyond. “We need to get out of here.”