The Queen's Seal (The Queen's Chair Book 4) by Chloe Garner

Author:Chloe Garner [Garner, Chloe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A Horse Called Alpha
Published: 2022-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

It was late evening by the time she got to the bar.

Before she’d even dismounted, a man detached himself from the wall, holding up his hands.

“He ain’t here, lass,” Sly said. “Left me to watch. I’m to show you to ‘im.”

“You aren’t a Rat,” Stasia said.

“Ain’t Rat business, now is it?” Sly asked with a grin, coming to pat Schotzli’s neck. The mare danced sideways away from him, turning her nose to pick up the smells on his shirt, then nudging him. They eyed each other for a moment, then when he put his hand up again, she settled under it. Acquaintance made.

“You’re using brackish,” Stasia said.

“Good as any,” he answered with a bemused smile. “You want a drink first, or are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” she said, and he set off at a quick walk, his hands in his pockets. Stasia dismounted, leading Schotzli out of a sense of propriety.

It was saying something to ride a horse while someone else walked.

“What did he tell you?” Stasia asked after a few minutes.

“He said stand here, wait for the lady in purple, then go there.”

“How did you know it wasn’t Rat business, then?” Stasia asked, and he grinned.

“I ain’t a Rat,” he said playfully. “Now am I?”

“He trusts you,” Stasia said, and Sly nodded.

“Might be the first he actually trusted, come to the Black Docks,” Sly said. “Found me in a bad way and offered to make my troubles go away if I’d do some thievin’ for him, so I signed my mark, and I been his creature ever since.”

“Make your troubles go away?” Stasia asked, and Sly laughed.

“Mostly he beat ‘em out of me,” he said. “Good man.”

She frowned, but Sly pointed.

“That’s where you’re goin’. I’ll take the horse and leave her at the livery where the Westhauser animals are kept.”

Stasia hesitated for a good long time at that, but Babe had trusted Skite and Sly with Peter, and she wanted even less to leave Schotzli standing outside.

“She goes missing, I will find you,” she said, and he grinned.

“Promises, promises,” he answered with a wink, taking Schotzli’s reins and heading off in the opposite direction.

Stasia went to the door that Sly had pointed at and knocked.

A slider-bar opened at eye-level and a man peered out at her.

“Who’re you?” he asked.

“Is she purple?” a voice called from inside.

“As a great bloody bruise,” the eyes answered.

“Let ’er in.”

The slider closed and the door opened. Stasia put her hand on one of her daggers, looking over at the man to evaluate him for menace as she went into the building.

“Miss Fielding, I assure you that you are here under my protection, not your own,” Lord Westhauser said. She found him sitting at a table with a clear bottle in the middle of it and three shot glasses poured out. One in front of him, one in front of a grim-looking man with a shaved head and a waxed mustache, and one in front of an empty chair.

Stasia didn’t like drinking goldbrew, but she was able.

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