To Charm the Wind by Remi Black

Author:Remi Black [Black, Remi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Writers Ink Books
Published: 2021-01-23T22:00:00+00:00

~ 8 ~

Grim came from the left. He looked rumpled, unshaved and tired. The gaol had no windows, but he’d only suffered it a night and a half-day. If he were wise, he’d slept rather than confront the boredom of darkness and no interaction.

He braced a hand on the wood inside the doorframe. Narrowed eyes looked her up and down. “You hurt? Then tell me all. I heard Brok was enjoying two wraiths.” He lifted a quizzical eyebrow. “And you interrupted them.”

Orielle flushed, the same intensity as at Lillias’ insinuation. Grim’s information would come from gossip. She could imagine how the story had spiralled. “I sensed sorcery. And I think it’s more properly said that two wraiths were sucking the life from him.”

“Two wraiths? One wasn’t enough for Brok?”

His sarcasm kept her from taking offense. The sly tone also assured her that Grim hadn’t changed. Nothing had stolen him away. The day’s old beard looked scruffy, but his eyes were bright between the slits of his eyelids.

“I didn’t choose to battle these wraiths. I didn’t expect them, especially when they were … well. They attacked when I tracked the sorcery. I destroyed one. The other escaped. We tracked it upstairs … and found Brok’s wife.”

He grimaced. So, the stories carried that news as well. She didn’t have to repeat the worst of it. When she closed her eyes, she still saw Zairantze, hands crossed on her breast, the tear frozen in her lashes.

“I heard the healer tended both you and Brok.”

“Only him. The wraiths stole his life essence. Two of them.”

“He might have enjoyed that death.”

“Enjoy or not, he would still be dead,” she retorted.

The sentry reacted, his head knocking against the wall. Rubbing the back of his head, he shifted over a few steps, giving them a semblance of privacy.

“If you heard all that,” Orielle grimaced at the idea of gossip, “other people did as well. Or were you privileged to hear the gossip first?”

Grinning, he eyed the gate top to bottom. “I wouldn’t say privileged. One of the earliest to hear.”

“And you thought I was wounded in the battle?” She snorted, as much for Grim as for the sentry and those who would hear the gossip of their meeting. “Have you not learned that I’m a better fighter than that?”

“You have a tendency to jump into trouble.”

Orielle accepted that. Grim had saved her from the wyre’s prime when she was foolish enough to offer Come out and play. “If you thought I was wounded, other people would as well. Will they think my power is also weak?”

He shrugged. He surveyed her the way he had the gate. “The wraiths didn’t hurt you? That’s good.”

She leaned close to the gate. She surveyed the iron bars and cross-pieces but could see no weakness. The sentry could hear their every word; she and Grim weren’t whispering. Yet touching the gate would trigger the wards, and Orielle didn’t wish to discover the repercussions. “How are you?”

He lifted his scruffy face to the brilliant sun.

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