Noble Born (Half-Blood Chronicles #2) (The Half-Blood Chronicles) by Ivy Baum

Author:Ivy Baum [Baum, Ivy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-30T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

“Stop.”

Lucan’s man held up a hand, and the small entourage came to an abrupt halt.

My personal guard, whom I had privately nicknamed Oscar—after his resemblance to the Sesame Street puppet—heard the order a second after I did, and nearly tripped over me.

I gave him a dirty look, but he didn’t back off. I was sure Lucan had given him very specific instructions about not letting me wander off.

I glanced over at the head guard, whose real name was Dirk. He was the one who’d given the order to stop.

Now, as we stood at the entrance to the Common Market, he scowled down at the undulating mass of people in front of us.

From this vantage point, it looked like pure chaos: an indeterminate mass of pushing and shoving in the open square.

This part of the Common Market was called the Bazaar, and it was by far the noisiest and most crowded part of the market.

Dirk had wanted to avoid this place. But we’d been given no choice.

Now, as he surveyed the crowd, he muttered, “I hate this place.”

I could understand why. It would be almost impossible to maintain security once we were down there.

But that was his problem, not mine.

He motioned for the other two guards to come closer and arranged them in a tight formation around me.

To me, he said, “Follow my lead.”

We began to descend.

We weren’t supposed to be here. Our plan, upon arrival, was to go straight to the Tower. We would then be given our accommodations—which was a fancy way of saying that we’d be locked up in the Penthouse until our meeting with Sol the following day.

But the guards at the Fence informed us that our plans had changed. We were now going to be housed in a “special diplomatic embassy” at the far end of Outlaw City. Going through the Common Market had become a necessity.

It might have been Sol playing games with us—well, with Lucan. Or it might have been a coincidence. But I couldn’t be sure.

In Outlaw City, you never knew exactly who was pulling the strings.

And so, as we headed into the Bazaar, I was worried, too.

Oscar stuck close to my side. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said under his breath.

I didn’t think he trusted me. None of Lucan’s men did. The fact that they were charged with protecting me didn’t change that.

By the time we got through the Bazaar, Oscar’s forehead was beaded with sweat. Dirk was holding it together a little better, but the tension fairly radiated off his body. As we made our way through a series of smaller squares, they pulled into a tighter formation around me.

There were fewer people here. Casual visitors to the Common Market usually didn’t make it past the Bazaar. The back street and alleys were for visitors with more specific needs.

And Lucan’s men were clearly not comfortable here.

Back at HQ West, these guys swaggered around like they owned the place. They were the cream of Lucan’s crop and—if the rumors were true—had some truly impressive Source gifts.

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