The Spinster & The Thief by Lisette Marshall

Author:Lisette Marshall [Lisette Marshall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2021-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Even breakfast couldn’t erase the taste of her body from his lips. It had etched itself in his memory with the silken softness of her skin under his fingers and the crack in her voice when she moaned his name; sitting on the doorsteps of his hostel, Garreth found himself glancing in the direction of the palace every other minute. Madness, of course. She wouldn’t run away from her breakfast to join him here, mere hours after he had walked her back to the ferry – if she was anything near reasonable, she wouldn’t return at all. Then again, she had sounded alarmingly determined when she kissed him at the waterside and promised to be back soon.

He took another bite of old bread and bland cheese and suppressed a groan. She shouldn’t have cared to look for him in the first place. She shouldn’t have followed him to his room. She shouldn’t have walked up to him, shouldn’t have danced with him, shouldn’t have answered his kiss. She knew him for what he was – nowhere near the kind of honourable lord she was supposed to wish for – and yet she had done all those things?

Probably, he repeated to himself, it had nothing to do with him at all. Four years in Copper Coast – obviously she was looking for a way out, any way out. He was a safe option – he couldn’t betray her to her governesses – and then perhaps his blurry background wasn’t that much of an issue anymore. He should just be wise and realise her interest didn’t signal, well, anything more. He was an escape. That was all. Which was perfectly fine – better than the alternative, at least.

So why did the thought still sting?

The smack of a well-aimed pebble against his shoulder shook him from his thoughts. When he jolted around, he found Flatnose in the nearest alley behind him, gesturing him in no uncertain terms to follow.

Garreth muttered a curse and got to his feet, his half-finished breakfast in his hands. With his purse still glaringly empty, this was not the moment to object.

‘Can’t pay you yet,’ he said as soon as he had caught up with the old man. ‘But don’t worry, I’ll—’

‘Wasn’t going to talk about payment.’ Flatnose grinned at him. His sharp smell of old sweat and yellowing teeth killed the last of Garreth’s appetite. ‘Wanted to suggest a little deal. Three coins off the price in return for some information.’

Three coins. A fifth of the price. By that rate he wouldn’t even have a debt left in a week.

‘What do you need?’

‘What was the duchess of Tanglewood doing in your hostel last night?’

Garreth nearly dropped his bread. ‘The – who?’

‘The duchess of Tanglewood,’ Flatnose repeated, his gruff voice a tad more curious now. ‘Lady Zovinar. I suppose you know her name?’

‘Wait, wait – what?’ He sucked in a breath, a decidedly unsuccessful attempt to look composed. The duchess of Tanglewood? Zovinar? The girl who had stormed

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