8. Marius

Chapter 8

Marius

I t was a city guard. There were humans with hair nearly as white as Marius's, but perhaps this fellow had specific issues with Fae and was more prone to jump at any chance to find one and give one trouble. Even when the Fae helped them, some humans possessed an unbreakable hate for Fae. The guard's tassels indicated officer-level ranking as per the mission details. He was alone, so they could likely evade him if he was indeed shouting at them.

"Should we run?" Tahlia whispered.

"Not yet. It could be anything. Stay calm."

She shielded her eyes from the blazing sun. "I can't tell if he is looking this way or not."

"I don't think so."

"You're sure?" she asked.

"Not yet."

"I don't like it when you're not sure. You're always sure."

"That's incorrect."

"See? You're certain I'm wrong." Her lovely fingers left his wrist, and he mourned the loss like a lovesick youngling.

The guard was parting the crowd and coming their way.

He growled quietly. "We need to work our way out of here."

"Got it." Tahlia shot to the right, going across the crowd.

It was more obvious, but it was the fastest way to shift their direction. Conversations and the general noise of the people started up again, but the guard had his gaze set on Marius and he wasn't slowing, his body parting the crowd like a prow on the water.

Tahlia was already taking a turn to join the throng walking across the bridge on the upper level, over the place where they'd just been. Marius trailed her, carefully easing folks aside as he went. This was easier for Tahlia because she was so small. She was halfway across the bridge by the time he reached her.

It was like her head was on a swivel. "Is he following us? Where is he?"

"Look straight ahead. Aim for the second street to the right. We will cross the river again at the next bridge."

"Aye, aye." She winked at him and kept on.

Finally, they were moving in sync with the crowd. The bridge sloped down to the street once more, and they skirted their way along the edges of the people. An open door beckoned from a basketweaver's shop.

"Here. This is better."

He put a hand to the small of her back and immediately wished he hadn't because the feel of her shape caused his blood to flow away from his brain, heading south. He followed her into the shop.

"Oh, I love these!" She picked up a basket and stared at it like it was a lost treasure found.

"Do you?" The shopkeeper clasped her hands. Her eyes shone with delight. "It's my newest design."

The back door was clear, straight back. He cut past Tahlia and the basketweaver and into the dark of the back of the shop. Two small boys looked up at him from the corner where they were sorting what looked like the reeds that grew on the seaside. Marius whistled once, quick and high, a sound Tahlia would notice, but most would excuse as street noise filtering in.

Tahlia laughed at something the shop woman said, and she hurried back to join him. They were out the back door in seconds.

"What did you tell her?"

"That your ex was out front."

Marius snorted and led her over the cobblestones and toward the road to the next bridge, if they needed to use it. But if they found the safe house first, they would just go there.

Only a small group of elder humans and a skinny dog walked down this side street. The turn was clear of guards so far. They slipped down the road, and at last, the blue-painted door of the safe house appeared at the end of a more crowded lane. In front of the door, a wooden gate circled a tiny garden. Marius pushed it open and Tahlia hurried through and tried the door.

"Locked," she said quietly as she smiled at a passerby. She was handling this well, acting casual and masking their need to work quickly.

With a glance over his shoulder to check for the city guard or anyone who seemed too curious about them, Marius rammed his shoulder against the painted oak. He grunted as the door banged open. They rushed inside. He shut the slightly damaged door behind them.

"Where are the uniforms again?" Tahlia asked. "I can't remember what he said about that."

"Kitchen. It's always the kitchen for some reason. Perhaps because no one tends to search kitchens. I'll check that the house is clear first. You go on." He stalked down the narrow hallway that led to two bedchambers. Nothing.

"All clear," he called out.

"I found cheese!" Tahlia's voice echoed down the hallway.

The city cottage's kitchen was small and in need of cleaning, but the armoire was exactly where the contact said it would be—against the wall beside a window that looked out on a shared inner courtyard choked by weeds that nicely blocked the kitchen from view. Tahlia was digging through a smaller cabinet and shoving bits of yellow cheese into her mouth.

"You should eat some," Tahlia mumbled over a mouthful. "We'll need energy for this mission. Plus, it's delicious."

"I have no time for cheese. The contact will be here soon. We must be ready."

"It's like you hate yourself," Tahlia muttered, joining him at the armoire.

He paused, eyeing the windows to be sure the city guard hadn't found his way here. Tahlia tugged the armoire doors open, and a mass of fur flew out.

Heart hammering, Marius shoved his way in front of her, his dagger unsheathed and ready. Tahlia grabbed his hand and pushed his weapon down.

"They're kittens!" she cried.

Blinking, Marius looked at the armoire, the kitchen floor, and then at Tahlia. Furry rodents crawled everywhere. And Tahlia was holding one and cooing at it.

"Aren't they adorable? Sweet little darling." She kissed the cat she was holding.

"Get that thing off of you. It could have one of a thousand diseases and we have work to do."

"Fara would agree, but alas, I do not." Tahlia stroked the cat's black fur and bent to pick up another of the small menaces.

One striped creature began climbing Marius's trousers, and he plucked it off. He held it aloft to study it. "They definitely have fleas, as well as claws as sharp as a youngling dragon's."

Laughing, Tahlia took the striped nightmare from him and added it to the collection currently on her shoulders and in the crook of her arm.

Marius shook his head and growled. "Shoo the small demons away. We have work to do."

"Demons." She laughed harder. "Your face right now is making this entire mission so worthwhile."

He gritted his teeth and turned back to the armoire. Lifting a basket, he searched for the uniforms. Another furred devil shot out of the shadowed back corner of the cabinet and latched onto his tunic. It smelled like a sewer rat. He detached the beast with careful movements.

"You're treating that demon awfully carefully," Tahlia said snidely.

A growl echoed from him as he passed the creature to her.

Under a stack of folded linens, the uniforms caught the sun from the window and sparkled. Marius swore.

Tahlia slid under his arm to look. "Oh. Those are…"

"Horrifying."

"Fantastic! But that's not what the other city guards were wearing."

"No, these are specifically for the parade guards, so we won't see them until we join the madness in an hour."

He pulled them out and handed her the smaller trousers, tunic, belt, and cloak. She took them with a grin that had no business here, then shouted, making him go for his blade again.

"A tomato hat!" She lifted a round sort of cap that had been stuffed between the trousers and tunic.

Could this get any worse? He doubted it.

Her hand darted toward him and she produced his hat, an even larger disaster of fabric as bright red as Ragewing's back. She hopped up and slammed the hat onto his head, then collapsed in a fit of snickering.

"You look amazing."

"Please stop talking and get dressed. The sooner we do this, the sooner I can have Ragewing burn this monstrous headgear into ash."

"But you said we have an hour before we need to blend in with the parade."

He only growled again and shook his leg to dislodge yet another furred tangle of chaos. He headed toward the hallway to disrobe, not wishing to do so in the company of the demons.

Smiling in that irresistible way she had, Tahlia joined him, and it was all he could do to keep from pulling her to him. It took every ounce of his rigorous training in self-discipline to refrain from running his palms up her smooth sides as she changed into the uniform's tunic. The bond between them hit him sometimes like this—incredibly powerful and completely out of nowhere. The feral side of him wished to cover her in his scent so the multitudes of people outside these walls would know she was his, but of course, that was a silly thought. They were humans, not Fae. But his blood didn't seem to give a shit.

"Oh, hells." He rushed toward her and pushed her against the wall as she smiled wide.