The sun was only starting to peak over the horizon when I left for the market. After Soren had made that deal, I was the one left to actually buy the blanket, dessert ingredients and the tiara. Typical.
The market was already in full swing when I arrived, rows of stalls spilling into narrow alleys, the air thick with roasted meat, damp cloth, and the tang of spilt cider. Normally, I could walk through here without hearing anything but the haggling over prices and the grumble of cart wheels. But today, the air carried something different.
It didn’t hit all at once. First it was just a murmur drifting between vendors.
“…heard she’s unmarked…”
Then, a little further along, two fishmongers leaning over a table, voices low.
“Impossible.”
“Not if someone’s been hiding her.”
I kept walking, my eyes scanning, my posture the same deliberate, unhurried stride I always used in the market. People knew better than to step in my path, but that didn’t mean they weren’t watching me from the corners of their eyes.
By the time I passed the spice stall, the story had already spread.
“They say she’s human,” a gray-bearded man told a cloth seller.
His companion snorted. “No such thing as an unmarked human female anymore. They’ve all been found, marked, and claimed.”
“Then what about the one they’re all talking about?”
“Either a fake or bait. And either way, worth catching.”
I didn’t stop. I didn’t even twitch. But my stomach went cold.
I knew these kinds of rumors, how they moved, how they grew teeth. They were like blood in the water: slow at first, then irresistible once enough predators caught the scent. And now they were talking price.
At the far end of the street, I caught sight of someone I recognized, a man with a crooked jaw and too many knives strapped to his belt. He leaned against a post, watching the crowd, until his gaze found me.
A member of the council.
He smiled.
That was enough to tell me he’d heard the story too.
“Morning, Soren,” he said as I passed, his tone all casual familiarity.
I gave him nothing back, just the barest nod.
“You hear about her?” he called after me. “The one who’s still free?”
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I didn’t answer.
Because answering, even to dismiss it, was an opening. And if I gave the wrong man an opening, it wouldn’t be a rumor anymore.
By the time I reached the castle gates, my mind was already turning over every possible way this could spread. If the others didn’t believe it now, they would soon. And if the city believed it… Liora wouldn’t last a day outside these walls.
I wasn’t sure she’d last inside them, either.
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Liora
I wasn’t trying to snoop. Not exactly. But the castle walls had a way of carrying voices, turning them into half-heard whispers that made you lean in before you realized you were listening.
I’d been sitting cross-legged on the bed, Bagel sprawled beside me like a loaf of suspicious bread, when the sound of clinking plates and hushed tones drifted under the door. Two of the staff, maybe kitchen workers, were passing right outside.
“…in the market today,” a man said.
“Mm. Everyone’s talking about it,” another man replied. “An unmarked one.”
My heart gave a single, traitorous thud.
“They say she’s human,” the first man continued, almost laughing, like it was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard. “Can you imagine? Not marked, not claimed? It’s been years since that happened.”
The second man made a sound halfway between a scoff and a shudder. “There is no way, no woman would last five minutes out there. If she’s real, she’s as good as gone already.”
Their footsteps started to fade, but then they slowed, right outside my door.
I froze, my eyes flicking to Bagel. She had her head up now, ears pricked, staring at the crack under the door like she expected something to slither in.
“She’s probably locked up somewhere,” the second man added in a quieter tone. “Some idiot thinking they can keep her hidden. Won’t work. They always get found.”
The first man made a noncommittal hum, then their steps finally moved away.
I realized I’d been holding my breath.
Bagel didn’t relax, though. She slid off the bed and padded to the door, nose working furiously. Then, before I could stop her, she pawed at the gap beneath it, whining low in her throat.
“No, no, no -” I whispered, scrambling to pull her back. If she made enough noise, someone might come investigate.
When I scooped her up, she wriggled hard enough that I nearly dropped her. My sweet, snuggly anchor was acting like the air itself was wrong.
That’s when the lock on my door clicked.
I spun, clutching Bagel tight as the door opened and him, Grabber, stepped in. He didn’t look angry, not exactly. But there was something about the way his gaze swept the room, then landed on me, that made my pulse spike.
“You haven’t been out of this room,” he said. Not a question.
“Nope,” I said, too quickly.
His eyes narrowed just enough to say he didn’t believe me.
Then he noticed Bagel still stiff in my arms, ears flat.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, his voice sharper now.
“She -” I hesitated. “She just… heard something.”
His jaw worked once. “From now on, the door stays locked unless one of us is here. No exceptions.”
I opened my mouth to argue, because what was I going to do, chew my own leg off to escape? But the look on his face killed the words in my throat.
It wasn’t just control. It was… calculation. Like he was measuring the risk against the time he had left before the city found me.
“If it makes you feel better, we held up our end of the deal. Riven made you chocolate lava cake for dessert, and he will bring up the blanket and tiara later.” He said, before leaving and closing the door behind him.
And of course, I heard the click of the lock only ten seconds after he closed the door.
For the first time, I wondered if Bagel’s unease wasn’t just her being dramatic.
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