A Girl Named Calamity (Alyria 1)

Her smile lit up her face, and I suddenly regretted my choice, but forced myself to reply, “A mug of ale, please.”

She nodded her head and left while I stood uncertainly in the inn, hoping that Weston didn’t get the idea to leave his room right now. I was sure he could use his creepy senses to hear me moving around, but I really hoped that he couldn’t hear what I would say. When the girl returned, I turned around and poured the three vials into the cup. I headed towards the stairs and then turned back around.

“I completely forgot that I need to run an errand. Can you take this up to the tall, dark-haired man upstairs?” I asked the girl.

“The Titan?” Her eyes lit up, and the fox shuffled around the henhouse.

“Yes, he’s the one.”

“I would love to!”

I’m sure you would, I grumbled internally.

/> “Don’t leave until he drinks some, okay? And don’t say it was from me.” That might have sounded strange, but I didn’t think she was even processing what I said.

“Sure thing, miss,” she said excitedly while the fox made a bloody mess out of my chickens. I waited a couple of minutes after she went up the stairs, really hoping that Weston would take the bait. A bitter taste filled my mouth the longer the maid was gone.

When I realized my plan was working, I swept the dead chickens out and headed out to Gallant.

The fly against the fox.

Thankfully, I could fly.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

INHUMAN ENCOUNTERS

Doubt believed he had the right to host shows in my mind. And yes, doubt was a he. Because men were the reason I was uncertain. One man in particular.

I had Gallant ready in record time, although I kept dropping things which made the worst racket in the stable. If it were possible for a heart to beat out of a chest, mine would have.

I had braided my hair in small pieces back from my face earlier as if I were preparing for war. The biggest battle in my life at that moment was the one being fought in my head. It wouldn’t win and stop me from doing the right thing.

Weston was only the illusion of safety.

In the end, his selfish motives would be the only thing that mattered to him. I might have been safe in the now, but once the seal was opened, no one would be.

Doubtful and fearful would never be words tacked onto my name. Starting now.

“There was one mistake with your plan.”

My stomach plummeted while I kept my back to the deep voice that should have never been such a familiar one. Why had I ever believed I could trust an assassin? They killed for a living. Most of them.

I was sure this assassin killed for sport.

Screaming and promising bodily harm would’ve been something I would be doing now, but that was in the past. It had gotten me nowhere, so I calmly turned around to look at him.

“What?” I asked, but I already knew when I looked into his eyes.

I made an awful mistake.

I had seen Hell in his eyes when he was angry; green angry flames that made me want to run.

But this was something I had never seen before. Something soft and yet scary. Something that made me want to listen to his every command as long as he said it in that husky voice of his.

Something that made me to want to run, just to get caught.

I already knew what he was going to say, but I was speechless in my revelation. If nothing else on this trip, I finally realized why that woman was running away from that man in Alger.