Chapter 3

"Lyra," he said, spooning idly at his stew beside the fire, "you carried him back here, and you touched his oath mark. That mark is not meant for just anyone's hands."

I nearly spat out my soup. "I was looking for gold."

"How did I raise a girl with nothing in her head but money? Don't you want a husband? Or if not that, a slave?"

His name was Cassian.

He was badly hurt, so badly that the last trace of divine blood in him had nearly burned away. He could barely manage the simplest tasks on his own.

The worst of it was that he was noble to the core.

One night, I found him flushed scarlet, both hands twisting in the linen sheets.

"What now?"

He clenched his jaw. Even the tips of his ears had gone red.

"Fetch Thales."

"He's off drinking. Is it urgent, or just embarrassing?"

"...The latter."

I said nothing. Just set the chamber pot beside the bed.

I heard the faint sound of water behind me. I turned and walked out. Leaning against the doorframe, I let a slow, wicked smile take hold.

A few days later, Thales finally made his move.

Cassian was sitting in the low wheeled chair we used to move the wounded into the sun. Thales wandered over with a cup of wine and a look I knew far too well.

"How do you find Lyra's cooking?"

Cassian answered with perfect sincerity.

"Her skill would honor a temple feast."

"Then would you like to marry her?"

Cassian nearly choked on his wine.

"Seer, I could repay her with my entire fortune..."

"Your entire fortune?" Thales's eyes lit up at once. "Excellent. It can serve as Lyra's dowry."

"Thales."

I hurled a head of garlic from the kitchen. It struck him square in the forehead.

"Peel that. And if you say one more foolish thing, I'll sew your mouth shut."

He fumbled to catch it, rubbing his brow and muttering that I grew sharper every day.

Once he scurried off, Cassian reached out to stop me.

"If you do not wish it, I will not force you."

I was already past him, bow slung across my back. I didn't break stride.

"You owe me three thousand gold staters. If you can't pay in coin, you'll pay in kind. With yourself."

He went utterly still.