The Bound (Ascension #2)(36)

The streets were packed with people and bustling with trade merchants. She caught a glimpse of three different men in traditional Eleysian garb as well as a pair scantily clad in Biencan silks, a Carharan fur trader, and even a Tiekan man in a tight-fit hat that flopped off one side of his head.

Finally, Ceis’f turned down a street and stood face-to-face with The Lively Dagger, a run-down inn that looked every bit as awful as Cyrene had imagined. She wasn’t sure how Orden had thought that this was a reputable location.

“Perhaps we should find another inn. One a bit more refined,” Cyrene suggested.

“Is that an order…my lady?” Ceis’f asked with a bite to his tone.

“No.” Cyrene sighed. “We’ll stay here.”

Cyrene entered the inn with Ceis’f on her heels. It was mostly empty, save for a few foul-looking men at one table and a handful of busty serving girls. A large woman in an oversize dress with puffy sleeves and an apron over top strode right up to them. Her brown hair was pulled loosely off of her sweaty red face. She gave Cyrene a once-over, seemed to deem her unworthy, and then turned to Ceis’f, as if Cyrene wasn’t standing right in front of him.

“Can I help you, good sir?” she asked. She dabbed at her forehead with a handkerchief and gave him a toothy smile.

“Yes. We’re here for a room,” Ceis’f said.

Somehow, every word out of his mouth sounded like he was trying to snap her head off. She looked affronted by it, and Ceis’f didn’t even seem to notice.

“Madam LaRoux, at your service,” she said, suspiciously eyeing the pair.

“I’m Haenah, and this is Roran,” Cyrene told her when Ceis’f didn’t speak up. “We’re just here for a couple of weeks before the cold sets in.”

It was the set answer that Orden had instructed them to give. He had said that the madam of the inn would understand.

Madam LaRoux gave them a knowing smile with a wicked glint in her eye. “Perfect timing then. We have a lot of travelers coming in for the festival season. Come this way, and I’ll show you to your rooms.”

They were whisked up to the second floor and to the last room on the left. Madam LaRoux knocked twice, paused, and then a third time before opening the door and ushering them inside. Once they were inside, she shut the door in a hurry, turned to face the room, and planted her hands on her hips.

“Master Dain!” she said in a scolding tone. “You did not tell me that you were harboring fugitives. You mean to keep this girl in my inn?”

“Laurel, Laurel, Laurel,” Orden said. He stood up from a hard wooden chair where he had been gazing out the window, smoking his pipe. “This girl is not a fugitive. She is a guest.”

“I have been around long enough to know when you are weaving a story, and I’ll not fall for it. We’ve worked together for too long. She has to go.”

“Laurel, you know how the Affiliate program is in Byern,” Orden said encouragingly.

Cyrene bristled at the comment.

“I know. I know you said that, but I didn’t think you meant…her,” Madam LaRoux said, glancing anxiously at Cyrene.

“We won’t be staying too long, and we’ll keep your establishment out of trouble. I assure you, Laurel,” Orden said. “She is fleeing injustice, and you would be doing us all a great service by helping.”

Madam LaRoux sighed heavily and then nodded. “All right, all right. You’ll owe me though, Dain.”

“I am in your debt.”

She seemed to accept this before leaving just as quickly as she’d come.

“Injustice?” Cyrene asked at the same time as Ceis’f asked, “You trust her?”

Orden folded his arms. “I trust her wholeheartedly. I’ve been working with her for over fifteen years, and she would never tell anyone that you are here. As for the injustice,” he said, turning his eyes on Cyrene, “surely, you know that the conditions in Byern are not highly favored in the rest of the world.”

“Not highly favored?” Ceis’f asked in disgust. “They’re despicable.”

“I don’t understand why there are such problems with how Byern runs its affairs,” she said stiffly. “Aurum women cannot even walk around the city by themselves without getting manhandled and arrested.”

“You see what you were raised to see,” Orden said. “Affiliates and High Order are sent to other countries as ambassadors—not to learn about foreign cultures, but to force an unwanted Class system on other rulers. Eleysia has banned all trade with Byern and refuses access to Affiliates and High Order who wish to come to their lands seeking change.

“And, while we’re on the matter, Aurum is far from degrading to women. Men and women work together, especially here in the capital. The wives make nearly all of the decisions for the household and hold significant power. Madam LaRoux is a supreme example, but I’ve been told that even Queen Jesalyn is effectively ruling over her husband, King Creighton Iolair. Just because it is different than what you know does not make it wrong.”

“I…I didn’t know about all of that,” Cyrene said. Uncertainty hit her head-on for the first time.

She remembered the conversation she, Maelia, and Ahlvie had had with Captain De la Mora when attempting to escape Albion. He had refused them passage onto his ship.