The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(72)
“You let me worry about that.” Dinah looked carefully at the list of ingredients, pausing when she came to the last one. “Do you have any volshkyn leaves?”
“No, but the queen has a volshkyn plant in her garden. If you need a leaf or two, I’m sure she could help you.”
Dinah brushed past Blue without another word, and in moments, the shop chimes rang again as she walked out, leaving Blue blissfully alone.
THIRTY
BLUE’S MORNING FLEW by, and soon Lucian was there to gather the deliveries.
“Did the prince have a message for me?” Blue asked Lucian as the boy hurried to stack packages into a large bag he could strap onto his back.
Lucian shrugged. “Didn’t see him in person. The man who answered the door said he’d deliver the message for me.”
Blue nodded. Of course Kellan hadn’t seen Lucian himself. He was probably in meetings or wooing one of the head families.
Before that thought could linger, she said, “I’ve been meaning to discuss Ana and the other children with you.”
Lucian’s big brown eyes found hers, and she winced at the hope she saw in them. “You found them?”
Setting her tongs aside, she moved toward him. “I’m sorry, Lucian, but no. I’ve asked around in a few quarters as I’ve had time, but—”
“No need to explain yourself, Miss Blue. I know you’re busy, and they’re just street kids. No one really notices when one is gone.” His voice was parchment-thin as he resumed loading his bag, his eyes firmly on his task instead of on her.
She closed the distance between them and softly put her hands on his shoulders. They were thin, the bones jutting up to push against her palms. Quietly, she said, “I notice, Lucian. And I care. About Ana, about you, and about all the children who’ve been left to fend for themselves. It isn’t right, and I’m trying hard to do something about it.”
He shrugged and began tying the mouth of the bag closed over the last package.
“What I wanted to tell you was that I talked with the prince about the problem, and he’s going to have the royal magistrate look into it.”
Lucian’s hands stilled, and he slowly raised his eyes. “The prince himself said that?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, he abandoned his bag and threw his skinny arms around her waist. She blinked, and then gently hugged him back, resting her cheek against his mop of curls.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Her heart squeezed. No child should carry the burdens Lucian bore. Maybe she should stop trying to force lead to change into gold. Maybe she should go straight to the queen with her idea for a large home that could accommodate the city’s orphans safely and ask for the royal coffers to finance it.
Lucian pulled away and roughly cleared his throat. “I better get these deliveries out the door, Miss Blue. Don’t want to miss the docks today.”
“The docks?” Blue squinted at him.
He gave her a questioning look. “It’s the day the bounty hunters from Llorenyae come through with their shipment of monsters for Akram. I thought the whole city knew about that.”
“It is?” She glanced at the wall calendar that was nailed beside the sink, but she hadn’t changed the date on it since the night Papa had died.
“See you there!” he said as he rushed out the door.
Abandoning all thoughts of running the shop for the afternoon, Blue made sure the protection potion was ready to soak for the next two days, turned the shop’s sign to Closed, and hurried toward the docks.
Seeing the bounty hunters from Llorenyae on their twice-yearly journey through the port of Falaise de la Mer to the northern kingdom of Akram with the monsters they supplied to one of Akram’s prisons was excitement few of the city’s inhabitants missed. But in addition to seeing the monsters who weren’t completely hidden in their crates, Blue was interested in the other wares that might arrive on the ship. Usually there were yaeringlei seeds, maelsa wood, and an assortment of unusual gems and minerals mined deep in the mountains on the fae isle. Sometimes, Blue and Papa had even found fae-made jewelry or clothing, though Grand-mère had forbidden them from wearing anything made by a fae. Something about possible curses woven into the threads.
Sunlight stung Blue’s eyes and heated her skin as she made her way through the merchant district and south toward the docks. Already the streets were choked with people. Carts set up along the main road that led to the port sold iced shirella drinks with crushed walla berries floated at the top of the cup, fresh ginger cakes, and bags of spicy popped corn. If Papa had been with her, they would’ve purchased a bag of the popped corn and cooled their tongues with iced shirella as they took in the sight of the busy docks, the ships coming into port, and the fascinating pair of bounty hunters who handled terrifying monsters with ease.
But Papa wasn’t here, and Blue wasn’t ready to do their traditions by herself. Bypassing the food carts, she made her way through the crowds to the edge of the docks. Several ships were coming in, but she was only interested in the black vessel with five sails and a flag that was ice blue on one side and sunshine yellow on the other. The symbols of the Winter and Summer courts were embroidered into their respective colors, and the sculpture of a water nymph clung to the bow as if she’d just risen from the sea itself.