He did, his eyes stopping on the two guards standing near the edge of the roof with their hands on their hips, their narrowed gazes on us.
A smile pulled on my lips. “You two are a striking pair, aren’t you? Somehow you look even better up there.”
Tuko grunted.
“Oh, man,” Henry groaned. “I didn’t know she would do this to ya.”
I frowned. “You’d rather I let you hang?”
“Well, you could have done something besides taking away their manhood!”
I rolled my eyes. Boys for boys, and all that. “You can be upset later when I get you home, safe in bed, without a noose around your neck. Come along now. T
hat serving girl has probably worked up the guts to say something.”
“Sorry, sirs!” Henry said. “She only did it to save my neck.”
“Eh, I probably would’ve done it anyway.”
Tuko muttered something about finding us and making us pay, while Steady still aimed that steady gaze on me. I’d be a little unnerved by it if I wasn’t already used to a more murderous stare.
I blew him a quick kiss, which narrowed his gaze even further. Tasha hopped on Henry’s shoulder, and we walked down the alleyway toward Southie.
Symbia was the largest city I’d ever been in. But you’d never know the ocean was only a short distance away while immersed in the narrow, dirt streets and sparse cloth coverings, to keep the hot sun off the vendors’ backs.
Now, the last of the vendors were rolling their carts home, kicking up orange dust in their wake and preparing for a tongue lashing from their wife—or the southern term, pledged—for being late. Here in Symbia, the evening meal was almost sacred.
The stone homes weren’t very tall, but they were all crammed together, leaving dark alleys that pickpockets—not the cute kind like Henry—murderers, alchemists for hire, and the ilk reserved as their own.
Nestled in a still-water bay, was a labyrinth of wooden docks, leading to an assortment of inns, cut-rate brothels, taverns, and goods stores. Our steps were hollow against the wood, while the scent of sweet smoke hit my nose as we reached a residence called The Three Cups—a smoke room turned tavern to accommodate the sailors’ western culture.
Men leaned against the wall surrounding the place, a mug in their hand. With the heat wave that had hit us a couple of days ago, sailors from the west were miserable in their leather jerkins and heavy pants and boots. They wouldn’t remove them, though; Symbia wasn’t a place to relax and take off your shirt. So, they only drowned themselves in ale. Not really a way to stay alive either, but I wouldn’t say anything.
Some whores loitered, further inebriated than anyone else it seemed. This heat wave was probably a vacation for them, considering not one man here looked in the mood for a tumble.
Two round, hanging lanterns cast an orange glow over three mugs clinking on a crooked sign.
“You bloody idiot!” I heard a woman yell as I followed Henry into the tavern. I came to a stop as Henry’s curly-haired mother about suffocated him in a hug.
Tasha stood on a table, holding his arms out like he expected the same, but Sunny, Henry’s mother, gave him a flick to the chest. He grabbed at it like he’d been stabbed. “You know better! How many times have I told you to look out for Henry, and you go and get him arrested!”
Tasha shrieked.
“Don’t sass me. Go with Henry and get something to eat. You’re both probably starving.”
They lived above the tavern, with Sunny overseeing the place her father owned. He was a captain and rarely here, taking the four-month trip to Elian back and forth. I never asked who Henry’s father was, but I was betting she didn’t even know; he could have been anyone, any sailor, possibly from Elian or further.
A breath escaped me as Sunny threw herself at me, wrapping me in a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She smelled like strong perfume, ale, and curry cooking. “I swear that boy will be the death of me.”
I smiled at her jubilant ways. “It’s all right, Sunny. It’s only been the third time this month,” I jested.
She pulled back, her hands on my shoulders. “How can I repay you?”
“You can’t.”
She bit her lip in thought before her big, blue eyes lit up. “I’ve got it!”
Oh, boy. I could only imagine what she’d come up with this time.