Chapter 6 The Long Way Round

Scarlett’s POV (Now)

The sky above the wall was still black when I took the old cloak off its peg.

I put on my own boots, the pair with the split seam on the left, then went down the corridor and knocked hard on Naomi's door.

"You're dressed," she said when she opened it.

"Get your cloak. We're going out."

She complained as she tied her laces. The bread wouldn't be ready yet, and the fog would ruin her hair. I took her by the sleeve before she could think of anything else.

The guard at the side gate straightened when he saw us.

"My lady. We weren't told you were going out."

"I'm not running off to another pack. I want breakfast."

He gave a short laugh, then lifted the bar and let us through. Before we'd crossed the ditch, I heard him call for a runner. I glanced back but kept walking. He could tell whoever needed telling. I wasn't going to wait while someone decided whether I could eat outside.

The town was already awake. Fires burned beneath iron griddles, and smoke drifted up the lane, carrying the smell of rosemary and hot fat. I stopped for a moment and breathed it in.

"Nobody out here is going to call me future Luna, are they?"

"Not before noon," Naomi said.

I sat on a bench at a stall and pointed out what I wanted. "Two of those. The one with seeds, too, and whatever's in the pot."

"You won't finish it."

"Then I'll take the rest with me."

She sat opposite me and straightened the plates when they came. We ate until there was only one hot cake left between us. As I reached for it, she drew the plate toward her and covered it with her hand.

"You've had three."

"You've had one."

"I'm not hungry."

"Then stop guarding it."

I caught the rim of the plate and tugged. She laughed and let go, and I picked up the cake before she could change her mind. The first bite was too hot. I had to sit with my mouth open while it cooled, my eyes watering and grease running down my thumb.

"You used to guard your plate like that at home," I said once I could speak.

"Mm." She looked down and took another bite of her food.

At the next table, two men were discussing the banquet. I stopped eating when one mentioned a woman from the borderlands who'd made a lady repeat herself in front of the heir. He imitated the exchange well enough that I knew which part he meant.

"Future Luna or not," his friend said, "somebody should teach her to hold her tongue."

I hadn't even put up my hood. They'd been sitting beside me for a quarter of an hour without recognizing me. I wanted to turn and ask what else they'd heard, but then they'd know who'd been listening. I put down my cup and pushed it away.

Naomi cut the rest of the cake in half and put one piece on my side of the plate. I picked it up without looking at her.

I saw Edward's boots first, muddy to the ankle even though it was barely past dawn. He came between the stalls with his mouth set and stopped beside our table.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you were leaving?"

"Do I need permission to eat breakfast?"

"You need to let someone know where you're going." He glanced at Naomi. "The outer patrol changed over last night. The men on these streets don't know your face. If something happens, she's out here with you."

Naomi had put her hands in her lap. I looked down the lane at a woman scraping bowls into a bucket and two children running a hoop through the mud. Nothing had happened, but I'd just heard two men talking about me without realizing I was beside them. I hadn't thought about what Naomi would do if someone stopped us, or who she'd go to for help.

"Fine. I'll tell the guards," I said. "But I can't spend every day in my room waiting for someone to remember to let me out."

He was quiet for a moment. "I'll show you around. The gates, the lanes, which streets flood when it rains. You can learn your way, and I can introduce you to the patrol."

"Now?"

"If you've finished eating."

I glanced at the plate, then back at him. He was looking at my boots. Water had darkened the leather around the toes, especially near the split seam. I tucked that foot beneath the bench. They were my boots, and I wasn't going back to change them.

Naomi rose to return to the castle.

"Take the short way," Edward told her. "Straight up to the gate."

She looked at me before leaving. I nodded, though I wished he'd asked her instead of telling her. She seemed ready to go, and I didn't want to keep her there while we argued.

Edward remained beside the table while I finished my cake. I didn't invite him to sit.

At the end of the lane, the street forked. He pointed left, toward a short, steep route between two houses. To the right, a wider road followed the wall.

"Let's go this way," I said, turning right.

"It's longer. They're putting in drains below the north tower, and half the road is dug up."

"Then you can show me where the work is. I need to learn more than the shortest way back."

He looked at me, then took the road I'd chosen. I followed him past the bakery with the blue door, where he said they sold the previous day's bread cheaply. Farther on, he showed me the stretch that flooded and the corner by the tannery where the night watch stopped.

"Don't wait here after dark," he said.

I looked back at the corner so I'd remember it. By the north tower, the paving had been lifted and the earth churned into mud. My knee began to ache as I picked my way through it, then hurt more sharply whenever I put my foot down unevenly. I shifted my weight to my left leg and tried not to limp. I'd insisted on this road. I didn't want to ask him to turn back now.

He slowed a little. I kept beside him, concentrating on where I stepped.

"What if I want to go somewhere you haven't shown me?"

"Tell someone where you're going. If there's trouble, we'll know where to look."

We reached the paving again as two patrolmen came around the tower. They looked from me to Edward and stepped aside. He stopped to introduce me as Scarlett Redcliff. He didn't add future Luna. I was glad of that, though I still felt awkward standing there while they took another look at me.

At the next crossing, he turned one way and I started down the other. He stopped and pressed his fingers to his brow.

"Which way do you actually want to go?"

"This way."

He looked along the street I'd chosen, then back at me. "Fine."

I went ahead before he could see me smiling. "Remember it, then. We're going this way."

At the inner gate, he stopped beside me.

"Next time you go out, tell me where you're going. You don't have to ask permission."

"Will you tell me when you go out?"

He took a moment to answer. "Yes. If I can't tell you myself, I'll send word."

I went through the gate and started up the steps. After a few paces, I looked back. He was already heading down into town again, taking the short way between the houses. He walked quickly, and I wondered where he'd been going before he'd come to find us.