52 Chapter 52: Will You Come With Me?

SALEM: Breakfast was good. Better than I expected. Elina seemed to love it. She gobbled down the first plate. Hot potatoes with cheese, bread, beans and mushrooms. They said it was their speciality. They said it was the best they had.

After she finished her plate she looked at me. She took my plate and finished it.

I looked at her. At her body. I wonder where all that food went.

After breakfast she took my hand and dragged me out the door. Onto the busy morning street. Into the stream of people. The veins of the city.

Her grip meant she was intent on making me fulfill my promise. The whole day by her side and do whatever she wanted me to do.

Which had me worried.

We already spent every day together. On the cart, on the road, under the eternal blue. She knew I had to watch over her. Because she was my payment. Why insist for me to stay by her side?

Because she anticipated for me to run away.

Why would I run away?

That depended on what she was going to make me do.

I breathed in. Breathed out. Enjoyed the morning sun on my face. The buzzing energy in the air. The sounds of commerce. Business. Money changing hands. Larose.

And then there was Elina.

"Salem, come with me."

She still held my hand. Not in romantic way. More like saying, "You're my servant for the day."

She pulled me along the cobbled street.

"So, what do you want?" I asked.

"Second breakfast."

Two words that had no business being together.

"Second breakfast?"

"Second breakfast."

"But you just had two plates."

"I never said I was full."

"Just wait until lunch."

She nudged me with her elbow.

I decided to shut up.

Elina sniffed the air. Led me along the street, following something her nose found. Eventually we ended up at the central plaza that was the heart of commerce of Larose. In this round space, hundreds of merchants, traders, chefs and craftsmen sold their wares, each claiming they were the best.

There were buyers and sellers. Rich folk and poor folk. Dozens of languages. People from every corner of the kingdom and beyond. Apprentices running around, with costumer payments clutched tightly to their chests. Children who looked like thieves, snaking through the crowds. Their sticky hands taking along a thing or two. I looked at them. I smiled. I was like them too once.

Elina had changed into her towns girl appearance. Blonde hair and blue eyes. But something felt different about her.

She stood there. Still and frozen. Her human-like eyes told a different story. They shone. A mix of emotions. Joy and something else. A feeling I couldn't quite define.

I said, "You like places like these?"

"Mh-hmm."

"You don't look like the kind who does."

She turned to me. "Why not?"

"Because you choose to live alone in a forest. Far from large towns like Larose."

"Hmmm."

She turned her back to me, her hands behind her back.

She said, "I guess...there is something about places like these."

Something in her voice. The way she spoke. A sense of melancholy. She fell silent. She stayed like that. In that moment she looked incredibly small. Isolated and lonely. Her shoulders slim and fragile. Her figure like a twig against the whole world.

I felt like I should've said something. But I stayed silent. It seemed like she was thinking. About what? Not sure. I wondered what her expression was like.

Eventually she walked forward. I followed until she stopped. She pointed at something. A stall. Delicious scents.

Fried bread with honey.

Her expression said, "I want that."

I shook my head

Her expression didn't change.

I sighed. I took out my coin purse.

I said, "At least let me have a bite."

"One bite."

She went to buy the bread. Came back with an extra large portion. She hummed and smiled and bit into it. She looked like a bundle of joy. The type of girl every man wanted to protect. Pure like the wind and warm like the sun.

I watched her eat. Nothing about her suggested who she really was. A witch who could kill without remorse. Kill hundreds with a smile on her face. She had killed the green eye bastard's friend. She had killed Simon Withstone. Slaughtered the entire honeytrap village. Who knew how many people she killed during her excursion last night.

Nothing about her was innocent.

But there was something about her.

"Here." She held out her hand. She handed me the last bite of fried honey bread.

I took it. I ate it. It was good.

We wandered around the marketplace, eating and drinking. Had lunch there. Kept on exploring. Her stomach was bottomless. My coin purse wasn't.

Eventually she led me away from the people, to the quiet streets. We saw some children running around. Some men doing this. Some women doing that. The sun turned tawny. Covered the town in the kind of light that made you think of the past. The good times.

The day was starting to end.

Elina said, "Salem, I want to see Larose from above."

I said, "Should be possible. The highest building in town should be the military watch tower. At the barracks"

"I don't see it."

"I heard the watch tower burned down in a recent fire. Only the main building is left."

"Huh...so that's why it looked so ordinary."

"What looked ordinary?"

She looked up at the sky. Some kind of longing in them.

She said, "Salem, will you come with me?"

"Where?"

"To see Larose. From above."

"I don't understand."

She smiled slightly. "Come. I'll show you."

She took my hand. Our fingers intertwined. I drew a sharp breath. It had been a long time since I've held a woman's hand like that.

Her body glowed. We vanished from the street.