Page 83 of Tarnished Crown
“It’s not you they’re afraid of, Lemmikki.” Evander put his hands in his pockets like it didn’t bother him, but the tense set of his shoulders belied the gesture.
Kirill shook his head. “He has been slowly changing the laws in the people’s favor, but there’s a lot of history to overcome.”
I studied Evander, from the arrogant lilt of his full lips to the mocking quirk of his brow.
“That might be part of it,” I allowed. “But I don’t think your face is helping.”
The men laughed.
“Is that so?” Evander cast a sideways glance at me. “And what’s wrong with my face?”
“Objectively speaking, nothing.” I paused for a little too long as the honesty of that statement rang out, long enough for him to shoot me a smug grin that made me wish I had kept my observations to myself.
“But you have restingaalioface,” I finished up.
Kirill choked on a laugh.
“She’s not wrong,” Dmitriy helpfully chimed in, leaning against the wooden post of the tavern’s porch.
“I never noticed it before, but she has a point,” Yuriy added. “Maybe we’re just used to it.”
The terrified children still hadn’t moved, and the adults that came to fetch them cowered nearly as badly.
An idea popped into my head--likely a terrible one, knowing me--but I didn’t let that stop me. Without another thought, I bent down, scooping up a handful of snow, and threw it directly in Evander’s obnoxiously flawless face.
“There, that’s better.”
The entire street fell silent for a span of several seconds until I couldn’t hold my laughter in anymore. When the men began laughing, too, the tension with the villagers began to dissipate.
The children smiled, their eyes wide, as Evander slowly wiped the snow from his face. The quirk of his brow told me I would pay for that, but I didn’t wait for retaliation.
Though, I didn’t have to. My back was barely turned before a giant snowball came hurling through the air, hitting me right in the middle of the head.
This means war.
Moving closer to the children, I scooped up more snowballs, handing one to each of them. Their reluctance faded once Kirill sent one hurling toward us and soon there was a snow battle between the Bear soldiers and their lord and the village children and me.
Parents came out to scold them until they saw who else was playing. Then, they hung back warily to watch, but didn’t interfere.
After being cooped up so long in the castle, being somber and in pain, I had almost forgotten that life could be fun, even in circumstances like these.
When the sun left us entirely, we dusted off the snow from our cloaks and boots and went into the tavern.
There was a shift in the general mood, the air around us feeling a little lighter than it had when we rode up.
Many of the patrons at the tavern had seen the snowy battle waged just outside in the street, so several of them cheered or laughed when we entered. A few were still wary of me or Evander, of course, but the signs to ward off evil were at least subtler than usual.
I’ll take it.
All except for the barmaid who kept casting irritable glances my way, while being overly kind with the men. Particularly Evander.
I had the distinct feeling that it had nothing to do with the color of my hair, or my Lochlann blood.
Our dinner largely consisted of ale and a bowl of watery soup with a few cabbage leaves floating on top, along with a piece of hard bread. None of us complained, though. The ale was more filling than the soup, and far more delicious.
When we finished dinner, we made our way to the rooms at the inn across the road. Evander and I shared a room with two small beds.
It was strange and uncomfortable to climb into the single bed by myself after being in the other for so long. Or maybe it was just that my back was sore after a day of riding and the snowball fight.