Royal Airs Read Online Free PDF

jumped out and ran as fast as I could. I thought I was going toward the river,” she added. “Because I figured, if I could get to the Marisi, Zoe would be able to find me. But it was dark, and I got lost, and then somehow I ended up here on the southside. So then I figured I’d go looking for you instead. But I fell down, and I twisted my ankle, and I just came inside the first place I could find that looked halfway respectable.”
    Josie glanced around the bar again, showing no distaste for the sordid surroundings. “You made a good choice,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of places in this part of town where you would have been half so safe.”
    Corene looked over at Rafe. “Well, this one wasn’t safe the whole time. These men came over and acted like they wanted to kidnap me or something, but that’s when Rafe told them to get out.”
    Josie transferred her attention to him as well. “You did my sister a great kindness.”
    He shrugged. “It was easy enough to do.”
    “Since then, we’ve just been sitting here waiting for you,” Corene finished up. “And now—now I just want to go home.”
    “Foley’s already on his way to your father,” Josie said. “He came here with me, but I sent him on with a message. Foley is my personal guard,” she explained to Rafe.
    “If you live southside and you only have one guard, I’m surprised you’ve survived longer than a nineday,” he said.
    That faint smile was back. “I don’t live here all the time. And Foley is fairly formidable.”
    “But Zoe and my father aren’t in the Chialto house right now,” Corene objected. “They’re staying with—someone else—on the other side of the canal.”
    “I know,” Josie said. “It will take him at least a day to make it back. And if you sprained your ankle— Can you walk?”
    “I don’t think so. Not very far.”
    “Not sure you want to sit here in the bar for a whole day,” Rafe said. “I offered your sister the use of my room upstairs. She seemed to suspect my motives at the time, but it was an entirely honest offer and it’s still open.”
    “Thank you. This time we’ll accept,” Josie said. “We’ll pay you, of course.”
    He smiled at her. He was tempted, so tempted, to say, Play you for the privilege . Whoever won five hands at penta would determine the cost of the accommodations for the night. But an elay opponent was always tricky, and this one would be harder to read than most. He could lose everything to her on a single turn of the cards.
    “Of course,” he answered. “Let me show you upstairs.”
    He paused to order bread and cheese from a serving boy, since Josie hadn’t eaten and there was no food in his room, and then he shepherded the two women up the dark and narrow staircase. Corene refused to let him carry her, which would have speeded up the process enormously, and the server arrived with a tray of goods just as they made it to Rafe’s door.
    Five minutes later the three of them were more or less comfortably situated around a small table set right before the fire, which Rafe had built up hastily after they stepped into the room. He’d also given the women the only two chairs, while he perched on a battered trunk that held most of his possessions. He was relieved to see that the room was in relatively good order, but then, he was a fairly fastidious man. Even the bed was neatly made, though he couldn’t remember exactly when he had last washed the linens.
    “If you’re tired, as I imagine you are, you can sleep while you wait,” he said through a mouthful of cheese. “There’s a room down the hall for washing up.”
    “I’m so tired,” Corene said, yawning to prove it. “And my foot hurts.”
    “I’m fine,” Josie said. “But you must be tired, too, if you’ve been up all night earning a living.”
    She didn’t even say it sarcastically. “I might throw a blanket on the floor and nap for a few hours,” he answered. “I usually don’t have trouble