Shady

“Yes ma’am…” she hesitated. “I… just want to make sure… I don’t want it to look… I’m happy to stay in the library. I understand it’s delicate.”

“If the… atmosphere is thicker?” She was starting to realize it was a bad idea to come here.

“If someone is ‘close to the gods’—?” She glanced over her shoulder again to be sure a god wasn’t following her in before she shut the door. “Is there a ...

“That sounds nice.” Ky smiled a little. “I’m… not sure I’m supposed to. But maybe eventually.”

Ky knocked and started opening the door, looking over her shoulder, thoroughly spooked. It was one thing to talk to a kind elderly couple who helped you find your father. ...

“No ma’am.” She shook her head.

Ky waved back, then turned back towards Gaius’s office. She needed… help.

Ky let out a little huff and nodded. “…bye, I guess.” She didn’t like this batch of ghosts at all.

Ky glanced between them, brow furrowed. “He’s a good man.”

She frowned at him, deciding she didn’t like what he was implying. “It doesn’t change who he is. That’s not his fault.”

“Yes. Lord Tomhas Loquitur.”

She frowned at him, offended. “His name is Tomhas.”

“We’ve wandered around the grove a bit,” Ky said. “And played a lot of games with Emery.”

Ky hesitated, subconsciously rubbing her throat. What was it about ghosts that made her so insecure about herself? Her nose. Now her voice. “Yes sir.”

“That… I don’t like that. I’m not even a Northerner… by birth.”