Read Online Silver on the Road (The Devil's West Book 1) by Laura Anne Gilman - Free Book Online

too much, that he was going to make her empty it out and leave more behind.
    Just as she began to think that she should go upstairs and pack again, the Right Hand stepped forward. The swish of silk under her skirts only emphasized Izzy’s awareness of the strange feel of her unmentionables, the fabric rubbing oddly against her skin, and the hard sole and stiff leather of her boots laced too loosely against her calves. Everything feltwrong, awkward, immodest somehow despite her skin being decently covered.
    “Isobel.”
    Izzy’s hands stilled and her shoulders stiffened, years of obedience forcing her to look up at the older woman. Did she know that Izzy had wished for her position? But Marie didn’t look angry or even upset. “It’s all right,” she said, one hand touching her shoulder, urging Izzy to stand. “It’s all right to be scared.” And she didn’t allow time or space for Izzy to deny it. “You’re leaving the only home you’ve ever known, and if you weren’t scared, you’d be a fool, and we don’t raise fools here, do we?”
    “No, ma’am.” She wasn’t scared. She was angry. But she wasn’t fool enough to tell Marie that. She looked around the main room, pained to see it still empty. She hadn’t gone out of her way to tell anyone she was leaving, but everyone had known by the time she went to bed, no doubt. Gossip spread anywhere there was breath. She’d thought maybe someone would have come down to wish her well. . . .
    “This is the way of the world,” Marie said, as though knowing what she was thinking. “Some come, some stay, some go . . . and come back. You’ll come back to us, Isobel. You belong to the Devil’s House now.”
    Hadn’t she before as well? But no, the judge had said so: a Bargain was different from just a contract or indenture.
    “It’s a hard road you’ll be traveling,” Marie went on, stepping back and giving Izzy a long, assessing look. “Not one I would have chose for you, but that’s all and done now. Just you remember this: we don’t serve our own whims, not here nor out there. We play the devil’s tune, and he calls it as he will.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Marie shook her head, as though aware that Izzy didn’t understand, not really. “When you hear it, you will understand. Now go; the sun’s almost up, and you should be on your way. A journey’s best started before dawn.”
    Izzy moved almost without thought, following Marie’s gentle order. Her bootheels sounded impossibly loud against the wooden planking, the swing of the door shut behind her sharp as a thundercrack. Something snapped inside her with that noise, and she straightened her back, refusing to let it cow her. She’d wanted something more, wanted to be more. If this was how it came, then that was how she would go.
    Two horses waited, tied to the rail, along with a rough-coated, long-eared mule already loaded with packs, neck extended so flat teeth could snatch at a sparse patch of grass, probably not so much because it was hungry as because the grass was there. Izzy was wise to mules: she stepped to the side, out of reach, just in case it thought she might be more fun to bite.
    Gabriel Kasun came around from behind the taller of the two horses, a deep-chested bay with black points and a head like a rock, nothing graceful and all power behind it. The cardsharp was gone, his fine-cut coat replaced by a heavy canvas duster, a striped shirt with the placket done up underneath, his eyes half hidden by the wide brim of his hat. Her gaze dropped, and then she remembered Marie’s words and raised her head again, meeting his stare squarely.
    “There you are,” he said. She thought there was approval in that smooth rumble, and her forehead creased, not understanding, before he turned away and put a hand on the second horse’s neck, pulling loose her reins with a simple tug. “Your boss said you had some skill at riding. This is Uvnee.”
    The mare turned its head toward her, as