Chapter 2

* * * *

The next night Taurin returned to Jéànty’s

and sat at the bar, waiting. A glass of arla appeared in front of

him as if by magic, and when he looked up, the bargirl smiled. “See

you came back,” she said. “He hoped you would.”

Taurin didn’t have to ask who hewas.

“What’s his name?”

“Quim,” she replied before moving on to other

customers.

Quim.Taurin rolled the name around in

his mind, tasting it. Quite unusual but then again, so was the man

who claimed it. Throughout his daily exercises that morning, Taurin

hadn’t been able to get the bard out of his mind—when a few friends

had asked him to join them for dinner, he’d turned them down, eager

to return to the inn for another concert.

Taurin didn’t have to wait long. When the

bard entered the room from a back hallway, Taurin watched lithe

muscles move beneath travel-worn clothes and held his breath as

Quim looked around the room, steady gaze searching for something.