Free Amazon Queen by Lori Devoti

you must, but don’t be a sheep.”
    I let out a yell and scrambled to my feet, but he was already gone.

Chapter 6

    It was another long
walk back to the farmhouse. I had tried to remove the cuffs on my own, but the son had snapped them tight and all I got for my efforts were scrapes to add to my already torn palm where he had bitten me. So I was forced to walk back to camp cuffed.
    And the yard was full. Areto was running the warriors through their exercises, Lao had the hearth-keepers on the front porch tying bundles of herbs together, and Thea was sitting under the oak next to Sare. Today she
was
carving fetishes. As I approached, Thea held a falcon up to the sun. When she saw me, she dropped it onto the girl’s lap.
    I walked past her. “Lao, meet me in the kitchen.”
    The hearth-keeper took care of minor home repairs. She was my best bet for picking the lock.
    “What happened?” Thea, of course. Alcippe, for all our disagreements, understood when I didn’t want to talk.
    My new high priestess, however, seemed clueless in this arena, or more likely she just didn’t give a damn.
    Lao had stood and was brushing bits of herb off her hands. When Thea asked her question, the hearth-keeper scowled. Mumbling, she stepped over a stack of lavender and tromped toward me.
    “There should be a paper clip in the junk drawer. Should do the trick.”
    Without answering Thea’s question or even glancing at her, I followed the hearth-keeper.
    “Zery,” Thea called. “You had a call earlier. I told her you were out. Her name was Mel. Isn’t that your friend? The one who is out of town for a long time . . . ?”
    My shoulders lowered. I stared at the safe-house door, scuffed and badly in need of a fresh coat of paint.
    I didn’t know why Mel had called. She wasn’t supposed to be back in Madison until tonight. Maybe she had called from Michigan. No matter, I didn’t have to explain anything to Thea.
    I kept walking. I was still going to Madison tomorrow and I still wasn’t taking Thea with me.
    She would just have to deal with it.
    I followed Lao. Behind me Thea cleared her throat
    My strides strong, I stepped over the threshold.
    My back spasmed.
    I hesitated, feeling almost as if I had been poked.
    I looked back. Thea still stood where I had last seen her, her arms hanging loose at her sides and a challenge on her face.
    I kept walking.
    Lao picked the lock on the handcuffs, then gave me a rag to run over my face while she got some medicine for my hand. I tried to wave her off, but she jerked my palm toward her and used her chest to cradle my hand as she dabbed medicine on the wound.
    “Don’t know what bit you and I’m not asking to know, but there’s no reason to walk around torn up.”
    After that I didn’t fight her. I just sat quietly as she put a piece of gauze over the wound and wrapped a bandage crosswise over my palm—not that different from how a pugilist wraps her hands before a fight.
    She opened and closed my fingers, in and out of a fist. “Fine, won’t even slow you down.” She thumped on the table with her open palm, stood, and gathered up her supplies. She looked at the cuffs for a second before holding them out to me. “You probably have more use for these than I do.”
    Chuckling, she shook her head and dropped them in my lap. Despite her humor, the gesture reminded me of Thea dropping the fetish in the artisan’s lap. I stared at them for a second. When I looked up, Lao was watching me; her eyes were serious.
    “Best get out there.”
    I waited, thinking she would say more, but apparently she was done. First aid kit in hand, she walked from the room.
    Best get out there
. Four simple words. She could have said them any day, but for some reason I didn’t think she’d said them casually today.
    I pushed back my chair and headed out into the yard.

    Thea was sitting beside Areto. I’d say she was whispering in her ear, but that was more a feeling than fact. As I stepped off the porch, both