She selected three more dresses for her performances, as well as a few simple ones for her journey. Alina didn't want to think about how the journey might end or if she would even get a chance to try them on. That would only make things worse. She stood here in the market, not already in front of the robbers' camp. It would take several days to get there, enough time to devise a plan.
Arela stepped up behind her just as Alina was arranging one of the dresses. "Judge Beldor never says anything, but some of the nobles have approached him," she reported. "Many requested him to bring his youngest son to a ball to introduce him to their daughters. It doesn't take much persuasion to secure Ero a bride from a good family. Perhaps Judge Beldor would like to see both of you married, but even he can't wait too long to marry him off."
Her fingers clenched the fabric, not, as Arela thought, in a surge of feelings for the young noble. She glanced at Ero. It wasn't right that they both put themselves in danger. Only one of them would have to bear this burden, so she made a decision.
"It would be better for Ero to marry into a noble family," Alina said quietly. Was that a pang in her chest? Alina raised her hand, but soon stopped in that betraying gesture and ran it through her golden hair instead. Marriage also meant she would lose their friendship as it was now.
"He loves you," Arela summed it up. For a moment, she hesitated whether it was a secret between them, then decided to lay every point on the table. "He's been thinking about you for years."
With a gesture of her hand, Alina dismissed the discussion. They came from different worlds. He was a nobleman, she the daughter of a common man. Marriage was absurd.
Alina turned her attention back to Ero. He held a single gold coin in his hand. The last thing he had left.
"If you want more dresses, remind my father who he's chosen as his daughter-in-law," Ero said. He didn't even hold it tightly, so Alina could easily take it. "And what's left for me?"
She handed it to one of the merchants and took five apples in exchange. Too much, but it didn't matter.
She threw one of the apples to Ero. "Satisfied?" she asked him with a smile.
She gave the second one to Arela. The girl would share it later with the carriage horse.
She kept one for herself. The remaining two were intended for Belena and Falira.
A smile played on Ero's handsome features. He took a hearty bite of the apple.