54. Fifty-Four - Conspirators
Fifty-Four - Conspirators
Edric
Days later, when I leave Ana’s shop, having just delivered a basket of crimson moss, Misses Scoggins pounces.
I indulge her. “You can ask me to drop by, if you want to see me, you know.”
“I can, but this is more fun.” She loops her arm in mine and I turn her back toward her shop, as if I’m escorting her.
“How is the construction progressing?” she asks, not looking back toward Ana’s shop, but smiling in that knowing way.
“It hasn’t started yet, as you very well know.”
She makes an indignant noise. “You could at least pretend.”
“I could. But this is more fun.”
She pinches me when she lets go of my arm and allows me to open the door to her shop for her.
“So! What are your plans for next week.”
It feels like a trap. I scour my memory, but come up with nothing. “I don’t believe I have any fixed engagements.
The astonishment on her face makes me uneasy as she says, “You aren’t doing anything?”
“I can’t tell if you’re fishing for information, or trying to make me guess something.”
Misses Scoggins deflates, like I’ve popped her with a pin.
“Of course she wouldn’t have told you.” She mutters the words “silly girl” under her breath, but she doesn’t tell me what Ana hasn’t either.
“I would love to know what you’re talking about,” I say, weaving my fingers together and setting them on the counter between us. “If you would like to tell me.”
“Ana’s birthday.”
She says it with an exasperation I don’t think I deserve, but I ignore that.
“She did not inform us that it was next week. I assume she didn’t want a fuss.”
“Well, she’s going to get one.” Misses Scoggins puts her fists on her hips and glares at me like I might argue.
“She’ll be turning thirty, which I know isn’t anything special to an elf, but humans like round numbers.”
“Please do not labor under any misapprehension. All of Ana’s birthdays are special to me.” All of her days are special. Celebrating her entrance into this world even more so.
“Then you’ll help us plan it.” Misses Scoggins’ smile tells me she was fishing. But not for information, merely emotion.
“Of course.”
“Good man.” She hits me in the chest with a pair of gloves and then puts them in a box, clearing away the other things on the counter. “I’ve already shifted the time to start at dusk, so your other lover can join the festivities.”
“Viggo will be grateful for it, I’m sure.”
“It’s the least I can do. He and your valet have given me things to play with that most would take elsewhere. She holds up a velvet fabric that’s black until she shifts it and then it’s somehow both red and purple.
“It’s too heavy for a dress, but for a waistcoat... He’s going to look divine.”
I have no doubt.
“Speaking of dresses…” She smiles up at me, waiting.
“I suppose Ana should have a new one for her birthday.”
“She should.” Reaching below the counter, Misses Scoggins pulls out a bolt of fabric and sets it between us on the conveniently clear counter. “Normally, I wouldn’t put Ana in yellow. Her mother loves the color, but the shades she picks are alway too bright for our girl. This one though…”
It’s buttery and soft. “I think she would look wonderful in it.”
“And Staci will be less of a problem if she can pretend that they are matching.”
Less of a problem, but a problem nonetheless.
Unlike my father, Staci isn’t going to go away. “I don’t know if it’s possible, but I would like to start making inroads with her if I could.”
Misses Scoggins grimaces. She doesn’t think it’s possible.
“Would there be enough fabric left over for a piece of a second dress?”
Lips pursed, Misses Scoggins nods. “Possibly.”
“I wonder... when she made Ana match, were the dresses ever something Ana chose? Or were they always Staci’s?”
She gives me a look that tells me it was the latter. “As far as olive branches go, it’s not the worst strategy.”
“It is the first and only one I’ve thought of so far.” I concede.
She goes to a cabinet and opens a door to a space stacked high with rolls of fabric. Pulling out one and then another, checking it against the one for Ana. “Let me see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
I watch her for a little while longer, wondering exactly when she forgot I was here.
“What other plans do you have in place already?”
She jumps and blinks at me and her eyes shift in color…
There are two pixies behind the curtain, working away. But if Misses Scoggins is older than she looks…
“How long have you lived in this realm?” I ask softly and her smile is less friendly than before.
“All my life.”
“Except for a few months?”
Her gaze is hard when she says, “Questions like those don’t need to be asked.”
“The Queen only demands I report malicious creatures. And you are not.”
“Not to you,” she says, “I and mine are less dangerous than your lover.”
I nod, because I’m afraid if I ask more, I will have to mention her.
Changelings rarely survive childhood, but they are still on the short list of those I am mandated to report if discovered with ill intent.
Changelings and full fae, naga and trolls, merfolk and bathyons. The list is open-ended and generally based on whether the Queen feels they’re a danger to the realm.
Misses Scoggins isn’t a danger.
“What can I do for Ana’s birthday, besides buying her a dress?” I ask.
Still watching me with more care than before, she says, “I’m sure you can figure out what you’d like to do on your own.”
“But I would prefer not to interfere with anything that is already planned.”
She nods and pulls out a box of buttons. “You’ll need to go talk to Leaf about the rest of the plans.”
I wonder, “You ambushed me... Does she know I’m coming?”
“No. I think it’ll be more fun if you surprise her.”
I already know the answer, but... “More fun for who?”
“For me, of course.”
I leave her sorting through the buttons and wonder if knowing what she is will result in extortion... I’ll just have to wait for the bill.
The breeze is cool and I can smell the impending rain when I step outside.
I should go back to the forest and get as much done as I can before the clouds break, but my work can survive an afternoon off.
The gray sky has turned Ana’s shop windows into mirrors, but I look at them as I pass, wishing they would give me a glimpse of her.
Viggo moved in two weeks after we met and having him constantly with me has always felt right... It’s been over a month, and even though Ana spends all of her nights with us, it doesn’t feel the same.
Soon, though.
I keep reminding myself of that with every step I take away from her.
The inn is dark inside, despite the midday sun, and Leaf sits on the bar top talking to a patron who looks too deep into his cups.
When she sees me, she hops down and marches to me.
“What can I do for you? Lunch? An afternoon tipple?” One brow raised, she glares up at me, accusingly. “There’s not much else here for you.”
“I would gladly take some lunch, but I’m here to help you plot and scheme.”
Her eyes narrow and she looks toward the door. “I’m not going to kill your father.”
That makes me laugh, even though I know it shouldn’t. “I’m glad to hear it. Viggo would be the one to come to you for that. The plotting I had in mind is of a more festive nature.”
“Oh.” She deflates a little and then, she smiles. “Someone told you about the party.”
I almost ask if she was trying to hide it from me. “Misses Scoggins.”
“Of course.” She waves me to a table and when I sit, she climbs up into the chair opposite.
“I am happy to help in any way. As, I’m sure, will the rest of the household.”
She glances at me with narrowed eyes. “Did she make you buy a dress?”
“She didn’t make me, but I did not argue when she presented me with the option.”
“Good.” She nods, and her eyes go a little distant as she thinks. “You provide the dress, we have the cake, the food, the punch... tables, chairs, music. There honestly isn’t much for you to do.
“You and any of yours can help us when it’s time to set up the field. And Viggo can keep her distracted that day. It’s not technically a surprise, but we don’t want her trying to show up early and help set tables.”
“I can assure you, he will happily keep her occupied until the sun goes down.”
“You could provide the lights!” She sits up a little straighter. “I hadn’t gotten to those yet. And who knows, maybe you have something fancy hidden away in the manor house.”
Not hidden away, but... “I can light up the field for a night’s celebrations.”
“Good. Then it’s settled.”
I nod and start to stand, but then I think better of it…
“Do you know about elf lights?”
Her brows fly high. “I had forgotten about them... they’re usually spoken of as rarities.”
I snap my fingers and a tiny ball of light hovers above my hand. “My kind is not... quick to share our magic with strangers, but none of you are strangers anymore.”
“I was excited before…” she cups her hands, holding them underneath the light like it’s a firefly. “I might start to actually like you.”
“I will live forever in hope.”