CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #2
“If I’m able,” I said, scooting onto one of the stools and placing my hands in my lap. Nerves tightened my throat as I admitted, “I haven’t any coin.”
“The way Catrin told it, I assumed.” Winnie drew the back of her hand over her brow before saying, “Wait here.” She disappeared through a door behind the bar, returning only a moment later with a small loaf of bread on a wooden plate.
She set the plate before me with a nod. “Eat this. We’re warming the stew Catrin brought you in with. ”
In my urgency to bathe, I had forgotten the rations in my bag. My empty stomach cramped at the sight of the warm bread, and I immediately ripped off a piece and plopped it into my mouth with a throaty hum.
“This is good,” I managed between chews.
“It’s insulting how surprised you sound.” When I once again flushed crimson and tried stammering out an explanation, she waved it away dismissively. “Only joking. You wouldn’t expect to find a cook this talented at a tiny little tavern in Grenythwood Village, now would you?”
I was too nervous to agree or disagree, so instead I stared at Winnie wide-eyed as she sashayed about the tavern, clearing plates, wiping down tables, and offering pleasantries to the villagers.
Not one of them cast me a wary eye or lingered on my braid—they were all too involved in their own lives to give me a second thought.
“Catrin mentioned you’re a novice Scholar. You were studying in Lunamor?” Winnie asked after dropping dishes off in the back room. She set down a wooden bowl brimming with stew and an accompanying spoon.
I hungrily dunked a piece of bread into the broth, my eyes fluttering upwards in appreciation as I nodded.
“Yes, I was there for a few years studying under the King’s Scholar,” I lied between chews.
“Strange place, that Lunamor. Is it true they never travel beyond the wall? Not ever?” Winnie’s quirked brow was skeptical.
“It’s true,” I said, all too amused that someone from Grenythwood thought an unassuming kingdom like Lunamor was strange. “With rare exception. And you would need written permission from the king if you hoped to return.”
“Couldn’t have that.”
“Oh?”
“A bunch-a old geezers in a tower deciding where I can and cannot be? Sounds like a prison,” Winnie said with a visible shudder. “I like to come and go as I please, and I fear for the folk who get in my way.”
“Do you now?” A slight woman with skin as pale as spilled milk slipped from the back door.
She rested against a stack of barrels innocently, her straight, raven-black hair pulled beneath a bonnet.
She wore all black, from her floor-length tunic to her apron, and her dark eyes sparkled against the flickering candles above her head.
Winnie smirked, rounding on the woman with a newfound hunger in her eyes.
“With one exception,” she said, attempting to pull the woman into her arms only to be rebuffed; instead, the black-haired woman with her gaunt, willowy features sidestepped Winnie and pressed herself against the bar, observing me intently.
Winnie, with what I interpreted to be a playful pout, came up behind the woman who was a head shorter than her. “Lyssa, please meet the cook of this fine establishment, Ekko. Wife, this is Lyssa Denan, Catrin’s niece.”
Ekko tilted her head curiously, dark eyes narrowing as her attention drew from my braid, to my eyes, and finally to my neck. Under the dim lighting, Winnie hadn’t appeared to have noticed my bruises, but it was already evident not much escaped Ekko’s observation.
“She’s pretty,” Ekko said with a sad sigh.
“Aren’t they all?” For the first time, Winnie’s blue eyes slid to my braid, and I palmed it nervously, smoothing my hands down the strands.
Yet another flush crept up my neck, and I avoided both of their gazes as I continued feasting on Catrin’s stew.
I’d never received such a compliment, and although I considered myself to be attractive enough, I didn’t feel I wielded the undeniable magnetism of Soran features.
At least, no one had ever treated me like I did.
“She’s shy,” Ekko cooed.
“I am not shy,” I said, eyes snapping to hers.
But while her brow lifted humorously, my own indented in contemplation.
Was I shy? I’d never thought of myself as such, but then again, I hadn’t much experience in the way of social interaction—especially not with anyone who wasn’t acutely aware of my standing and reacting to my presence accordingly.
It was then I realized I very well could be shy and just not have noticed it until now.
Perhaps Ekko could see past my facade, into the disquiet swirling in my center at the realization that I might not know myself as well as I thought, because she quickly interrupted my thoughts: “Did she accept?”
“Did I accept what?” My meal finished, I returned my hands to my lap, fingernails biting into the opposite palm to dissuade my wandering mind.
“I haven’t gotten around to asking yet,” Winnie murmured, looping her arm lazily around Ekko’s shoulders. “It’s not required, see, given that Berig and Catrin are covering your stay…”
“They are?” I asked through my shock.
“That’s what family’s for, lass,” Winnie said with a wink.
“I suppose it is,” I admitted, as if that were an obvious fact I was very much aware of from my own personal experience.
“As I was saying, it’s not required, but I thought you might be interested in earning a bit of coin for yourself.” Winnie ran her fingers along Ekko’s neck, and Ekko closed her eyes in response with a soft hum.
“Earn coin doing what?” I asked hopefully, even though I knew it wouldn’t matter; I’d never had a job before, and I doubted Winnie would want me making a mess of her tavern.
“What’ll you have, ladies?” Winnie excused herself from behind the bar with a toothy grin, greeting a group of women who commandeered a table by the hearth.
I turned my attention to Ekko, who wrapped an escaped strand of black hair around her finger and twirled it absently. “We could use another tavern maid. You would take orders, serve the patrons, wipe down tables… mundane, easy enough tasks.”
“That’s very kind, but—”
“Nothing kind about it,” Winnie interrupted.
Then, to an expectant Ekko, “Bread, cheese, two meat pies, and a plate of sausages.” With that, Ekko disappeared into the back room.
Winnie turned to me, leaning an elbow on the bar and drumming her fingers against the dark wood.
“We need a tavern maid, and you need a fresh start. Sounds like we could be a bit of help to each other, wouldn’t you say? ”
The stars knew it to be true, but could this really be it?
Everything was falling into place almost too perfectly, save for my crossing and unveiling, and I was downright astonished.
Days ago I’d thought Grenythwood was teeming with demons, now there I sat in a tavern, with a job offer, and—for the most part—having only been met with kindness and generosity.
It didn’t quite feel as though any of this could be happening. Not to me.
“I would love to, but I haven’t any experience,” I said, my voice uncharacteristically small.
“Don’t need any.” Winnie’s grin appeared genuine, if not slightly mischievous. “I get the feeling you’re a bright lass, studious and all. Should be as easy as trapping a bittlebug, for the likes of you!”
What in the depths was a bittlebug?