Chapter Nine
Well, he wasn’t so bad.
It was sunrise over Bristol as Desdra stood in the solar that overlooked the entry and the river beyond.
She was facing west, so the sky was still a little dark, but fingers of light were beginning to touch the landscape as if to shake the world from its slumber.
There was a chill in the air and a servant had stoked the fire in the hearth, so it was beginning to warm up as Desdra watched the river with a cup of hot brew made from herbs and flowers steeped in hot water in her hand.
There was mint and honey in there, along with the distinct flavor of rosehips and the rind of lemons.
It was a delicious drink that she had every morning to start her day.
And a new day had indeed dawned.
There was a new lord of The Feast. Desdra had spent the entire night thinking about him, hoping that this situation would, indeed, work out for all concerned.
Truthfully, she hadn’t been sure when she’d first met him.
She still wasn’t completely sure. But he’d redeemed himself somewhat as the night went on and the drink he’d suffered from had faded.
Hugh had told her that Jareth was a good man, so she was at least willing to keep an open mind about him. It wasn’t like she had any choice.
She wanted to keep her position.
That was the truth of it. Jareth de Leybourne was as handsome a man as she’d ever seen, and given where she worked, she’d seen plenty.
But there was something about Jareth that spoke of power and intelligence.
She liked that. He was a follower of the king, but around his men, he seemed to be a leader as well.
He projected the confidence of command, something Chester never had.
Chester had been congenial, sometimes firm in his decisions and sometimes not, but Jareth had no weakness about him. Not like Chester had.
Jareth seemed to be a man who knew what he wanted.
And she was sure he was able to get it.
That meant someone new to manage the business, should he so desire it.
That was most definitely not what Desdra wanted.
Were he to relieve her of her position, her only choice would either be to become one of the muses or return to her father, and returning to her father was not an option.
She found herself well remembering that time three years ago when her father had told her of her fate.
She was to go to a place in Bristol, he said, a place where women had positions and serviced men, and Desdra thought that her father had consigned her to being a prostitute for the rest of her life.
She remembered the horror of that moment.
But it was strange how that moment had turned into something that changed her life.
Her father had brought her to Bristol, to the beautiful old building that housed Aphrodite’s Feast. He had accompanied her inside, where they had been met by Chester, who proceeded to explain how long it would take to work off Ciaran’s debt.
Only eighteen months, she had been told, but she feared those eighteen months were going to be the worst of her life.
Initially, becoming a prostitute hadn’t been completely out of the realm of possibility because, belonging to Chester as she did, he could have had her do anything he wanted.
Only after Ciaran left and she and Chester had been discussing her education did the old man think that, perhaps, it might be worth her taking a look at the ledgers.
Desdra explained that she had always been very good with sums, and once she took a look at Chester’s accounts, she could see how badly mishandled they had been, probably for many years.
As Chester had explained to her, he’d had a man who had worked for his grandfather tend to his accounts, but he caught the man stealing from him and had ordered The Guardians to throw him in the river.
That left him without anybody to handle his accounts, and, truth be told, Chester was not very good with money or with organization.
And that was how Desdra found her place at Aphrodite’s Feast. If she was going to have to work off her father’s debt, then it was best that she use her strengths, one of which happened to be her mind. She had a very good one.
That was how Aphrodite’s Feast had become her home, a home she didn’t want to leave.
That meant she was going to have to show exceptional obedience toward Jareth.
Even though he’d asked her to remain, she didn’t want to give him any reason to dismiss her.
She hoped a night’s sleep and a new day hadn’t changed his mind about keeping her on.
Finishing up her hot drink, she went to the big table in the solar where she spent most of her days tending to the accounts, and she began to go over some inventories that had been delivered the previous week.
And that was how Jareth found her.
“Are you always tending to your duties so early?” he asked.
Startled by the sound of his voice, Desdra looked up from her ledgers to see him standing in the doorway.
The last time she’d seen him had been the night before, in the feasting room, where he’d settled in with his friends for conversation and drinking.
He hadn’t even noticed when she left. But here he was this morning, up early and dressed in a long-sleeved tunic and breeches.
Not the armor he’d had on the day before.
She got a good look at the size of the man’s shoulders.
Something impressive, indeed.
He was impressive.
“I’m afraid I do, my lord,” she said, trying not to pay attention to the size of his arms or hands or the way the tunic strained over his broad chest. “There is always work to be done, so I try to start early to ensure it is all taken care of by the end of the day.”
He came into the chamber, his gaze moving between her and the ledgers in front of her. “What are you tending to?”
She gestured to the ledger in front of her. “Food purchases,” she said. “We receive deliveries daily, so I do the tally every day.”
“Who keeps a record of your stores?”
“The cook,” she said, pulling out another ledger that was carefully marked. “But I double-check everything to ensure we are not stolen from.”
He glanced at the ledgers before looking at her, a smile playing on his lips. “Something tells me that you know everything there is to know about this place,” he said. “Am I correct?”
She smiled modestly. “It is my duty to know.”
“That makes you indispensable. You do realize that, don’t you?”
She shrugged. “I hope I will always do my duty well.”
He snorted. “As do I,” he said. “You’ll have to tell me all of it if this place is to belong to me. I should like to know what you know.”
She watched him as he yawned and scratched his head. “Have you decided if this place is worthy of you, then?”
He looked at her, still scratching his head. “I am not too proud to admit that yesterday was quite an eye-opening experience,” he said. “Hearing from you and Anosia and Melaina and the other women made me see this place as something… different.”
“Different than what you expected?”
He nodded. “Aye,” he said honestly. His focus lingered on her for a moment before he continued.
“I am very sorry for what I said to you yesterday. I know I have apologized already, but I will do it again. I was rude, and that has riddled me with guilt since it happened. I have asked you to stay and you have graciously agreed, so I hope that in the dawn of a new day, you and I can start again. I hope we can always be pleasant with one another. Yesterday was simply… a rough day.”
He seemed both embarrassed and remorseful about it, which made Desdra feel better about her security there. Her fears that he might have changed his mind were alleviated for the moment. In fact, she felt encouraged.
“It was a difficult day for all of us,” she said. “And with everything that happened, I’ve not yet had the opportunity to convey my condolences on the passing of your uncle. I am sorry, my lord. He was a good man.”
Jareth held up a hand to thank her. “Truthfully, I’ve not seen him in many years,” he said.
“He was my mother’s older brother, as I mentioned, but he and my father never got on.
I think, for that reason, I simply did not see him much when I was younger, and when I was older, the only time I saw him was when he came to London, but that stopped a few years back. ”
“I know,” Desdra said. “His health was not good the last two years of his life. He did not travel any longer. In fact, he did not travel to London the entire time I have been here.”
Jareth nodded. “I thought it might be something like that,” he said. “But he sent no word to me about it, so I was unaware.”
“And I was unaware of you until he dictated the missive that you received, the one that brought you here,” she said. “He never really spoke of his family. You mentioned that he did not get on with your father, so mayhap that is why.”
Jareth thought on the fraught relationship that his father and Chester had endured. “Did Uncle Chester ever speak of my mother?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Once or twice,” she said. “At least, I think it was your mother. Did he have any other sisters?”
“Nay.”
“Then it must have been your mother.”
“What did he say?”
Desdra had to think for a moment. “He spoke of how sweet she was as a child,” she said. “Little comments like that. He said she loved the water. She loved to swim.”
Jareth smiled faintly. “She did,” he said. “She was a firm believer that cold water was good for your blood. She would jump into a cold river and splash around. She would try to get my brother and I do it, too, but we wouldn’t.”
“Lord Chester mentioned that you had a brother,” she said. “He called him the heir.”
“He is.”
A mischievous expression crossed her features. “He told me to tell you that you should not give your brother anything.”
Jareth chuckled. “I do not think that will be an issue.”