Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
THOMAS
The question isn’t so much who sent it, but how did they get the Glow to infuse the spell? —in a letter from First Guidelord, Luis to High Magelord, Bearer of All, Gautier the First
La’Angi Orchard
I sat beneath the shade of the apple tree and tried to nap.
A fly walked over my cheek. I shifted. As I did, the tabard moved, allowing some air to circulate beneath my shirt.
The fleeting breeze cooled the sweat on my skin, reminding me how uncomfortable I was.
Tiredly, I lifted myself up to my feet. Vincent had been upset.
The healer had declared he was fine, just teething, and would settle down.
The poor little mite disagreed last night.
Steel clashed against steel nearby. I opened my eyes to see Chay and Audrey locked, body to body, over swords.
“You don’t want to be here,” Chay said, bearing down on her, using his superior weight.
Her breath came out in pants, her feet set firmly, her shoulders straining. I didn’t tell him to go easy on her. I’d given up on that moons ago. But I did spend a moment to be glad that her entire focus was on the combat, not the man.
I had to give it to the girl; she had the Duke’s single-minded focus.
I closed my eyes as she unbound her sword and tried to lunge out of his reach, knowing how it would end for her.
“How can I get out of that?” I heard her ask, breathing easy now.
“Kick him in the balls,” Isolde drawled, from under a tree nearby, a hat over her face. She’d opened her shirt to show some strange leather underclothing. Sweat beaded on her exposed skin. I looked away.
“That’ll work,” Chay agreed wryly. “But only if your timing is right. Once we’re in a bind, the stronger opponent almost always comes away the winner. Even if they don’t kill you,” he added, “they’ll tire you, put you on the back foot. Avoid. Predict. Study.”
I went to the saddlebags, got a skin of water, and took a drink. The sound of their sparring started up again. I said nothing.
He fought like a knight. He was teaching her how to fight like one, too. She should’ve been too old. It shouldn’t have taken, not properly. I’d seen older men try to join the guard. I knew what the training took. How young brains had time to learn things old brains struggled to grasp.
I’d been horrified when Kaelson had tossed her a knife and asked to see what she could do.
That was the basis of much of her knowledge.
She was, in truth, not going to fight like a swordsman, nor like a spearman.
She was a brawler through and through. We could put a coating of standardized training over it, teach her how to walk in step and reform a formation, but her instincts were what she’d picked up as a child.
This time, I didn’t let my eyes wander to Isolde. That woman, she had a lot to answer for.
My attention was drawn, inexorably, to where they moved together in the center of the clearing, the back and forth of their bodies. There Chay was, his shirt open halfway down his chest, sweat dripping off his nose. I had to wonder if he was deliberately trying to turn her head.
They circled each other, their eyes locked, their expressions intense.
He lunged; she sidestepped. Her footing wasn’t bad.
She was light and moved in unpredictable, but not foolish, ways.
As you’d expect from a brawler. She left herself open as she moved, coming up for the counter-attack he’d taught her yesterday.
He shoved his shield down and out, showing he’d been listening to his lessons, cracking her defenses wide. He didn’t bother to land the blow that would end the match, though he did begin the swing. They both knew it was over, broke apart wordlessly, and went again.
She’d taken my Sandra under her wing, and for that, I had to be grateful.
At first, my Rose and I had been insulted that the lady had even suggested our girl would have to work.
Wasn’t that the point of being noble? But really, we both wanted our children to work.
We wanted them to know the satisfaction of earning something.
To not just assume everything would come to them.
I knew my Sandy was quick as a whip. I doubted she was more suited to the stewarding role than a dozen others in the keep, but she was the one who’d been there, and she was the one the little lady had seen potential in.
Part of me knew it was unfair. I was leveraging connections to further my own children’s future, something I’d seen nobles do and hated them for when I was young and idealistic.
But it wasn’t elevating my Sandy too far, really.
It wasn’t like she was marrying the oldest son of a rich city. She was learning a new trade.
Bless her, she wanted to help herself and the family.
The thought of Sandra took me inevitably to Orvald, the young knave who’d been sniffing about my eldest these past weeks.
He was new to these parts, but the quickness of his fingers meant only one thing.
The lady Audrey had taken a shine to him too because he’d materialized her favorite horse brushes when she’d been in to groom that spoiled horse of hers.
Never mind the young bastard with his gleaming smile and floppy hair had probably been in the process of stealing them.
Dragging my thoughts away from the boy trying to steal my little Sandra’s heart and possibly everything else as well, I dragged my eyes over to the lady, ignoring discomfort of seeing my liege lady dressed like a peasant.
The outfit suited her, truly. Her shoulders finally fit the fabric properly, the huge expanse of them, and the strength in her thickly muscled legs was clear.
They circled each other again. He lunged.
She avoided and counter-attacked as before, bringing the sword up in a crescent swing aimed at his back.
He thrust down with his shield again. She pivoted and sent her foot square into his chest, forcing him back and leaving a dusty print on the fabric that stuck to his damp skin.
He grinned. “Cheating.”
“Winning,” Isolde interjected, without looking.
I silently agreed with Isolde. I didn’t like it, but it was true. Brawlers, skilled ones? They knew how to get out alive.
I didn’t know why my lady was so caught up on it, though. Hadn’t she already won? Wasn’t she here, still, lady of a prosperous city? Didn’t everyone look to her for advice and dish out their approval and gratitude by the cartload?
What more did she want?
We rode into La’Angi late in the day. Locals were so accustomed to Audrey’s long rides that a few hawkers jogged up, offering her wares. One of them had timed their baking so it’d be fresh when she rode in.
She admired what they had to offer and then, as she’d made a habit of, went to the market to buy spiced juice and, today, flaky pastries not unlike the ones she’d turned down at the gates. She passed me one with a smile, her eyes bright and joyous with the freedom of youth.
“Thanking you,” I said, though my belly was still slumbering.
At least she’d listened to me when I told her if she encouraged the hawkers, she’d never be free of them. I pinned a young boy with his hands in his pockets with a firm look. He was loitering with intent.
“How’s Orvald?” the lady asked me. I let my eyes linger on the boy just a little bit more before I turned to her.
“Who, m’lady?” I asked, deliberately misunderstanding.
“Orvald?” she said again. “He and Sandra are working together currently? He was going to ask you about serving size preferences, I believe.” She slid a suspicious look my way.
I didn’t scowl, but I had no idea what she wanted from me. “I’ve not seen him, m’lady.” If he’d tried to see me, well, I was a busy man. I didn’t have time for thieves.
The markets were doing better now, but it was still a far cry from what it had been and people were worried.
She and Sandy had their heads together. Sandy had been full of talk about putting money into the pockets of people so they’d put it in the pockets of others.
I didn’t tell her that was how coin worked.
They were replacing shutters in the castle, rejuvenating tapestries, re-laying paths.
The garden, which had been the Duchess’s pride and joy, had been cut back and dug up.
The plants going in were edible or medicinal.
Last I’d heard, lady Audrey was looking for apiarists and trying to figure out a way to shift waste to the orchard to fertilize it.
A bard danced up, playing his lute and wiggling his brows comically. When he’d first done this routine, I’d been irritated. Now, it was just part of our day. Behind him ran a few laughing children. My eyes roamed further, over rooftops, and I picked out, in the bay, a familiar set of sails.
Isolde caught my gaze, her expression serene. Captain Elnyta wasn’t on the long list of people Isolde disapproved of.
We made our way back to the keep with good speed once the little lady had spotted those sails. We stuck to her like shit to a blanket as she bypassed what she could and redirected what she couldn’t. Back at the tower, she gave Chay and me a brilliant smile.
“I’ll be having a quiet afternoon,” she told us. “If you’ve errands to run, or something else to do, please, feel free.”
“You’ll be at your standing appointment?” Chay asked her.
Lady Audrey hesitated, and I didn’t know if I was glad of that pause.
“I will,” she said with a sigh, coming out from the tower. “In fact, I might go down, see Bernadette, and go across from there.”
“I’ll go see if Kaelson’s free to come early,” Chay offered.
She sent him a grateful look. “Thanking you.”
I fell in behind the lady once more. My young counterpart had spent a lot of time with Kaelson.
I hadn’t asked Kaelson about it, of course.
I assumed the boy was finding solace and bolstering his determination when it flagged.
And it did, regularly. I saw the way he still watched her.
I’d seen him swallow his words, the way he’d look down at his boots and suck in a deep breath.
I would’ve been worried except the little lady hadn’t once looked back.
Her father wasn’t a forgiving man and like it or not, we took after those closest to us.
It didn’t surprise me that she wasn’t still crying over whatever puppy love they’d shared.
And Captain Elnyta was keeping her busy.
Bernadette looked up from the pot of potatoes she was peeling and made a noise of delight when she saw Audrey.
“My favorite taste-tester! Come, try this new relish. You’re going to love it or hate it.
It’s to go with cold meats for the informal luncheon on the first day of the break.
It’s not ideal with the cheese, but with some fowl, it might be perfect. ”
Mine was a good post, really. I was paid handsomely in blueberries, my family were given excellent opportunities, and all I had to do was sit around and keep my thoughts to myself.
“Those tailors were looking for you,” Bernadette told my lady as she smeared some relish over a slice of roast meat. “Here, try it on the venison, too.”
Audrey hesitated. “Should mayhap Isolde try instead? You know I…”
“You,” Bernadette said, firmly, shoving it forward.
“Those two girls, they’re excited to see you.
Ness, you run and tell them the lady will be up in her room for dinner.
” To Audrey, she said, “I’ll send it up for you all.
You’ll want to see what they’ve put together for you, and you can’t put them off until tomorrow. ”
Stand around and keep my thoughts to myself. That was all I had to do.
I shifted my weight from one aching foot to the other, which ached a little less, wishing for a cool breeze and a compliant mistress.
At some point, I wouldn’t be just standing around. Damned if I would get caught with my breeches down.