Chapter 21
The horses’ hooves clip-clopped on the cobblestones of the main street.
A blacksmith’s hammer pinged against metal.
The shops and roadway teemed with folks of all walks of life; purple-robed mages and scholars in sage green, different generations of townsfolk in various styles.
Warriors in golden armor patrolled on the sidewalks.
Most everyone had a smile, the atmosphere was cheery with the sun out and temperature finally rising.
The first hints of spring blooms, pink and white hyacinths and purple crocus, popped through flower boxes below windows.
Vander and I rode side by side, catching the eye of several passersby.
There were a handful of others riding but none of their horses were as regal or tall as ours, and Vander was someone to look at in anything he wore, but especially today.
The smell of fresh-baked bread wafted out from a place called Nan’s Bakery, making my mouth water.
The pink sign with a small chocolate cake swirled with blue frosting caught my eye.
I noticed new places every time I came to the heart of the city.
Children chased each other around a four-tiered fountain in front of a jewelry shop.
The glittering necklaces and earrings had to cost more than I’d ever make in a lifetime.
A few of the kids stopped and pointed at us.
“Look, it’s a nobleman and lady!” shouted one small boy with too large trousers held up by suspenders.
Some of them giggled. One little girl in a pink dress, no more than four, jumped up and down and squealed. “Pretty ponies!”
I smiled despite myself and waved at them. I’d never been mistaken for a noble lady before. The boys laughed and ducked behind the fountain while the little girls waved back. “She waved at me,” a girl with brown curls and freckles bragged.
“Us, she waved at us,” said another.
I turned to Vander to find him grinning. “Children are funny, aren’t they, Lady Aesira?”
“I bet you’d melt those little girls’ hearts if you waved, Nobleman Vander.”
He chuckled and waved at them. Now the giggling little girls were the ones to run for cover.
I leaned closer to him. “Imagine how they would react if we were in assassin garb.”
“More impressive than nobility,” he added with a sly smile.
“And rarer to see in public.” Vander turned Lady Sora to a stable post in front of The Spellbound Lady’s Shoppe.
The whimsical dresses hanging in the window were much too fine for someone like me.
This couldn’t be the place he intended for me to shop at.
It was far beyond what my apprentice stipend could afford.
Most of my clothes back home were hand-sewn by my mother and grandmother and, while they were excellent seamstresses, we lacked the funds to purchase new material often.
I slid off Stormbreaker and patted his soft neck before I tied him to the post. I caught my lower lip between my teeth when Vander marched for the shoppe. He pulled the door open and gestured for me to go ahead.
“Um, are you aware how much apprentices are paid?” I looked up at the sign with gold lettering hanging above my head.
He rolled his eyes, slipped his arm around my lower back, and guided me inside.
“Clothes and magic all in one place.” It smelled like mint and fresh-cut flowers.
The entire right side of the room was filled with ladies’ clothing, from colorful dresses and skirts to pretty blouses and leather boots.
Bright, milky-white walls with golden sconces, cornice flourishes, and crown molding.
A handful of ladies in fine day dresses rifled through the clothes racks.
On the left, separated by an ornate archway, was the opposite: black walls, an especially gaudy full-length gilded mirror in the corner, and burning incense.
A variety of crystals in all shapes and sizes, as well as leatherbound books and other trinkets, lined the shelves.
An ivory bird with tail feathers as long as my forearm sat on a perch next to the counter.
It let out a squawk from its large gray beak. “Vander. Vander.”
I blinked in surprise. “It talks—and knows your name.”
Vander bobbed his head, unfazed. At a round table, three ladies in dark-shaded dresses turned to acknowledge us. “Welcome in,” one of them called but didn’t rise.
“Is that you, Vander Vierroson?” came a light airy voice.
My attention pulled to the corner of the room where a woman had blended in with the bouquets of dark blooms, and the paper Nighthaven Daily.
She lowered it enough to reveal her eyes and brunette and gray mixed hair tied up into a graceful knot on her head.
I spotted the crystal ball in front of her, and a mage’s staff leaned up against the wall, though she didn’t wear the robes of the mage guild. The white feather sticking out of her hair was curious. From the bird by the counter? She set the news scroll down.
The bird squawked again. “Vander. Cookie.”
He grumbled. “I forgot his treat. He’s vicious when he doesn’t get it.”
How often did he frequent this place? “Do you shop often for women’s clothes?”
The woman, possibly in her fifties, but it was hard to tell with her supple skin, lifted her heavy maroon skirts. Her heeled shoes tapped loudly on the wood floor. I noticed the raven-shaped bonecarved earrings bobbing just above her shoulders and smiled.
She quickly kissed Vander’s cheek, then the other.
“It’s good to see you, sweetheart. I was just talking with your mother a few days ago about how I haven’t seen you in too long.
Will you be at the family celebration for Midsummer this year?
King Sigurd said he missed you last time.
You are the charming one in the family after all. ”
I was surprised he brought me to meet someone from his family and even more that he had invites to parties with the king. I knew his mother was a royal cousin, but I wasn’t familiar with how the upper societies worked.
He inclined his head. “I will have to see when the time gets closer, you know how busy I am these days. You’re the only reason I’d attend.” She laughed and her eyes softened.
He gestured to me. “This is Aesira, my apprentice. Aesira, this is my Aunt Murial.”
“Oh, hello, dear, lovely to meet you.”
“You as well. I like your shop. Are you a mage?”
“Why thank you, dear, and yes, I’m a mage. One of the few in the family.”
“She likes to brag about it,” Vander added.
Murial let out a “ha!” and held out her hand for a greeting, and when our palms touched, a shock went up my arm. Jerking back, she put her hand to her chest and let out a sharp breath. I tucked my hand casually behind my back, shaking out the strange sensation. What was that?
She blinked at me. “Where are you from?”
Vander’s brows tugged closer, and he butted in before I could answer. “She’s from Lothleton. Why?”
A dismissive hand and shrug answered. “Just curious.”
“Forgive me for not knowing,” I started, “but why don’t you wear mage’s robes?”
Murial’s brows rose. “Oh, well, I don’t work for the guild. I went through my training with the guild, of course, as we all do, but I decided to start my own shop. It’s more fun.”
I hadn’t known that was an option.
The bird squawked again and took flight. It landed on Murial’s shoulder, and the beady black eyes stared Vander down. “Cookie.”
“Sorry, Zenon, no cookie.”
It cocked its head and chittered angrily.
Murial reached up and patted its head. “Settle, Zenon, my boy. Anyway, what brings you into town today?”
Vander tilted his head toward me and waited for me to answer. I cleared my throat. “I need some new clothes to wear when I’m not in uniform.”
“She wants to see magic too.”
“Perfect, you certainly came to the right place.” She hooked her elbow around mine and dragged me over to her desk in the corner. Zenon hopped from her shoulder onto the desk with his long talons clacking. He stopped in front of me, head bobbing. “Vampire. Vampire. Vampire.”
I stiffened. Could this bird sense I was bitten? I sometimes wondered if it had tainted me, even if it hadn’t turned me.
“Oh, you’re insufferable today.” Murial shooed the bird, and he took flight back to the perch. “He overhears talk and hangs on certain words. Have a seat, Aesira.”
Over my shoulder, I found Vander looking nervous, standing behind my chair. He folded his arms. “Aunt Murial, what are you doing?”
“She wants to see magic, doesn’t she? I’m just doing a small reading, that’s all.”
His jaw hardened. “When I said magic, I meant conjuring fire in your palm or forcing a chocolate pixie to dance, not fortunetelling.”
“That’s for children. There’s no hurt in a little future peek. I see what the spirits want me to. Remember when you were sixteen and I saw a girl with two different-colored eyes in your future? And I knew you wouldn’t take the path of a scholar.”
Sweat dampened my shirt under my arms. That couldn’t be coincidence and sixteen was long before he and I could have ever met. His tongue ran over his bottom lip. “I remember. That’s the last peek I let you have.”
“And look at Aesira here. She’s—”
Vander’s eyes flashed, in warning.
Murial cleared her throat. “Well, what I mean to say is I didn’t know she’d be your apprentice, but I knew then she was... important to you.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted someone to peek into my future. It seemed invasive, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
He muttered something about this being a mistake and gripped the back of my wooden chair.
“Can I hold your hand, dear? This is just a bit of fun. Sometimes I can see glimpses of the future. It could be a child you may have one day, or the path to great wealth, or a future lover’s name. Sometimes misfortune, but that’s rare.”