Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
We finished the look with some makeup. I’d planned to steer clear of it, since some medieval cosmetics had fun ingredients like lead and mercury. But Clover assured me that the rouge and eyeshadow were made of only root powder pigments and mica dust and insisted that some makeup had to be applied. Not wearing any would look odd. She offered to help me. I’d commandeered a mirror instead and left her in awe of my YouTube-taught application skills.
The end result was somewhat surprising. I did look like a highborn lady. So much so that when I passed Will in the courtyard on my way out, he did a double take. Lute was more restrained. He just blinked a few times.
Lute was wearing a complementary hunter green and brown, the colors of our shade-down. The clothes were brand new, his hair was brushed, his sword was in its scabbard on his hip. He looked every inch like a guard of a noble family.
In Kair Toren, clothes weren’t just a fashion statement. They indicated rank and affiliation. Families prominent enough to have a crest wore their crest colors at formal functions. The middle class—merchants, wealthier craftsmen, and minor nobles—didn’t qualify for their own crests, but they still wanted to display their status and wealth, so they color-coded their households, too.
The immediate family wore clothes incorporating the family’s chosen color with complementary shades. The household servants wore the same color but either two shades darker or less saturated—the shade-down. Our main color was a warm forest green, and our shade-down was more of a hunter green. Clover had bought green and more green for our family colors. At the time, I was all for it, because the fuck you to the Hreban Family couldn’t have been louder. But now, I wished it was any other color. Anything but that.
Green suits you, Maggie.
Fucking bastard.
Everard had shown no reaction at all to my new self. He had walked us to the door and opened it. I put my cloak’s hood up; Lute positioned himself by my side; and we were off. As we turned the corner, I glanced back and saw Everard standing there, in the doorway, watching us walk away with a flat expression on his face.
As soon as we rounded the corner, Lute said, “I didn’t know.”
“Even if you did, I wouldn’t blame you,” I told him. “Your father clearly knew, but I don’t blame him either. He is an out-of-work mercenary, and we both know who ‘Reynald’ is.”
Considering all the people scouring Kair Toren right now trying to find Everard, even saying his name in public could land us in hot water.
Lute nodded. “The whole thing was twisted from the start. Will and I are used to doing shit work. We are weapons for hire. We don’t ask a lot, except for one thing: Be straight with us and we’ll be straight with you. The old man didn’t tell us.”
“Your old man risked his life for years to take care of you and Will. He saw an opportunity, and he was right. ‘Reynald’ has been personally training you. I heard your father tell your mother that both you and your brother have improved more in the past week than you have in the last two years. You’ve already benefited from this arrangement.”
“We didn’t ask for that.”
“I know. If you stick with ‘Reynald,’ there is a good chance you will become a knight instead of spending your life as a mercenary-for-hire with high risk and low reward. Your father couldn’t pass up this chance. He had your best interests at heart.”
“That’s not his call to make.”
“That’s the thing about parents—they will do what they think is best and they don’t always care how you feel about it. You have to endure it.”
We walked in silence for a couple of minutes.
Lute leaned a little toward me. “There’s a woman following us.”
As expected. “Probably a Shears agent.”
Solentine would have left someone watching the house. Most likely at least three someones. One to follow me if I left, one to follow Everard, and one to stay and watch the house. They wouldn’t murder us in broad daylight, though.
“Do you want me to do something about that?” Lute put a hand on his sword.
“No need. She probably won’t interfere. Her job will be to observe and report back.”
“Are we really going to the Citadel?”
“Yes. It’s our first stop.”
“So, there’s a second stop?”
“Yes.” Warning Eliarde was important, but the second stop was even more so.
Lute’s eyebrows crept up. “Where?”
“Old Town.”
“Does ‘Reynald’ know?”
I smiled. “No. And I don’t want him to.”
If I explained my plan to Everard, he would lose his shit and lock me in the house.
We crossed the street and turned west, walking along the river on the street that would eventually bring us to the Ashen Bridge.