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)
“Don’t repeat that to anyone,” I told Kaiden. “Sauven is unhinged, and Everard is a monster. You don’t need to be involved with either.”
“I’m not a baby,” Kaiden told me.
“I know you’re not,” I told him. “That’s why I trusted you with this conversation.”
We ate in silence for a few breaths.
“So, what’s your real name?” Kaiden asked Clover.
Clover raised her chin. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Why?” he asked.
She cut her pancake. “When I was twelve years old, a Maid Mother came to our town and scouted me.”
“Clover, are you a lady’s maid?”
She nodded.
That’s what LM stood for. I knew she had to be a part of a noble household, but I hadn’t expected a lady’s maid.
Maids had all sorts of jobs. There were laundry maids, kitchen maids, chamber maids, etc., and most of them came from the villages of a noble’s estate. They were the closest to the family, and it was essential that they were trustworthy.
A lady’s maid was often her closest confidant. She made sure that the lady was properly dressed and put together for every occasion and kept track of social functions and her lady’s budget. Ladies’ maids required specialized training, and a woman ascended to that position in one of two ways: by apprenticing to a lady’s maid and eventually inheriting her job or by going through training with a Maid Mother. Either way, it took years.
Formally educated lady’s maids were in high demand and their services weren’t cheap. In the hierarchy of the household, they stood near the top, right behind the stewards.
That was why Derog had kept her alive.
“It was a great opportunity,” Clover said. “I left my family and came to Kair Toren. For three years, I lived with other girls and studied. I had top marks in everything. My Maid Mother told me that I had a bright future. When my training was finished, I was placed in a household related to a Great Family. There are girls who would kill for that position.”
I had a really bad feeling about this.
“For two years I served as the lady’s maid to the household’s young lady. We were the same age. I was never reprimanded. I was praised, and the lady I served called me her friend. She named me Clover because I had a ‘soft and gentle beauty.’ I was paid well and sent money home to my family. I didn’t make any mistakes. My service was flawless.”
Yep, this would not end well.
“Two months ago, she was engaged to the son of an earl. There was a celebration. She celebrated with pastries. He celebrated by raping me.”
The three of us froze. Clover kept working on her pancake.
“The servants found me and dragged me before the lady, and then she slapped me until her hand hurt.”
Oh god.
“Then she kicked me, and after she got tired, she ordered the servants to kick me. I woke up in the basement of this house.”
Clover speared a piece of a pancake with her fork and dabbed it into a small puddle of jam on her plate.
“So it doesn’t matter what my name was. The girl who had that name is no longer here. Things that happened to me would’ve broken her. But I survived. I’m Clover, exactly what they made me. I’ll keep the name. It’s mine now, and I’ll make them regret giving it to me.”
She bit into her pancake.
“Which household?” Reynald asked. His voice was terrible.
“Earl Sunner,” Clover said. “Ulmar Hreban is my former lady’s brother-in-law.”
Shit. So that’s what she’d meant when she said the Hreban Family wouldn’t take anything else from her.
“Why did you stop eating?” Clover asked. “Is the food not delicious?”
The three of us grabbed our forks.
“It’s excellent,” Reynald said.
“Very delicious,” I told her.
“Mhm!” Kaiden said around a mouthful of pancake.
“I’m so glad.” Clover gave us a sweet smile.
Brunch was finished. We lingered around the table, drinking tea.
“We need to hire guards,” Reynald said.
Hiring guards seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea, but the mood had gotten heavy, and he was so deadly serious.
“What was it you said? Something about being able to hold this place against a small army?”
The blademaster gave me a look. “I have to sleep, and there will be times I might have to leave the house.”
I sipped my tea. “If only we knew someone who was an expert in martial arts and also aware of a lot of veterans in need of a steady paycheck.”
Reynald raised his eyebrows at me. “You’re bold this morning.”
“Clover’s delicious brunch restored me to my natural state. Who are you thinking of hiring?” I asked.
“A man named Gort Magnar.”
One of my college professors was a retired homicide detective. He used to say that cops did not believe in coincidence. Yesterday I decided to go after the salt. Today, Reynald wanted to hire Gort, who was in the salt subplot up to his eyeballs.