Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
I giggle. I can’t help it.
“My point is, my friend, that you’ve come this far. Why would you let a man like him defeat you now?”
I gesture at our surroundings. At the dank cavern, where somewhere spiders are still lurking, waiting to drop onto our hair. Where another team is out there with our stuff, laughing and patting themselves on the back for screwing us over. “This just isn’t what I expected it to be, you know?”
“What in life is?” She nudges me with her shoulder again, the gesture friendly. “We’ll get some sleep and things will be better in the morning. We’ll rough it tonight like the professionals, and then we’ll wake up in the morning and we’ll go looking for artifacts like we’re supposed to. Like we want this job. Because I would much rather dig for buried treasure in a cavern than change out the chamber pots of spoiled nobles…no offense.”
“None taken.”
There’s a nudge at my other side, and then Kipp is there, holding out a chunk of hardtack. He offers it to me with a little smile, and I take it from him gratefully. He holds another chunk out to Gwenna. “This is marvelous of you,” she says. “Where did you have this stashed?”
He pats the edge of his house, as if that answers everything, and then trots away to share with the others.
“I love that little guy,” Gwenna says. “He’s good people. Or slitherskins. Whatever.” She takes a bite of her hardtack and watches the others. “You know, it’s not just your life that’s difficult. Mereden doesn’t want to go back to the convent.”
“Oh?”
“Her father made her join the church. She didn’t want to, but he’s very religious and felt that one of their children should be an offering to Asteria to bring fortune on their house. She told me once that no one at the temple would talk to her, though. That it was a sect of silence and they believed they were closest to the goddess when they were quiet. That’s why she pushed to come here and join the guild. She was desperate to get out of there.”
“It sounds awful.”
“I imagine it was. And has Lark ever told you about her parents?”
It feels a little like I’m being lectured, but it’s all information I should probably hear. “She hasn’t.”
“Their family was poor. Magpie joined the guild but her sister didn’t have the skills. She ended up working in a brothel. She named her daughter Lark because she was jealous of everything Magpie had. Wanted her to have a bird name so she could be as special as Magpie, too. Of course, we know that’s not how it works, but what can you do?” She shrugs. “The father wasn’t known. Lark almost ended up whoring, too, but she ran away when she was a teenager and joined a troupe of traveling fortune tellers. She’s pretty good with cards, by the way. Absolute shit with juggling. No idea how she managed to make a living at it.”
I had no idea about any of this. I’ve been wrapped up in my own situation…and, well, in my relationship with Hawk. “I didn’t know.”
“You’ve had your new husband monopolizing your time, so no one blames you.” She pats my knee and takes another bite of hardtack. As she chews, she continues. “Kipp…well, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with him because he doesn’t talk. But I imagine it’s not perfect. My point is that everyone’s life has shitty aspects to it. You’re just getting all of yours piling on at once, but you’ll get through this.”
She sounds so confident, so certain. “What if this all goes horribly and I have no choice but to marry Barnabus after all?”
“Then we give you the Urn of Ever-Giving Nether-Pox and you make his life a living hell.”
I laugh again, but it’s sounding a little hysterical. “I’m already married, though. And Hawk doesn’t want me, either.”
Gwenna gives me an impatient look. “Why are you making problems for yourself, Aspeth? It’s a marriage of convenience, remember? It’s still convenient for both of you. Figure out what’s going on between the two of you once it’s no longer convenient. Until then, stop worrying about it.”
She’s right. Gwenna’s practical advice sinks in, and I can feel the truth of it. Why am I making problems for myself? Does it matter if Hawk likes me as much as I like him? He needs a partner for his Conquest Moon and I need someone I can point to and say is my chaperone.
Nothing else is needed.
I reach over and give her hand a squeeze. “You’re a good friend.”
“I’m a mediocre friend,” she corrects. “I’m an amazing maid, but I’d rather be a mediocre friend.” Her smile grows wider. “Or an even more mediocre guild fledgling.”
“New goal,” I agree, laughing. “We both shall strive to become the height of guild mediocrity.”