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)
He huffs with annoyance. “So she’d rather you be blind than unfashionable? She’s an idiot.”
When he puts it that way, it does sound exceedingly stupid. “My father has been largely absent. I think he entertained the thought of another wife for a while, but nothing ever came to fruition, and he seemed content to have me be his heir and fool around with his mistress instead. We’ve never been close. I think I see him perhaps twice a year, despite the fact that we live in the same hold. Or rather, we did.” I shrug. “So when you say you’re not close to your family, I understand.”
Hawk finishes his soup and I nudge mine toward him. He immediately takes it with a grateful smile and trades me the bread. “It’s not that I’m lonely. The guild keeps me busy. I’m close to the other Taurians who work here in the city. I have Magpie.”
“Mmm.” I can’t say much positive about Magpie. She’s too erratic and absent.
“Once, she was a great mentor,” he says, as if reading my sour thoughts. “I know she struggles now, but a decade ago she was clever and daring and no one could match her success rate. She seemed to know instinctively where to dig, and we’d come up with treasures more often than not.”
“Did she use a dowsing rod then, too?” I tease.
“A dowsing rod?” His brow furrows. “Of course not. Those are fairy tales. A prank played on fledglings to keep them occupied.”
“Just curious. I’ve heard, um, that some use them.”
“Foolery.” Hawk sounds cranky at the thought. “The best thing you can do is show your students the best places to dig, not to rely on sticks and magic. You look for places that would have lots of artifacts—old warehouses, or libraries. You look for merchant shops that specialized in the arts. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll stumble upon a wizard’s shop. But just using a stick?” He makes a face. “That’s a setup to fail.”
He’s not wrong. I just can’t help but wonder if Magpie truly wanted us to fail or if she was lazy. There’s no way she could have known about Gwenna’s bloodline if even Gwenna had no idea. And we don’t know that the dowsing rod actually led us to the ring. It could have been a fluke. Gwenna could have had shaky hands. Something.
“So may I ask you what your name was before you joined the guild? Who were you before you were Hawk? And what made you pick that name?”
He eyes me. “What, you think you can slide your soup over to me and suddenly I’ll answer every question you ever had?”
I flutter my lashes at him, even though I probably look ridiculous through my spectacles. “Yes?”
The hard edges of his smile turn up just a little. “Maybe we order another round of soup and I can keep talking.”
Grinning, I take another huge bite of bread, which truly is delicious for all that it’s dry. I guess butter would be weird to minotaurs. “I think that sounds delightful.”
THIRTY-FOUR
ASPETH
Dinner is far more fun than it should be. I know I’m supposed to be distracting Hawk and keeping him busy so the others can work on the counterfeit pass, but I’ve forgotten how enjoyable it can be to just talk to him. He’s as obsessed with the guild as I am, but has a jaded, almost world-weary view of it while mine is more optimistic. He’s sick of the politics, but still loves the joy of finding something new and exciting.
“Not that I get the chance to much anymore,” he admits. “I’m too busy on rescue missions. It’s like the guild isn’t training anyone worth a damn any longer. I’m constantly being shuffled off to haul out some twit who didn’t realize he was digging next to a support beam and collapsed an entire cave. Or some Five’s gearmaster forgot to pack rations and now they’re all too weak to make it back to the surface on their own.” He shakes his head, making a face. “Who mucking forgets to pack food?”
It does sound idiotic.
Hawk eats three more servings of soup and I devour nearly a full loaf of bread, especially after the barkeep brings me a tiny pot of honey to dip the delicious bread in. We sip ale, too, but it’s expensive and we don’t want to drink Hawk’s funds away.
He refuses to admit that he’s afraid of spiders. Says I’m exaggerating.
He does mention that his name was Wallach before he became Hawk.
I try not to hold it against him.
He also mentions that he picked the name Hawk because it sounded fearsome…and it was easy to spell. “I’m not good with those little feather quill pens the guild uses,” he says, turning his palms up. “My hands are too big. So the less I write out, the better.”