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)
“Once you are signed into the fledgling lists, there is no backing out.” Rooster casts a stern look over the audience. “You will either pass your test or fail. Fail, and you will become one of the guild repeaters. You will work with the guild, performing menial tasks and paying off the lessons squandered until another guild master decides to let you fledge again.”
Gwenna pinches my leg, leaning over. “What’s a repeater?”
“He just said. Someone who fails out—”
“Yes, but what do they do? What tasks is he talking about?”
I think for a moment, trying to recall what I read in the pamphlets and books about the guild. “There are guards, and each house has an assigned nestmaid who takes care of the food and laundry—”
“Wait, so if I fail, I become a maid again, except this time I don’t get paid? Aspeth! What in all the mucking hells—”
At my other side, Kipp the slitherskin hisses loudly. We both turn to him and he glares sternly at us, putting a finger to his mouth to indicate silence. Then…he licks his eyeball.
Right. I put a finger to my lips and give Gwenna a meaningful look. “You’re not going to be a repeater,” I promise her. “We’re going to pass.”
She growls at me. Growls. I’m guessing she’s not going to want a hug after this. It’s a shame, because I’m so excited to be here that I want to hug everyone. Even Rooster, if he came close enough. Commoners hug, don’t they? Surely it wouldn’t be too out of line.
I continue smiling as Rooster drones on about guild history and the Mancer Wars, and how the guild was established by the king three hundred years ago. I know all this, so I focus on my teammates instead. Lark’s head bobs, her eyes closed as if she’s at prayers. She looks truly focused, and I’m so delighted to see that…until she leans too far forward and snores. At her side, Mereden the priestess nudges her, the look on her face studiously polite. She stares ahead, her gaze focused intently on Rooster at his podium.
My gaze slides past them to the next row, where a male fledgling about my age is looking over at us. Our eyes meet, and then he makes an obscene gesture at me with his tongue. Flustered, I look away. Good gods.
“As your teachers and mentors, the guild masters expect three things from each fledgling,” Rooster continues. “Curiosity. Eagerness. Honesty. Let me tell you a little bit about each one and why it matters.”
Gwenna leans toward me again. “Do you think he’s going to go on for much longer?”
I bite back a grimace, because I truly don’t know. Already he’s been up there for quite some time. The people on the benches in front of us are drooping, and I suspect more than one is nodding off, just as Lark was. “Possibly? He hasn’t touched on the guild handbook yet.”
She groans quietly. “How is it that he’s making grave robbing sound so boring?”
I shoot her a frown. “It’s not grave robbing, Gwenna!”
“Call it what you like.” Gwenna shrugs, and then lifts her chin, indicating something across the aisle. “Think we’ll have to deal with a lot of that here?”
A quick look finds yet another man, this one younger, making lewd licking motions with his tongue and aiming his attention at Mereden, who is steadfastly ignoring him.
“Goddess, I hope not,” I mutter. Here I’d thought that once we were let in as fledglings, we’d be seen as just a few more guild recruits.
Perhaps I’ve been far too optimistic.
* * *
HAWK
“You married her?”
At the back of the main guild hall, Raptor looks at me as if I’ve grown another head. I understand. It’s an absolutely insane move for me to make. I’m still not entirely sure why I did it. Probably thinking with my little head. I pretend to keep my focus on my fledglings, several rows ahead at the front of the hall. They’re sitting with nineteen other guild teams, waiting to be initiated. “We needed a full team. And I need a partner for the Conquest Moon.”
“But…her? The bossy one?” He stomps his hooves in agitation, idly watching the ceremony. “I thought you couldn’t stand her.”
“I needed students. She needs a chaperone. We’ll go our separate ways after this if we need to, get the marriage annulled. I don’t know why it’s a big deal.”
He looks over at me with that “are you insane” expression again. “You’re joking, right? No one’s going to grant you an annulment after it’s very clear that you rutted her. And if you have to marry a human, why that one? No one takes her seriously. No one takes us seriously, either. Any reputation you had left is going to be shredded by that woman clinging to your arm. Did Magpie talk you into this?”