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’m shocked. “I didn’t realize you had a false hand.”
“Most don’t. It changes its appearance to match my skin and moves just like a real hand.” He rotates his hand in the air, flexing his fingers, and I can barely make out their outlines in the shadows. “There’s naught but a small line on my lower arm to show where it’s connected, but if you run your fingers over my wrist, you can feel the glyphs carved there.”
It’s a siren call if there ever was one. “May I?”
“Of course.” He extends his arm toward me, his palm open.
Hesitant, I brush my fingers over his hand, wondering what it’ll feel like. I’m not entirely surprised to find that it’s warm, his skin like normal Taurian skin under my touch. Magic, like he said. I trace each finger and then run my hand over his palm. I move lower, encircling his wrist, and sure enough, I can feel the etchings of glyphs as if they’ve been carved into his skin. “That’s incredible.”
“It is. It feels like a real arm, a real hand.” He makes a fist, as if proving to himself that it’s possible. “But because it’s an artifact, it’s expensive. The guild agreed to sell it to me rather than to one of the holders. I suspect it would have been a different story if one of the holders was in need of a right hand, but since I was the only one, it came to me.” He flexes his fingers again. “Now I must pay the guild back for its largess, and to do so, I need students that tithe to Magpie’s nest.”
Of course. Because that’s how guild brokering works. Teachers don’t go into the tunnels, so they’re paid via tithe from graduating students. If no students graduate, there’s no money coming in. No wonder Hawk is so very stressed. Magpie is at risk of losing her job and becoming homeless, and Hawk…well, Hawk could lose his entire hand. “So it’s more important than ever that we get things right. Not just for Magpie, but for you, too.”
“Indeed.”
I reach up and play with his fingers, thinking. There has to be something I can do. Some sort of string I can pull. As a holder’s heir, I’m used to being the one with all the power. People listen to Lady Aspeth Honori. People fear getting on her bad side. But here, I’m just Aspeth who wants to be Sparrow. I’m just another student, and if I interfere, it’ll cause more problems.
Money would solve things. Money would solve things for both of us, but it’s the one thing I don’t have, even with all the power of my family name. I think of my father…and then I think how he would react if he knew I married a Taurian just so I could apprentice. He’d be horrified at both the Taurian and the apprenticing. My father is a holder who believes firmly that grunt work should be left to, well, grunts. Lessers.
I don’t think of Hawk as my lesser, though. If I’m being honest, he’s better than me—and most humans—at absolutely everything he puts his mind to. I don’t think of Magpie, Lark, and the others as lesser, either. Or Gwenna, despite the fact that she was my servant for years prior to coming here. We’ve bonded over the last several days of exercises, helping one another with the ropes that tie us together, or laughing when someone makes a mistake. We share our successes and pick one another up when we fail.
They’re my companions.
My…friends.
I don’t think I’ve had friends before now, and the thought is a sobering one. I know of every family in society, of course. I know which holder’s son is married to which daughter and who lives where and their crests and who tithes to them. I know about them all, and yet I don’t know them. The thought of telling any of them of my guild adventures is utterly terrifying. They wouldn’t understand.
I grew up with the nobility, and yet I’m a stranger to all. Sad.
I continue to toy with Hawk’s large fingers, marveling at the magic that makes it feel as real as flesh and blood. It’s strange. His hand is so warm and so big and yet I wouldn’t know it was magical if he hadn’t told me. It’s fascinating to think of how much he’s overcome. There are sides to him I’m unaware of, pieces I haven’t yet learned. That’s rather exciting. He’s an interesting person, my strange new husband. I tug on one fingertip, wondering how it must have felt to lose a hand and then regain it. “Tell me more about this. What does it feel like? Does it feel different or does it feel like your hand? How does the magic work? Can you do fine movements with the artifact? Is there loss of motion?”