Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
The barmaid lifts her chin at the sight of me. “What’ll you have, friend?”
“Beer. Four wedges of onion.” It’s code, of course.
“Four wedges?” Naiah asks. She pretends to scrub the bar with her rag, leaning over to get a particularly difficult spot—and to whisper. “You have eight crowns on you?”
“I do.”
“I can’t guarantee how effective the potions will be if you hold on to four at once. They’re the best when they’re fresh.”
“I know, but I’m going to be fledging for a while, so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to get away. Just load me up and I’ll worry about the details later.”
“Four onions, coming right up.” She grabs an onion, quarters it, and shoves each wedge onto the rim of the mug, then fills the tankard with beer. “They’ll be in their usual spot tomorrow.”
Behind a false stone in an alley wall. I nod. “I appreciate it. I’ll leave my coin there tonight.” I pull a chunk of onion off the mug and chew on it. “You hear a lot of gossip—heard of any repeaters selling things on the black market? Things they shouldn’t?”
“No, but I can ask around.”
“Do that, but be discreet. And don’t tell anyone who’s asking. There’ll be a reward as long as it stays secret.”
Naiah just huffs, slinging the bar towel over her shoulder. “Oh, I can be discreet.”
Eight
Gwenna
Ican’t believe it’s him.
The big white Taurian from the hospital. The one I rode like a shameless hussy and who gave me one of the best orgasms of my life. The blinded one who’s apparently healed up enough that he can see, with only some pink scarring around his eyes to show where the bandages had been. He’s as healthy as ever, and he’s here on recruitment day. It seems like the most painful of coincidences that I’d run into him again. I clearly did not think things through.
And now we’re here together. On the same fledgling team.
Truly, the gods are laughing at me.
I haven’t been able to stop blushing all day. I thought for certain that he’d recognize me. That I’d say something and realization would dawn on his face. That he’d know I’m the sex worker who accosted him in the hospital and hopped upon his cock without getting paid.
But he seemingly has no idea that it’s me, and I don’t know if I’m glad or irritated. It’s foolish to be disappointed, but how can you fuck someone and then not realize that they’re standing right in front of you?
Even so, this is a good thing. Him not being aware it was me that day makes things easier. Gods willing, he’ll never know, either. I certainly don’t plan on telling him. Because he’ll want to know why I was so eager to have sex, and I can’t very well tell him that it was because a nearby dead body was troubling me.
It’s just another secret to pile onto the growing stack. Bad enough that I’m secretly a mancer. Now the guy I fucked (who can’t know we fucked) is going to be around constantly. Ugh.
Once we have our Five—because five is the sacred number designated by the gods, and artificers are a superstitious lot—Master Jay leads us out of the hall and across the plaza. His nest—the fledgling barracks assigned to a particular teacher—is one of the smaller buildings in the heart of the city. Hawk’s nest had been a large ramshackle house near the outskirts, but Master Jay is in the midst of all the action. When I step inside, I can see the archives from one window and the hospital from another.
“My quarters are at the far end of the nest,” Master Jay explains as we head inside with our bags. To my surprise, there are no stairs leading up. There’s the main front living area, complete with a desk and fireplace to provide light and warmth, and it leads into a tiny kitchen. At the back of the house is a garderobe for bodily functions, and across the narrow hall is a set of double doors. Hemmen opens them to peek inside, and then frowns as he looks in. “We’re bunking together?”
We are?
“It will build teamwork and companionship,” Master Jay says in that sharp voice of his. “I see no need for you to have the luxury of your own quarters. This isn’t a vacation. This is you learning a trade. Are we clear?”
Kipp frowns, his hands on the straps that hold his shell to his back. He glances up at me, a question in his gaze. Am I okay with this?
Truth be told, I’m used to sleeping in shared quarters with other maids. I had no privacy back at Honori Hold and none when I was a repeater. But in each case, my roommates were women. It was nothing to change in front of them, or to bathe near the hearth, because there were only more women with the same bits to see mine.