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)
Thirteen
Raptor
Rooster to Raptor: The entire shipment due to go to the south has gone missing. Tell me you have an update.
Raptor to Rooster: When there’s an update, I’ll let you know.
I’m on edge as Gwenna goes to bed early Fifthday night, citing a headache. She’s still in bed the next morning when I wake up, and I take my time dressing in my uniform, waiting to see if she’ll address me. She doesn’t, though, just pulls the blankets over her head and rolls over.
We’re supposed to go to the wedding of Master Siskin and Artificer Tern later today, but I’m concerned. Gwenna hasn’t been herself since she raced to the necessary yesterday and emerged a while later, eyes red from weeping.
Was it something I said?
Kipp is in the kitchen when I head over, and I grab a handful of nuts and several apples, eating as I ponder the problem with Gwenna. “She said anything to you?” I ask him.
He shrugs, settling his large shell in the corner of the kitchen. Last weekend, he’d moved his shell house to a warm corner in the kitchen near the hearth and moved it back to his bed when Master Jay scolded him. I suspect he’s going to move it in every weekend. Good for him.
“You know her better than I do. Think I hurt her feelings somehow?”
Kipp huffs, shaking his head. He finishes settling his shell in place, gives it a friendly pat, and then scrambles onto the table. He picks up a handful of berries and sits across from me on the tabletop, regarding me with a serene expression.
“You’d think I’d be better with women, given that I’ve bedded so many,” I tell him ruefully. “But in my life, women have usually just one role, and not a good one. I spend the rest of my time with artificers, either moving through tunnels or rescuing them when they get lost.”
Kipp eats a berry, watching me.
“I’m just trying to be respectful of her is all,” I say between bites.
He nods once, then continues eating a blueberry like I would an apple.
“If I muck something up, you’ll tell me? I’d rather know than have to tiptoe around, guessing.”
The slitherskin pops the rest of his berry into his mouth and tackles the next one, nodding again.
“Do you know what’s bothering her? Did she tell you?”
He taps his nose and gives me a look.
“Good talk.” I knock on the table twice. “Let’s do this again.”
With my last apple in hand, I exit the kitchen, only to run into Gwenna. She has a bag in her arms and gives me a surprised look.
“There you are. You—”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go to the necessary.” She darts away before I can finish my words, and as she does, a metallic scent trails after her. Blood.
Aaaaaah. Her menses.
Hot relief hits me. That I haven’t somehow mucked this up and she doesn’t hate me. I don’t know why it matters so much, just that it does. I enjoy talking to her. I like her sass and her pert responses. I like that she doesn’t make it easy for me.
Sarya crosses my mind, and hot guilt replaces my relief. I’ve not gone to any of the brothels in search of her recently. I feel as if I’m abandoning her. It’s just that being in a Five is time-consuming, and I’m supposed to be watching everyone for Hawk and Head Guild Master Rooster. Add in my concern over Gwenna and the extra tutoring I’ll be giving her and…well.
I’ll go looking for Sarya tomorrow, I decide. The wedding and Gwenna today, the hunt for the woman of my dreams tomorrow. I’m putting off Sarya again, but it’s the last time. No more potions for me. The one I took a few days ago is going to be my last. It’s messing up my priorities. It’ll mean I’ll crave sex, but hopefully I can find Sarya before it starts to become a real problem.
I find ways to keep myself busy while I wait for Gwenna to emerge from the necessary without making it seem like I’m waiting on her. Both Hemmen and Arrod have taken the weekend as an opportunity to disappear. Neither one is in the nest this morning. I should be bothered by that—one of the core tenets of a working Five is that you’re close and get along. But I’m too set in my ways. I’m older than them and crabby at the thought of babysitting a pair of idiots, especially when one might be our thief.
Hmm.
Now’s the perfect time for me to check their belongings to see if they really are thieves. I head to the dormitory room and make my bed, tucking the blankets tightly under the too-small mattress that I wish curses upon every evening. Gwenna’s bed is made, and Kipp’s is undisturbed except for a circular ripple in the blankets where he’d kept his shell atop the folded coverlets. Hemmen’s bed is made, Arrod’s is not. I glance around the room, then mess up Hemmen’s bed.