Between the academics, laymen, those with titles, and those withwealth, the king was inundated with a never-ending queue of admirers. Those who felt slighted by his lack of interest, mainly the people with pronounced bosoms and tightly cinched waists, moved on to the prince, who was much more receptive to their overt advances.
She gagged as Nekash flicked a flame against a young lady’s lips and then brought it up to his own mouth in some sort of magical blowing of kisses. Never mind the beautiful brunette who’d stepped up to the king and somehow managed to earn a smile from the arse.
Thiswas why she wanted to find love with a nice common boy. Was it too much to ask for someone who wouldn’t come with his own airs and demand far too much pomp and circumstance...? That’s all she wanted, a simple young man without a title who would step up beside her, support her, support her land, and help her support her people.
Kas’s knobby joints stood out amongst the room filled with mature elbows and knees. She snatched her brother by his gangly arm when he rambled past and pulled him over. He’d been in conversation with some man who’d been honored during the king’s speech earlier.Horton? Hothar?
“Hey!”
“So sorry,” Hevva offered an apology primarily to the older gentleman, secondarily to her brother as she dragged him away from the crowd. “It’s getting late. Time to head back to the inn.”
“Fine,” Kas grumbled as they made their way from the upscale public building.
four
Hevva goes people watching.
Back at the Elk& Heron, Kas retreated to the third floor while Hevva stopped at the counter to order a tureen of stew and bread and cheese to their room. “A double order,” she clarified to the barmaid who nodded in response. Her little brother was always hungry these days.Probably a growth spurt,Hevva mused. Oftentimes she needed to remind him to take meals, like when he was particularly engrossed in a book.
“Anything else, Countess?”
“Nothing for me. I’ll be down later to dine,” she replied, and the woman across from her looked confused. She had requested a lot of bread, but it’d be down Kas’s gullet in no time flat.
Upstairs, she found that her brother was taking his turn in the bath before bed.Good.That meant she could freshen up, make sure he was safe and settled with Aylin, give him some supper, then head back down to the quickly filling lower level.
While the individual academic sessions that comprised the multi-day symposium were of little interest to her, Hevva was looking forward to people-watching, and, given the lofty establishment they were staying at, even gleaning some useful ideas from the other ladies, gents, and wealthy merchants staying at the inn.
Finally, after Kas scarfed down two full loaves of bread and damn near a half a wheel of cheese, Hevva coaxed her brother into his bed. Rationalizingwith her eccentric younger sibling, her only sibling, was something she’d mastered the art of in their decade together. “If you sleep now, on such a full stomach, you’ll have no need for breakfast and will be up early enough to sneak in some reading at the Institute’s library before your first seminar of the day.”
The gangly Kas Kahoth weighed his head from side to side. He had spent his entire supper trying to convince Hevva to let him go below stairs again so he could seek out Hothan Tarisden. That was the name of the scholar he’d been speaking with earlier, and he was desperate to finish their conversation. Kas heard the man might be staying at this establishment.
“A former tutor? He’d hardly have the funds. You heard no such thing.”
Kas humphed. “Well, I thought I heard his voice outside,” he admitted sheepishly.
“Stop eavesdropping. It’s rude.” She walked over to close the window, but her little brother reached it first with his windshifting, blowing it closed. “Thank you. Now, get in bed.”
“Fine. But I get to head out as early as I want?”
She acquiesced. “During daylight you can explore as you’d like. But you must return here for lunch, or I will be very worried.”
“Understood, Countess.” He gave her a saucy little salute, and she cuffed him lightly on the ear.
Leaving a single candle lit so her brother might read—she had no illusions he’d go straight to sleep—Hevva pranced from her room, down to the second floor of the inn.
The crowd had grown exponentially since they’d returned from the opening address. Apparently, it was a popular location for many patrons in addition to those who were staying on the upper floors. Looking down over the balcony railing at the level below, she swept her eyes over the visible slice of crowd, spying a tall man, that Hothtarn who her brother had been speaking with earlier.Whoops.Well, it’s not like he’d want to spend his evening hours speaking with a fourteen-year-old anyway.
When she descended to the ground level, Lady Tilevir approached the bar to inquire about ordering a drink and meal. A barmaid, differentfrom earlier, let her know they were operating on a limited menu due to the crowd. For five silvers she could have whatever she’d like all evening. Hevva agreed, charged her entry fee to the room, which her father would be covering, and danced into the din.
She helped herself to a stunning pink cocktail in a strange triangular glass from the tray of a passing server and tried a bit.Delicious.The drink was dry, lightly fruity, tart, and packed quite the hidden kick.Strong.She took another dainty sip while weaving through the throng of patrons.
There wasn’t an empty table to be found in the place. So Hevva meandered while she finished her drink. Then she traded it out for a fresh one and slunk about, listening in for juicy tidbits of gossip and unique ideas she could bring home to Stormhill.
“I heard the Baron Turkhane is not here with his wife,” a middle-aged woman whispered conspiratorially to a petite older companion at her side.
Ah, so Kas wasn’t the only person to notice.
“No!” the old biddy gasped in dramatic outrage, though her crinkling eyes told another story. “His young wife is home with their son, barely out of diapers, the boy.”
