“He’s been clambering all over the outside of Hedgewild,” Amber said. If he can climb that fitted stone covered in ivy, then he can climb a cliff well enough.”
I nodded.
“Do we think it’s better to go up the cliff here, and across to the palace?” Ant asked the group. “Or go up right under the palace. It would probably be easier to just get inside if we went in that way.”
“I think you’ve answered your own question,” Amber said voice silken. She was practically purring, a sultry grin on her face. I was guessing she and Ant had been together last night. She stood out a little from our group, her dress a bit brighter and bolder than the rest of our clothes. We’d been told to dress up, but still be able to move around easily. The hope was to look like we fit in as courtiers, once we were inside the palace. Sparrow was in a lovely dark blue dress, Amber in red trimmed with gold. Ant was wearing a dark green jerkin over a billowing white shirt. Which on him, made him look huge and imposing. His pants were a dark brown, and his boots black, and high, to below the knee. Silence wore his dark blue shirt and black pants. He’d acquired a new pair of boots, which matched Ant’s. And I was in my green Noble’s Test dress. Amber had said I’d be more distracting in one of her gowns — she had a good selection which left the midriff uncovered — but I’d declined. I wasn’t ready for that yet.
We walked down the beach to the base of the prominence.
“I’ll leave you here and meet you here,” Fin said. “Stay safe. If you get separated, return here.”
We nodded and began to pick our way over the rocks at the base of the jutting cliffs. It took us a little time to move safely around the peninsula and once we were on the other side, looking up, we could see the palace. Fin had been right, it was clear enough, rising from the top of the cliffs just a little inland from the prominence. Tall towers rose into the sky and the stark white walls, even on the cliffward side, were imposing while still being bright and cheery. It was mid-morning by then.
“Sparrow you’re with me,” Amber said. “We’ll take a look around and see where we want to bring the rest of you.” She turned to Silence. “You might as well start climbing. That’s going to take a while.”
He nodded, moved to the edge of the cliff, then surprisingly veered into his mouse form.
“I would have thought he’d stay as human, the climb wouldn’t seem as far,” I said to no one in particular. Amber and Sparrow had already shifted and were flying away, so Ant was the only one with me.
“From what I hear,” he said. “He climbs exceptionally well as himself, but far better as a mouse. So, it might be farther, but he’ll move quicker and be safer.”
That made sense.
Ant sat on a rock, looking out to sea. “Having a mistweaver after you can’t have been easy for you. How are you faring now?”
I sat next to him. “I’m still a bit… tense. Somehow, I can’t believe it’s over, even though we have her in the dungeon. Something…” My hairs all stood on end, my spider’s senses perking up as I spoke. “Something doesn’t feel right about all of this.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Capturing a mistweaver… should that even be possible?”
I didn’t know and didn’t answer.
Ant changed the subject. “I’m glad you’ve been doing well training with Amber.”
I laughed, recalling how I’d managed to flip him onto his back the last time we’d sparred. “If I can get you on your back, I must be doing something right. I never thought I’d be able to best you after that first day training with you.”
He laughed, though the sound had an odd quality to it. He seemed about to say something, then didn’t. Instead, he sighed and after a moment laughed again. “I hear you had Silence on his back last night?”
I instantly flushed a deep shade of things-I-don’t-want-to-talk-about red, or so I assumed given the heat upon my cheeks.
“Amber told me,” he said softly. “She… has a way of knowing who’s with who at Hedgewild. Some sixth sex sense.” He laughed. “There’s a tongue-twister.”
I still didn’t know what to say or why he’d brought it up.
“I just… you two are both young and I know things happen. I want to make sure it’s not going to get in the way of the mission or affect you… adversely.”
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them: “Does sex with Amber affect you adversely?”
He didn’t react other than to nod. “I supposed that’s fair to ask.” He looked back out to sea. My question hadn’t thrown him at all. “Some days it does.” He nodded. I hadn’t been expecting this level of casual candor from him. “We don’t… expect much from each other beyond our beds. She’s alluring and sexy, and she thinks I am as well, but we’re not really… together. It’s mostly just a physical thing. That makes it easy to keep… distant and not think about her when she’s out on missions.” He sighed. “But there are times when I worry about her.” He shrugged. “To be fair, I worry about everyone when they’re on a mission. Though I guess I have an extra helping of worry for her on occasion.”
“It’s the same for me and Silence,” I said. I didn’t know if I meant it. Pits! I didn’t know how I felt about the two of us! Yesterday, with Silence, had been… amazing, then relaxing and comfortable. I knew I wanted more of that, but my question to Silence about whether he’d be good with others joining us still hung over me. If he said no… I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I just couldn’t help but feel… well, I couldn’t put words to it yet. I was still so confused, wanting Silence, but wanting more. Worrying for Silence was distracting enough without trying to figure out the details of our relationship. Not knowing exactly what to say, I just echoed Ant’s words back to him. “I have an extra helping of worry for him right now, that’s all.”
Ant nodded. “Good.”
But that brought up a point I’d been wanting a bit of clarity on. “What is the official policy on House members being together? I know some other Houses have married couples and sometimes you can marry outside your House and then one of you has to leave and go to the other’s House, and so on, but are there… boundaries I should know about?”
Ant nodded, still looking out to sea. “Yeah, we’ve always been a bit quiet on that,” he said. “Officially, there is nothing against Nobles finding a spouse within their House. But each House has their own set of unwritten rules. Sometimes those rules are about who is right for who or when is right for a marriage. We at Maverick House don’t regulate people like that, but at the same time, I think it’s been an unwritten rule here, that you can fool around a bit, but marriage is… different. It’s not that Maverick is against marriage, more… he wants to be sure people are right and truly ready for it, for that commitment.” Ant sighed. “You didn’t hear this from me, but I think that’s because he once asked Midnight to marry him and she turned him down.”
What?
