Which meant I could be called upon day or night. I hoped this paid well, though I didn’t ask about money. Hopefully, the prince would get to that.
And he did. “For such a service, knowing it might take you away from your family or other duties at any hour, I would pay you two strips per week, for a total of a hundred strips per year or two royals.”
I tried not to gawk. One strip — a bar of silver roughly the length of one’s palm — was a significant payment in itself. Two a week, would mean I’d easily be able to pay my monthly taxes and have a small fortune left over. I’d be a very wealthy woman after a year of this, assuming the relationship lasted that long. I’d be able to pay my taxes for — I did the math quickly — another five years if I didn’t find work.
I nodded solemnly. That would be more than enough pay for the inconvenience of having to escort this woman around at her every whim. “You are very generous,” I said and meant it.
He nodded. “Just… keep her safe,” he said softly.
I couldn’t get over how much he seemed to care for this woman, or that he had a mistress at all. I hadn’t thought anyone in the royal family would be like that. As much as they had all married for politics, not love, they had all made the best of it, or so I’d thought.
We rode in silence as the city passed by.
I lived in the second ring of the city. My grandfather had been a merchant wealthy enough to buy this plot of land from a destitute noble who’d been selling off his holdings.
The inner ring — or first ring — of Pearlia had been the original city, established when Aestrian settlers had found this protected harbor after their arduous journey across the Narrow Sea. Many of the original buildings had long since been replaced with the marble and stone structures of The Pearl Palace, The Grand Market, The Forum, and many nobles’ houses.
The second ring — known as The Gardens — had originally been where the early nobility had built manors “outside” the city with vast lawns and gardens. Eventually a second city wall had been built, encompassing the second ring, and as the nobility moved out or went bankrupt, those vast estates had been bought up and divided into smaller, but still luxurious, plots for wealthy merchants and such.
The carriage passed under the wall, through a gatehouse, into the third ring, where most of the citizens of Pearlia lived. Off of the main road were narrow lane-ways and dark alleys shadowed by the seemingly outward-leaning, jettied buildings.
People teemed through this part of the city, making way for our carriage as well as other carts and wagons. I was a bit surprised when we exited the city itself through the West Gate,rolling out into the countryside. Slums huddled close around the city wall. Past them was the caravansary, a large area for foreign traders and merchants — or anyone seeking passage elsewhere — to meet and load or unload wares. Within the caravansary was The New Market, where merchants could buy and sell without needing to get passes into the city itself. The mass of brightly colored stalls and handcarts seemed more than usually busy this morning; a caravan must have arrived recently. Farther out from the city, beyond the market, were farms and the newer nobles’ estates.
It was down the lane of one of the smaller estates which we turned. This would be a decent walk for me, probably a good half-an-hour each way from my house.
The manor itself wasn’t large, situated on a beautiful — if not large — plot of land next to the Pearline River.
The carriage stopped and Kel opened the door for the prince and me. The prince nodded for me to exit first. I did, ignoring Kel’s hand to help me down.
As the prince descended from the carriage, a woman came running out from the house in a flurry of pale pink skirts. As she raced by me, I caught only her most notable features: a long cascade of hair — like flowing red wine — streaming behind her, a pale face with large green eyes gleaming like emeralds, and full red lips.
When she finally stopped, throwing her arms around the prince and covering his face with kisses, I took in the rest of her. If what I’d overheard from my male companions during my days in Drako’s Dragoons held any weight, the woman had ideal proportions. I didn’t know if her dress had a corset to it, but if not then she had a natural hour-glass figure with full hips and bosom and a slender waist and long legs. I could see how a man might become infatuated with her.
She pressed her lips to the prince’s for a long and — very steamy — kiss. The prince was just a little flushed when they finally separated. He cleared his throat. “Ah, Master Drakoson, and Tisera Halvensdaughter, may I introduce Veora Thistledown.”
The woman turned to us, beaming with a large smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said eagerly. “Any friend of Victor’s is a friend of mine.”
I wasn’t a “friend” of the prince, I was working for him, but I nodded.
“Lady Thistledown, I am Tisera. I will be escorting you from now on whenever you wish to be out and about in the city, and particularly when you are going to meet Prince Victor.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed with a clap of her hands. “That’s wonderful. I’m sure we’ll become fast friends!”
I was less sure.
I didn’t much care for the frivolity of other women. I’d been raised as a warrior. I felt awkward around girlish women, perhaps because I saw what I might have become… and was horrified by it. I’d much rather have a sword in my hand than a flower.
Still, I let Veora embrace me, holding me close. She practically hummed with joy and life and after a moment I relented a little, easing.
“I’m sure we shall get to know each other well,” I said softly.
“Yes, we shall!” she said and released me. Then she curtseyed to Kel.
“Master,” she said with respect. When she leaned forward in her curtsey, it gave Kel a good view of her full bosom exposed by the low neckline of her dress.
He seemed a bit stunned, then shook it off. “Ah… Lady, it is I who should be bowing to you,” Kel said.
True. She was nobility and he wasn’t. He bowed low and when he came up, the stoic hardness to his features had returned.
