Dietrich was an odd case. He liked to circumvent the rules sometimes, and yet he had an innate sense of justice that she’d rarely seen in the world, which was rather inconvenient when she made the mistake of bringing up her past.
“Where were you that you didn’t get paid?” Dietrich asked. “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”
Sophia huffed. “I don’t think she cared. There’s a reason I left.”
She didn’t want to think about it. In fact, she’d be more than happy to pretend it had never happened in the first place.
“The past is the past,” she said as Thea arrived with their drinks in hand. Sophia took hers with a murmured “thank you” as Thea sat down across from them.
“What’s in the past?” Thea asked, perching primly on the edge of her seat, always ready to jump up at a moment’s notice if something was needed.
Sophia took the first sip of her cinnamon honey coffee and relaxed, the drink soothing her somewhat.
“Sophia’s not telling us everything about her previous occupation,” Dietrich said. “But since I don’t particularly want you all digging around in my past, either, I think I’m going to let it go.”
Sophia tucked that nugget of information away. What was in Dietrich’s past that was so bad? She knew that he’d lived in Riyel for many years, only coming back somewhat recently.
Did he have bad memories of Riyel, too?
He took a sip of his drink and sighed happily, relaxing back into the seat as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Great job as always, Thea. You are a master at crafting the perfect beverage.”
Thea smiled. “It’s all my father’s recipes.”
“And your hard work,” Sophia said with a smile, hoping to at least pretend that she wasn’t as rattled as she was.
What if the man had been sent by Lady Manning to find her? Thea was right. Strangers weren’t common around here.
She took a deep breath as the bell over the door rang again and Beatrice walked in.
Thea jumped to her feet and hurried behind the counter.
“I need a drink really quickly, and then I have to get back,” Beatrice said, pausing at their chairs to give Sophia a hug from behind, the back of the chair between them digging into Sophia’s neck as she tried to lean into Beatrice’s hug.
“What are they working you to death for?” Dietrich asked. “It’s just a bunch of books. How important can they really be?”
“For the sake of our friendship, I’m going to forget you said that.” Beatrice thumped him on the back of his head as she walked past to pay for her drink.
“Better not insult her books,” Sophia told Dietrich. “You know how important they are to her.”
“Just as important as your goats are to you,” he said.
Sophia put her nose in the air and adopted a haughty accent. “Absolutely,” she said in her best mimicry of Lady Manning.
Not that she didn’t like books, but her goats were definitely better.
Books couldn’t snuggle you the way Mollie did.
“Just remember,” Dietrich warned. “They’re not your goats. It’s one thing to love them, but we aren’t nobility and it’s best not to get too attached to things.”
Why did he look so shifty all of a sudden? What had he gotten attached to in the past that he’d lost?
Beatrice hurried over and sat down next to Sophia, putting her arm around her for a half hug. Her long brown hair brushed against Sophia’s neck as she reached over to pet Ginger, who was still perched on Sophia’s lap. “I need a better hug. Today has been so busy,” she said. “So far, I’ve helped at least four children finish their schoolwork, the blacksmith needed information on one of the laws—”
“What law?” Dietrich asked, leaning forward with interest.
Beatrice shook her head. “You know I can’t tell you that,” she said. “If I told everyone’s secrets, no one would come to the library anymore.”
Dietrich shrugged. “Pretty sure they can figure it out without the library, anyway.”
