“Penwell,” I replied.
Kit stood behind Anders, mopping his forehead with the back of his arm. He shot me an uncertain expression as if worried how I would finish the reintroduction. I hadn’t missed his omission of my family name the last time Anders was here, but I wasn’t ashamed of my heritage or my connection to the Bone Men’s Shroud Warden, even if Merrick wished I was.
“Penwell Oliver,” I said and waited for recognition to flash on Anders’s ruddy face. When his expression remained blank, I added, “But I go by Penny.”
“That’s it.” Anders nodded. “Penny.” He peered past me at the leather belt spread across my worktable. Shouldering by, he seized it and rubbed his thumb over the scrollwork I’d been engraving. “You make this?” He dangled it out.
I nodded.
“Awful fancy thing just for holding up a man’s pants.”
With Anders out from between us, Kit came close to me and stood nearly pressed against my back. His voice rumbled from over my shoulder.
“Did you need something, Anders?”
Anders tossed the belt onto the table where it toppled a bottle of dye that I rushed to right. The dark brown liquid spilled across the work surface, soaking the edges of my sketchbook while I scrambled for rags to mop it up.
I didn’t hear Anders’s reply over the rush of blood in my ears as I lifted my sketchbook from the mess and tried to daub away the color already seeping in. When I rounded on the big man with the rags clenched in my fist, I spotted Reimond and Thoma wandering into the shade of the smithy. The two men’s hands were clasped betweenthem, and the sight was enough to cool the heat of my anger.
Anders sauntered over to the new arrivals with a grin spread across his face. “About time you caught up,” he said, presumably to Reimond, right before he swung his open palm and made a cracking connection with the other initiate’s chest.
The blow drove a grunt out of Reimond, and the color drained from his face as he doubled over.
Anders howled with laughter. “Owed you another,” he said between chuckles.
Thoma scowled at the big man while Reimond wheezed pained breaths.
Anders turned toward Kit and I, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Reimond. “Got him better than that earlier. Poor man lost his breakfast over it. Had to go home and change.”
Kit made a grumbling sound, then glanced at the soggy sketchbook I held.
“Not ruined, is it?” he asked quietly.
I looked down as well and chewed my lip. “I don’t think so.”
Anders’s boots raised a low cloud of dust as he tromped through the stall, closing the gap to Kit and me. “Whaddya say, boys? Either one of you want a pat for good luck?” His arm cocked back, angled to swing toward me. When he brought it forward, I flinched away as Kit caught the bigger man’s wrist in a white-knuckled grip.
Anders looked a bit stunned while Kit’s face went so stony cold it gave me a chill.
After a lingering moment, Anders huffed a laugh. “Take it easy. I didn’t realize it was likethat.”
The way he bounced his caterpillar brows made me frown.
“Like what?” I asked.
Anders shrugged. “You two live together, work together, may as well sleep together, too.” He flapped his hand toward where Reimond and Thoma loitered at the edge of the shop. “Nothing new. We’ve already got a couple of those.”
My stomach squeezed as though it had been gripped in one of Anders’s meaty fists. I didn’t dare look at Kit before I squeaked protest.
“We aren’t?—”
“Not that I mind,” Anders carried on. “Leaves more women for me. Maybe I’ll get myselftwowives.”
“Anders, did youneedsomething?” Kit repeated. “Because this is a place of business, and I don’t like to have my time wasted.”
Stomping toward the front of the shop, Anders looped his arm around Reimond and pulled him further into the stall. Thoma hung back, frowning.
“Reimond and I were just talking about the second Oath,” Anders said. “Making plans. You understand.” He propped his free hand on his hip, and his chest swelled with self-importance.
