Hayle nodded. “I apologize too. It appears we hold similar beliefs when it comes to those in our care.”
She narrowed her eyes at Hayle’s self-deprecating grin, and shook her head. “Charming bastards, the lot of you. Good luck to you, sweet thing,” she said sarcastically to Avalon, then flounced back to the group she’d been speaking to before she’d sent Garus upstairs.
Twenty minutes later, Iker reappeared, looking tousled, his hair mussed and his shirt untucked. There was lipstick down his throat. “So, turns out this is a whorehouse.”
Avalon laughed, and the tension in the table disappeared. We settled into food and warmth while we could.
Seven
Avalon
Unlike the rest of Doend, the Baron’s sprawling manor house was made of stone and glass, built into the side of the mountain that loomed over the city. It was a fortress; that much was obvious. All the lower windows were boltholes, rather than places to appreciate the view. Despite that, it was an architectural marvel, huge and precariously perched across the mountain face, completely at odds with the poverty of the houses below. However, given the age of the building, I doubted it was the current Baron who’d built it, or even his father’s father. The style was definitely archaic.
There was no way to get there, except to climb the winding stone staircase from the city. I huffed out labored breaths. “I thought I was done with climbing seven hundred stairs every day,” I grumbled to Hayle. He just laughed, lifted me onto his back, and kept climbing, not even out of breath.
So annoying.
No wonder the poor runner had been panting last night as he delivered his message. If I had any money, I’d have given him another gold coin.
“I’ll do it if we see him tonight,” Lierick responded to my thoughts, and I glared at him.
“Stay out of my head, Lierick Hanovan.”
He had the audacity to grin at me. “Stop thinking so loud, Avalon Halhed,” he teased back, and I slapped at him, but he was too quick.
As we made it to the front courtyard of the manor, the Baron’s guards stood beside the doors, eyeing us warily. I didn’t know what they thought they could do against Hayle, but at least Vox hadn’t come too. We’d decided that it was too risky for him to meet with Baron Marlee, just in case he recognized him through his disguise. Vox was with Iker, and they were doing their own reconnaissance in the seedier parts of Doend.
Hayle nodded respectfully at the guards. “Hayle Taeme to see the Baron.”
The guard on the left frowned. “Who are the others in your party? Only you are listed as attending.”
I sensed Hayle bristle, though you wouldn’t have known it from his expression. “My wife, Avalon. And her boyfriend, Lierick.”
My mouth fell open, but I snapped it closed. I wasn’t sure what shocked me more; Hayle calling me his wife, or the fact he’d casually cast Lierick in the role of my lover.
The guard, however, just let his jaw unhinge, honking out a small noise of surprise before he swallowed it down. The other soldier recovered quicker. “Apologies, Heir Taeme. We hadn’t realized you’d married, and, err…” He swallowed hard. “Please, enter. Someone will collect you to take you to the receiving room.”
Nodding his head, Hayle put a claiming hand on my spine and led me through the gates across the courtyard, then through the heavy wooden doors, with Lierick following. The hounds spread out from us, and the other soldiers milling around gave them a wide berth.Smart move.
The second set of guards didn’t even speak to us, but a woman appeared in the foyer. She was pretty, in her late fifties. If I had to guess, I’d say this was Lady Marlee, the wife of the Baron. She seemed totally out of place in the wilds of Doend, like someone’s grandmother visiting a viper pit.
“Heir Taeme! Goodness, I haven’t seen you since you were a small child. Come in, come in. The Baron is in his office.”
“Lady Marlee.” Hayle bowed respectfully. “Thank you for greeting us.”
Lady Marlee waved a hand. “We don’t stand on formalities out here, unless the First Line shows up. They’re the only ones who desire the gilded carpet be laid out,” she whispered conspiratorially. I was doubly glad Vox wasn’t here. “We concentrate more on surviving than useless etiquette.”
He nodded in response, and we followed along behind the Baroness as she spoke. “You beat my Gerod home, but I wouldn’t put it past him to hang around a few more days to misbehave.” She shook her head with a chuckle. “He isn’t as serious as my elder son, or his father, or as quiet as my youngest, Edgar. No, Gerod got my wild side,” she said with a self-deprecating giggle.
I could see it. Lady Marlee smiled easily and laughed at the end of her sentences. I’d bet that back when she was the age of her sons, she’d been the life of every party.
We came to a stop outside another set of heavy doors, carved in a language I didn’t know. “Ah, here we are. Would you like some tea while you attend to matters?”
Shaking my head, I gave her a soft smile. She was so… motherly. Or what I assumed someone’s mother would be like. It was an odd sensation that left an ache in my chest. “Uh, no, thank you, Baroness. We should be fine.”
She patted my arm. “Let Lukas know if you change your mind.” She knocked firmly on the heavy doors, which echoed down the stone hallway.
The door dragged open, and what I had to assume was the younger Marlee stood beside it. He looked like Gerod, but his face was a little more stoic, and he had two small creases at the corners of his eyes which told me either he squinted or frowned a lot.
