“I heard you,” Reynald said.
“I was very quiet!”
“Quiet enough for them. Not quiet enough for me.”
Kaiden sat on the floor, his face stunned.
“You said every tenth man in Applegrove will be put to the sword,” Clover said. “I was born in Applegrove. My parents are there. My grandparents and my brothers, our whole family is there. I don’t want any of them to die.”
“You may want to convince them to move,” I told her.
“Where would they go? My father is a blacksmith, like his father and his father’s father. Our family has lived in Applegrove for generations. You can’t just pick up a forge and carry it off in your pocket. My father isn’t going to uproot the family and abandon everything we’ve built just because I tell him that my new lady knows the future.”
I would have to address thismy ladything, but right now I had bigger problems.
“If you die—”
“If I have to die so my family is safe, I’ll do that,” Clover said. “I’m not a knight, but I’m not afraid. I used to be. I used to think that as long as you didn’t get involved and kept to yourself, you’d be safe. But that isn’t true. I also thought that death was the worst thing that could happen to you. That isn’t true either.”
“You are a child. I don’t think you understand the full gravity of this decision.”
“She’s seventeen years old,” Reynald said.
Right. He was knighted at seventeen after a bloody battle, where he’d cut his way through enemy forces. Different world, different expectations.
“I’m in, too!” Kaiden announced.
Great.
“You—shush.” I took a deep breath. “The three of you are asking me to gamble with your lives. Think about the people involved. These are the Eight Families. All of them are horrible bastards. I saw Ramond vi Everard once. I didn’t even get a good look at his face, and he scared me half to death.”
Reynald blinked. Everard’s name always made an impression. He was the scary bastard all other scary bastards were afraid of. I had to strike while the iron was hot.
“The Sleepless Duke divides the world into friends and foes. You either obey him, or you are against him, and if you oppose him, he will kill you, your family, your neighbors, your pets, and just to be thorough he will burn your house and salt your fields. He solves every problem with violence, and if that doesn’t work, he applies more violence. He is just one of the people who will be drawn into this mess up to their eyeballs.”
Clover looked worried. Kaiden looked undeterred, but he was barely twelve.
I met Reynald’s gaze. “You may have to cross blades with Everard. Think about it.”
In a fight between Everard and Reynald, Reynald would lose, and he knew it. It would be an amazing fight, but Everard had the Fatefire.
Reynald’s light eyes turned resolute. “Thank you for your care for me and my son. However, I’m not the kind of man who runs and hides from his responsibility. I will not teach my son to take the coward’s way out.”
His face told me that we were done arguing and I had lost. I looked at Clover.
Clover raised her chin. A determined spark lit up her blue eyes. “Do either of you know how to run a household? Where to purchase supplies and at what prices, which traders are reputable, how to balance a budget?”
“No,” I said.
Reynald shook his head. His lips curved in a small smile.
“I know the prices, so we won’t get swindled. I know the right traders, I know medicine, I know etiquette, I know how to file the right forms with the government.”
She had a point.
“If we do this, Maggie will need to look like a lady. I’m proficient in hair, cosmetics, and attire. I can dress you in the latest fashion, so you will present the impression you want to the world. You have a huge house and no idea how to take care of it. You can’t even do your hair properly. You need help.”
I opened my mouth. She didn’t let me get the words out.
