Maureen had only been trained by her mother but they need not know that.
I carried on. “Helena’s father was the foremost portraitist of Eccleston. She spent her childhood in the homes of the wealthy, him having received their patronage. She apprenticed under him and has illuminated countless manuscripts. Maureen, just like her mother, is also skilled in this, sire.”
“Lady,” the prince said, hesitant. “We have no scriptoriums other than those in the temples and for our armies. And they are for practical use. Our printing presses are few and our books are usually shipped in from your city. And at peace with Eccleston, we are no longer. There is no use for illuminators I am afraid. Can they scribe?”
I could sense Mischa’s tensing beside me.
“May I propose an idea, sire?”
Peregrine covered his mouth with his hand. “You are lady of ideas, madam.”
Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I leapt at his affability. “Your king’s throne room once had a mural grace the walls, sire? The paint has peeled?”
There was a curious shift in the prince and the others near him. The prince inclined his head slightly, brows drawn.
“Sire, I believe the two of them can restore that mural.”
“They’re very accomplished, sire,” added Mischa. “They could perhaps even treat it so that the saltwater and breezes do not erode the paint.”
“Smart,” I murmured to Mischa without turning my head towards her.
“This is …acceptable to me,” said Peregrine. “They will be paid a scribe’s wage, no more and no less. They can live in the keep, stay in the dormitories. We will revisit their occupation once the mural is complete.” He gave me a knowing look. That throne room was huge. They could be painting for four or more seasons. “They, like the others, can start preparing for their work the day after tomorrow. Zinnia, you are so overwhelmed with tasks already, but you’ll see to them acquiring the supplies they need?”
“Yes, sire. I will have one of my staff escort them to the market. There are but two women left,” supplied Zinnia. “Sisters, I believe. I will fetch them.”
I gave her a grateful look. Another request for keeping two of us together had been on my mind, but her mention of River and Quinn’s sisterhood saved me from yet a third petition for this.
Zinnia left, inclining her head towards my friend to follow and before Mischa joined her, she whispered to me, “Helena will be pleased.”
“Yes,” I whispered. “This is the best that can be done for them.”
There was extreme discomfort for me after Zinnia and Mischa had exited the sitting room. I would not look at any of them, certainly nothim.Eefa’s words had demeaned me more than I wanted to admit. I was a woman shamed and shamed in front of a room of strangers, one of whom she would be married to tomorrow afternoon.
I stared down at my tattooed left hand. This was habit. Soon, this would be over. Soon, I would be back in the dormitory, perhaps I would even be fed. Soon, I could see how Helena was, take down my braid and rub in the lavender, perhaps have a tin cup of water with lightleaf in it and try for a night’s sleep in a real, actual bed with bedding.
“And not a one with magic,” Thalia sighed. “I could not sense a speck of it. I shall,” she wagged a ringed finger at me and then at Peregrine, “be visiting the throne room to see if these artists have any sea in them. I was hoping forsomethingafter Cian’s good luck. What does this woman have? A penchant for flowers? Farming? Trees? Has she an affinity with horses?”
The priest smiled at me. “I need time with the Lady Edie, Thalia.” He had an inviting face, his eyes a light color, twinkling, his seat in his chair graceful. He appeared to be intelligent and unhurried.
If I had to spend my days training in a magic I never knew I possessed under a strange Tintarian, it might as well be him. I did not smile in return, but I met his with an open face. My blush had receded with Mischa’s arrival.
River and Quinn entered behind a returning Zinnia, holding hands.
I waved them towards me. “This is River and Quinn. They were tutors for prospective students taking entrance exams for the universities. Both are well read, knowledgeable. River has extensive expertise on continental history. Have you public schools, sire?”
“We do not,” he answered. “I would like it if we did, but we have no schools.”
“Sire, could we find them work in private homes? Do nobles employ tutors?”
“That is usually a position ascertained via close knowledge of nobility.” He shifted in his seat. “What I mean to say, Lady Edie, as welcome as you all are to Tintar, peerage Tintarians will not trust an Ecclestonian in their home as anything but a chambermaid or stable boy.”
“I understand, sire.”
Jeremanthy stepped forward from the fireplace. “I could use one more scribe in the infantry, sire. But just one more.”
“Please do not separate us,” Quinn implored. “Sire,” she tacked on, nodding at Peregrine. “We— We have never lived apart. As sisters.”
“Hold on,” Thalia said, sitting upright in her seat, folding her hands in her lap. “If they can scribe, they can come work in my antechamber. It is likely beneath them, but …” she trailed off. “I am always in need of scribes. You have no idea what the temple of Sister Sea is like.”
