This resulted in more giggling, even from Helena this time.
Her laughter so soon after her attack, still made my heart sing, even if I was distracted and intimidated. That woman was so striking, her eyes bluer than any I had ever seen. Had she and Alric been lovers? I realized then that I knew nothing about him. And that it should not matter a whit to me if they had been.
“You handled yourself well,” Catrin said. “It was highly impertinent of her to ask.”
“Catrin is right, Edie. You were graceful without disclosing anything,” said Helena.
I mimed a little bow.
Mischa snorted. “I would not have been so graceful. I do not know how to deal with peerage. I grew up in a free country, thank you. Even Tigons and their ilk don’t act like that. Look at Catrin, she doesn’t turn her nose up at us,” she exclaimed and gestured wildly and water slapped the redhead in the face.
Catrin burst into squeals of laughter and pushed a spray of water back at Mischa.
“I’m trying to keep my hair dry!” I shouted, wading backwards.
34. Watching
Clean and smelling fresh, we made our way to the dining hall to join Quinn and River. I explored the two entrances on the stairwell landing next to Alric’s quarters and saw how short of a walk I was to their new dormitory. We passed other officers’ wives and female staff in the black cotton clothing. I changed into my black dress. I collected the journal, the key, the comb and the hagstone from Helena, as well as my vials of lightleaf and lavender oil, and placed the hagstone in my pocket and the rest in Alric’s room before we walked down to the dining hall.
“What is that book?” she asked as we walked.
I shrugged. “I found it in the wall in the littler dormitory. It’s a journal. I don’t know why it interests me, but it does. It seems very old.”
“And the key and the hagstone?”
“The key was in the journal. I found the hagstone in Nyossa.” I did not tell her of the self-stacking pebbles or the dreams I had.
“And the comb? We have better combs and brushes now in our dormitory. Do you need one? Does the captain not have anything in his room?”
“To tell you the truth, I was so tired after the ceremony, I just slept. I have not explored it.” I do not know why I was evading explaining that Alric had put that comb in my hand as I slept shackled to the chain in Nyossa.
Helena nodded. “Oh I know. I was thinking you have not been able to sleep without your windows. Poor thing. Does the captain’s room have windows?”
“It does. And thank you for collecting my things,” I said.
She had a wistful look on her face. “We none of us have any ‘things’ anymore. It is a small complaint, but all I can think of are my brushes and my pen nibs and my inks. All of the pages I was not finished illuminating. All of our dresses and boots and my father’s books. All gone. Why am I thinking of smallnesses?”
To say that she was thinking of small things because it was easier than to think of the large things we had lost was on the tip of my tongue. But I refrained and said, “I miss my books. They each cost a fortune and I doubt I can get them here in Pikestully.”
“The Shark’s Keep has a scriptorium for obvious reasons,” she began. “They’re not an illiterate people, but they only have a few printing presses in the entire country. I asked Zinnia.”
“Please tell me they're in the capital city.”
“Thank Agnes. But I do not yet know that we can afford books on our salaries.”
“Alric has books in his room. Just a few. I will look at them tonight.”
She put her hand on my arm and drew us back behind the others. We were nearing the dining hall, the smells of bread and herbs in the air. “How was he? When you got back to the rooms, did he… try anything?”
“No. He said he has never touched a woman without her allowance. He said he was going to sleep in the infantry barracks. I would think he will come collect things he needs, occasionally. And then he said ‘I will you treat you as my lawful wife in public. I will not shame you and I hope you will not shame me.’ And I said I wouldn’t. I told you, he does not want me that way. Well, not enough.”
“What do you mean ‘not enough,’ Edie?”
I hesitated. “I mean— don’t think me conceited.”
“Please speak plainly. It is your oldest friend to whom you speak.”
I sighed. “I see him look at me. At my body. And sometimes my mouth. But he always looks away. I think, this is strange to say, he is ashamed of finding me… desirable.”
