snag ourselves an ally.”
“As you wish,” Potts said with a bow. He saw Leon grab the sides of the bath, preparing to stand, so he beat a hasty retreat.
Kayla sat alone in her room, feeling restless. For whatever reason, Thren had not taken her and Senke with him, only Will and his son. Senke had told her it had something to do with the Ash Guild, but would not elaborate. He had run off to do a spot of wenching, which left her alone, bored, and restless. Ever since rescuing Robert Haern from prison, her duties had dwindled down to nothing. She figured in a day or two she’d beg for something as simple as leading a caravan robbery, just so she could have something to do.
She practiced with her daggers to pass the time. She had mentored under an elderly man many years ago, and from him learned many stances and techniques. She ran through them one by one. If she was to serve Thren, she’d need to be at her finest. Her daggerwork was far from the best. If Thren’s life ever came to depend on her, mediocre would not do the job.
How many hours she practiced, she didn’t know, but when she finished her body was coated with sweat and her arms throbbed. She collapsed on the bed and gasped in air. When someone knocked on her door, she was too exhausted to bother getting up.
“Come in,” she said. “It’s not locked.”
The door crept open. Kayla had expected Senke or Will, maybe even Thren, but instead Aaron crept inside and quietly shut the door behind him.
“This is a surprise,” she said, sitting up on her bed. She caught his eyes wandering, then realized her shirt was unbuttoned and open at the top. Fighting away a blush, she fastened a few of the buttons, feeling silly all the while. She’d shown far more to men when she wanted to get her way. Still, Aaron was young, and she was well aware of his crush on her.
“I have something for you,” he said.
“Oh, do you now? Let me see.”
Kayla outstretched her hand. His blue eyes stared at her fingers, and she caught his lips trembling as if he were struck with indecision. Remembering how much she hated being his age, and how uncomfortable everything always seemed to be, she tried to prod him through.
“Don’t make me wait,” she gently teased. “You’ve said you bring gifts, so give them to me. I may steal and spy, but I like presents just like any other girl.”
His neck flushed a bit, just around the collar, but then he outstretched his right hand and dropped a set of earrings onto her open palm. They sparkled with blue sapphires and white gold. Kayla gasped. She had expected cheap jewelry, a flower, or some poorly written poetry. The gift in her hand seemed more apt to have been stolen from a woman of royalty.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“Father has begun paying me for my aid,” he said. “He says I need to be treated like any other of his men if I am to earn their respect.”
“He must pay you well,” Kayla said, holding the earrings close so she could admire their sparkle. Clearly they had been polished and well-cared for. A part of her felt too cheap and dirty to wear them.
“You’re beautiful,” Aaron said. His voice, his eyes, his demeanor: everything about him, so normally quiet and secretive, made no attempt to hide the plain truth he spoke. He thought she was beautiful, and that simple belief was enough to have her put them in her ears, pressing them through scarred over holes from earrings she had worn as a girl. A bit of blood ran across her fingers, but she made sure none dripped across the silver.
“Thank you,” she said. She kissed his forehead, amused at how red his ears turned.
“Senke says I’ll owe him for the next five years,” Aaron said, babbling. He clearly didn’t know how to react to the kiss. “But I’ll keep paying him, and it shouldn’t be a problem, unless I die, but then I don’t need to worry about paying him back do I? Not unless he can find my ghost and…”
“Shush, Aaron,” Kayla said. At the invoking of his name, his whole body seemed to shrivel inward and slip behind a protective mask.
“Haern,” he said.
“Sorry,” Kayla said. “This kiss is for Haern, then.”
She kissed him just above his right eye.
“You’re a cute boy,”