Threads of Desire (Spellcraft) - By Stone, Eleri Page 0,8

caravan captains she trusted and the price he’d quoted her for protection to Cresa had nearly knocked her to her knees. That she was a woman raised the price, that people now knew she was a master level weaver raised it even more. She’d have to choose—stay here, buy more thread and attempt another casting in the marketplace, or buy passage to Cresa and arrive there with nothing but the clothes on her back.

Or she could reach for more.

The gates swung open silently and the guard gestured for her to enter. She gathered her worn cloak around her shoulders. First, she had to claim the money she’d earned in the marketplace. It would give her some breathing room. Some ground to stand on as she negotiated the terms of their business arrangement. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside.

He was waiting for her where they’d dined the other night, when she’d come to him trembling with fear and desperation. She’d fled that night, still trembling with the feel of his hands on her body. Still desperate.

Tonight, he’d ordered another feast and pride was the only thing that kept her from gorging herself to sickness. During the course of the meal, he didn’t speak of business other than to compliment her on the beauty of her work. She accepted the praise. Found it curious that he seemed more impressed by the fact that she’d used him as a common guard than by the work itself.

Mages were rare, masters rarer still. Yet Kal didn’t seem particularly surprised by the revelation that she was a guild-trained artist. Of course, he was an aristo. Possibly he thought artists were as common as ants, that food appeared when he snapped his fingers, that she’d come here for the simple pleasure of his company. The older, wealthier families—come from merchants all of them—were like that, but even they respected the guild. After all, what was Saria without its mages? No better than the barbarians to the north. The wisest aristos remembered that while Saria thrived on trade now, it had been built by conquest. Before the guild was formed and they turned their craft to peaceful pursuits, mages had made that conquest possible. Most aristos would treat her with reverence or at least deference. Kal seemed merely curious, which was disappointing. She’d been looking forward to seeing him off balance, had hoped to take advantage of that.

When the servants came to clear away the food, she rose. Kal lazed on the cushions, his long fingers cradled around his goblet of wine. She could feel his gaze follow her as she moved about the room. It was open to the night sky but partitioned from the main courtyard by a hip-height wall. Potted fruit trees, orange and lemon, rose from the other side and would shade this place from the morning sun. Flowerbeds lined the wall. A small fountain in the corner trilled a higher counterpoint to the larger one at the center of the main courtyard. Oil lamps were set on the table but there was no other light save that from the first moon, the bright sister, now rising from behind his home.

She lifted a smooth blue stone from a pedestal. Luminous as the moon, cool to the touch, perfectly round and heavy in her hand.

“So many beautiful things. You’re a collector?”

“Yes.” He spoke slowly, his voice dark and deep. But then, he always moved at his own pace and expected the world to accommodate him. Which, she imagined, it usually did.

“Most of the aristo men I’ve met collect blades, slick Valetian steel that will never see a battlefield.”

“Have you known many aristo men?”

Ignoring that question, she replaced the stone on its pedestal and resumed her circuit, feeling the weight of Kal’s gaze with every step. Through a low archway she could see stairs rising into the interior of the house. White steps, well worn and smooth with age. She’d wanted to see inside his home, had hoped it would give her some insight to the man, but she imagined the rest was just like this courtyard. Beautiful, expensive, well tended. It reminded her of the University.

“I should go.” She didn’t belong in a place like this, not any longer. And she didn’t want to, especially when all it did was remind her of...things best left undisturbed.

She did, however, like standing over Kal while he lay at her feet. It gave her the illusion of power even though she understood full well that it was