Page 87 of Staff of Nightfall

“Thank you.”

Someone knocked and Adelaide groaned. “Two minutes. Can’t we have two minutes to process?”

The person knocked again, so she stepped toward the door before she remembered Russell’s orders to keep her magic secret. She crossed to the table, lit the lamp with her magic, and vanished the glowing sphere before answering. An older man with a mustache stood at the door, holding a large cloth bag. He stepped back as he saw her.

“I...may have the wrong room.” He glanced past her to Regulus, then looked back at her. “I’m Phillip, the tailor? I’m here to fit Hargreaves for a royal guard uniform and was told to tell Belanger to report to the mess hall anytime within the next hour for dinner?”

Adelaide sighed. “I’m Belanger.” She stepped aside to allow the tailor to enter and nodded toward Regulus. “He’s Hargreaves.”

“I...don’t understand.” Phillip’s brow wrinkled. “You’re a royal guard?”

“That’s correct.” She looked at Regulus, then back at Phillip. “How long will getting his uniform fitted take?”

Phillip set down a bag and started pulling clothing out of it. “We should be done within half an hour.”

She turned around while Regulus changed into the uniform Phillip had brought, then sat on one of the chairs and watched while Phillip measured and pinched and pinned and smoothed and re-pinned. When he finished, he had Regulus maneuver out of the pin-filled uniform.

“I should get this back to you by this evening,” Phillip said with a nod, then left.

Concern etched Regulus’ face as he pulled his boots back on. “Are you going to eat?”

Adelaide wanted to say if he wasn’t eating, she wouldn’t, either. However, shewashungry. And, more importantly... “For all I know, I could get in trouble if I don’t.” She kicked at the floor. “Do you think...they’ll let you in, at least? Even if you can’t eat, you could just sit there, right?”

“Well, we can try.”

Fewer men were training in the courtyard, but they still stared and whispered. She kept her chin up and avoided their stares, her fingers intertwined with Regulus’. They entered the mess hall. Regulus pointed at an empty table.

“I’ll wait there.”

The boy behind the counter looked no older than fourteen. He looked at her in surprise as she stepped forward after the man in front of her moved down the counter.

“Belanger,” she said. The boy gaped for a moment, then checked a list tacked to the wall just inside the window.

“Uh...guess you are on here.” He handed her a long wooden plate and a rough iron fork. “Help yourself.”

“Thank you.” She loaded some potatoes, beef roast, and peas onto the plate. She felt the eyes of every man in the mess hall on her as she walked back to Regulus and sat. “That was the most awkward walk of my life,” she whispered, trying to lighten the mood. Regulus cracked a halfhearted smile.

Footsteps alerted her to the approaching men before four guards sat down, one next to her, the others with clear disappointment opposite her. Their plates clattered as they set them down. Regulus straightened, but Adelaide focused on eating her dinner.

“So,” the man across from her said. He was wiry and looked to be about thirty, with lots of freckles. “How’d you become a guard? Thought they didn’t take women.”

“King’s request,” she said between bites. Perhaps if she answered some of their questions, their curiosity would abate.

The man whistled. “Why? That’s rare. I don’t get what you can do that we can’t.” He grinned. “Well, other than the obvious.”

“I’m sworn to protect the king, same as you.” Adelaide worked to keep her voice even. “Nothing more and nothing less.”

“Maybe you’re a spy, or something?” This from a man in his mid-twenties, with a blond ponytail and pencil-thin lips. “You’ll blend in with the nobles, so they don’t know you’re a guard. Is that it?”

She shrugged.

“Told you.” Ponytail reached behind Freckles to slap the third man’s shoulder. “Pay up.”

“Hey now.” The third man had a deep baritone voice that somehow made him less ridiculous than his balding head made him appear. “A shrug doesn’t count.” He leaned his elbow on the table. “You know some foreign language, is what I think. You’ll be a stealth interpreter. When people think the king can’t know what they’re saying.”

She was so surprised, she said, “You think the king made me a guard so I could listen to people gossip in other languages?”

“Ha,” Ponytail said. “That’s pretty clearly a no. At the very least, you’re wrong, so I should still win.”

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