Page 37 of Realm of Thieves

My father taught me that freedom is wortheveryprice.

With that thought, I get up and start getting ready. I use the bathroom across the hall, the rest of the castle quiet in the morning. After we came in from the rain last night, Andor took me to the kitchen, where I met the cook Nels and was able to feed Lemi some leftovers, which he happily scarfed down. I managed to sneak a bread roll with that herbed butter and bring it back up to the room to eat later. Andor escorted me but I have a feeling it was because he was avoiding going back to dinner. I have to admit, our goodbyes at the door were strangely awkward, perhaps because both of us suddenly remembered the last time we were in this area—he was smelling me and I was totally nude.

I change into one of Solla’s dresses, this one light blue with velvet trim along a V-shaped collar that goes off the shoulder blades, bringing out the warm tones in my skin, then put on the backless slippers Solla had placed under the bed, the toe beds pinching and my heels hanging off, but they’re wearable for being inside the castle.

If I’m going to stand a chance at escaping Andor, I’m going to need to figure out how he and the whole suen operation works. I’m going to need to talk to the brains of the family, Steiner.

I gather my hair into a loose bun and then step outside my room with Lemi at my side. I walk down the hall, taking my time to peer inside some of the open doors. They all seem to be guest rooms like mine, in various colors and themes, their beds all neatly made. I wonder if the Kolbecks often entertain people from out of town, if they throw lavish parties and dinners, if perhaps the royal family of Norland even comes to visit. They seem so guarded, I have a hard time imagining them at a ball or entertaining people, though I suppose I can’t base everything on the dinner last night.

I make my way down to where the hall meets a wider corridor, where the main chambers seem to be, their doors all closed, the air humming with silence. Perhaps the Kolbecks sleep in. Then I go down the stairs to the ground level, just as a door below slowly opens across from the staircase with a low creak.

Incense wafts out into the hall in a cloud of light smoke, and through the half-open door I see many candles lit, flames flickering against red velvet tapestries. Both Lemi and I have come to a halt at the foot of the stairs, waiting for someone to step out.

A man does, though at first I think it’s a woman because of the grace of his movements and his slight build. He’s dressed in a gray robe, his hair red and waving to his shoulders, eyes deep-set, bright gold and piercing.

“Brynla Aihr,” the man says to me in a rough, whispered voice, his mouth slightly crooked. “We finally meet.”

He doesn’t have any of the dark and brooding features of the Kolbecks, so I’m not sure who this man is. He has a smooth, high forehead, his skin pale with shadows under his eyes and cheekbones, and his age is hard to place, like he could be in his fifties, or he could be in his thirties.

“Who are you?” I manage to say.

“Ah,” he says, with a slow nod. “I often forget that others don’tknow of me like I know of them. I am Sae Belak. The Truthmaster for House Kolbeck.”

“The what?”

“Truthmaster,” he says patiently, his lips tugging up in a crooked manner.

“I don’t know what a Truthmaster is.”

He lifts his chin lightly. “Hmmm. No, I suppose you don’t. We are used by Harbringers at the convent and even by the government deep within the walls of Lerick’s crypts. You’ve heard of Cappus Zoreth, the one with the sight?”

I scoff. Cappus Zoreth, the one who started the Saints of Fire, has been drilled into every Eslander’s psyche at a young age, particularly at the convent. “I’m aware.”

“Of course you are. It was the Truthmasters who gave him that sight.”

Interesting. That is something I have never heard before. Regardless, this man and his robes and his way are giving me flashbacks to the Daughters of Silence, and I don’t like it. Still, he’s here and talking.

“So you give the Kolbecks sight, you help them see into future?”

He nods. “Only those who want to communicate with the goddesses directly. Most people don’t. So far only Torsten and Vidar take part. The others remain…wary.”

I frown. “You help people communicate with the goddesses? But the Soffers in Esland don’t worship any goddesses. They worship the dragons alone.”

“Maybe they are all one and the same thing,” he says, his eyes shifting colors in a strange way, like there are literal sparks in his eyes. “Come, let me walk to you Master Steiner’s lab.”

I stiffen with unease. “How did you know I was looking for Steiner?”

A patient smile appears on his smooth face. “The goddesses told me. That’s why I stepped out of the chapel to greet you.”

I look down at Lemi. My dog is paying the Truthmaster close attention, his ears pricked up, but he doesn’t seem to be nervous. Then again, he likes people more than I do.

“Come this way,” Sae Balek says, and when he turns to face the light that’s coming out of the stained-glass windows that look out into the courtyard, his eyes begin to change further, like the gold irises are starting to bleed into the whites, and the color is becoming metallic.

“You’re noticing my eyes,” he says as he keeps walking, facing directly ahead. “Do not be alarmed. This is them in their natural state. I use tricks of the light to make them seem normal, so that I don’t scare people when I first meet them.”

The man doesn’t need gold eyes to scare people, but I keep that comment to myself.

“You’re not curious as to why they’re gold?” he prods.

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