Page 51 of Pawns of Fate
I hope this letter finds you as well as can be for the current situation. I myself have been traveling due to unforeseen circumstances and thus unable to write sooner.
Please be careful of monsters. Many reside in the deserted plains and hills of Ojoh territory. Stay with Lyla. She’ll protect you.
Your husband,
Nicholas Sharp
Rose sighed. She hadn’t expected a love sonnet, but the letter was… short. Nicholas did say he was traveling for unforeseen reasons, but perhaps the real reason was that he was still upset she’d volunteered for this trip.
“Lyla, was Nicholas at the swamp? Or did you teleport to Onanish, too?”
“Nicholas had to join York in the swamps,” Lyla replied, her voice grim. Rose wondered what that implied. It was rare for noble families to send both of their heirs to the same battle. But neither Nicholas’s letter nor Lyla’s short words gave her much information, and Lyla didn’t look keen to explain.
Rose glanced at her sister-in-law, who wasn’t poring over her letter with the intensity Rose had assumed she would.
“Was your letter nice, Rose? I know Nicholas was mad about you joining me, but he’s had a month to cool off,”Ava wondered aloud, letting out a nervous chuckle.
“My letter was fine. Is there something wrong with yours, Ava? You seem distracted.”
“Oh, there’s nothing wrong with it.” Ava smiled politely.
Lyla coughed into her hand and mumbled something. Ava shot her a glare. Lyla rolled her eyes in response.
“Ava can’t read,” the bodyguard said bluntly.
“Lyla!”
“She was going to find out sooner or later. Besides, you two have nothing but time on your hands. Why don’t you ask Rose to tutor you? She’ll be a hell of a lot more patient than me. Rose can read York’s letter to you today. I can’t stomach all of the sweetness.”
The mage strode up the stairs and disappeared into her bedroom. Ava’s face had turned bright red. She looked like she might cry.
“Some confidant!” she yelled after Lyla.
The words fell to an empty staircase.
Rose decided to use her aura to calm Ava down. A pink light enveloped the two women. Ava stopped sniveling and regained her composure.
“I’m mortified that you know my secret.”
Rose shrugged nonjudgmentally. “Most people can’t read. You’ve only lived with the Sharps for a year. I’m just surprised the Sharps didn’t hire you an adequate tutor.” The girls grabbed their dinners from the counter and sat at the table.
“Nicholas offered to hire one.” Ava paused, looking over her shoulder as if she were about to disclose another massive secret. “But York offered to tutor me, and it sounded so romantic at the time.” She put her head in her hands. “He doesn’t know that I haven’t learned a damn thing from his lessons.”
Rose blew on a hot spoonful of stew. “What? How are you going to write back to him?”
“I hadn’t thought that far ahead!” Ava tore at a piece of bread.
Rose tilted her head. “I suppose I’ll be teaching you penmanship as well.”
“I think you’ll be a better tutor than York or Lyla. She barely taught me to read my name before she gave up from frustration and stalked off to do whatever it is she does all the time.” Ava threw her hands up in exasperation.
“For now, let me read the letter to you. I’m sure hearing from York will make you feel better.” She cleared her throat and began. “Dearest Flower of My Life.” Rose already felt nauseous, and she’d only read the salutation. No wonder Lyla had thrown Ava’s secret out and left as quickly as possible.
She continued, “Ava, my love, I have missed you more than life itself. The moment you disappeared over the hills of Onanish, my heart disappeared with you.” Rose flicked through the letter. It contained three whole pages. Each one filled with this drivel.
Three whole pages, and Nicholas couldn’t even be bothered to write a proper paragraph. Just a hastily scrawled note. He probably only put it together when he saw York composing an entire novel’s worth of romantic nonsense. Rose felt indignant. If he couldn’t be bothered to write a proper letter, then shecertainly couldn’t be bothered to reply.
It took nearly a quarter of an hour, but Rose finished reading York’s love letter to Ava. By the end, she was entirely motivated to become the world’s best reading and writing tutor, so she never had to read York’s letters again.
