Page 61 of Ironling
“Yes, mistress,” he grumbled.
With a decisive nod, Brenna pushed between them on her way down the corridor.
They waited for her to disappear down the stairs before moving toward Lady Aislinn’s door.
“That woman is unpleasant,” said Allarion.
“She can be.” Hakon decided that was as diplomatic as he could be. Brenna kept the castle running smoothly, but he’d never seen the woman smile. She didn’t eat with the staff nor take part in any of the gatherings they held on rest days. She seemed to always be working and determined to keep Lady Aislinn that way, too.
Rapping a knuckle on the door, Hakon waited withimpatience for the sweet, “Come in!” The sound of her voice soothed his temper, and he opened the door to her study with a smile on his face.
Inside was a trove of books.
The room was oblong, with some of the limestone blocks of the castle showing through the worn plaster walls. Wooden shelves had been mounted on the walls, books spilling over onto the floor in great piles that reached almost to Hakon’s shoulder. Two arched windows on the south wall let light stream inside.
Magnifiers, rulers, scales, weights, compasses, pens, and sharpening knives sat atop books and folios. It was a chaotic cavern of scholarly delights that smelled of parchment, ink, and Lady Aislinn.
Hakon loved it immediately.
Sitting at a battered desk on the far side, Lady Aislinn herself looked up in surprise at their entrance. She was enchanting as always, her hair gathered in a braid that followed the slope of her head, and her limbs clad in a lovely green gown. Ink stained her fingertips, and she had a charcoal smudge on her cheek.
“Oh. Oh! Hakon—Allarion!” A blush overcame the tanned skin of her cheeks, and she looked with increasing worry between them.
“Good day, my lady. Allarion and Bellarand have come to see you today with business.”
She glanced at the still open door with trepidation. “The unicorn isn’t right outside, is he?”
“Rest assured, he’s perfectly content in the courtyard being admired from afar.” Something of a fond grin curved on the fae’s lips. It was more disconcerting than his temper chilling the bailey.
“All right.” She cleared her throat. “What can I do for you today, Lord Allarion?”
“I’ve come to settle the matter of the Scarborough estate.”
Lady Aislinn’s brows arched in comprehension. “Oh yes! I’ve been waiting for your petition. I asked Brenna, the chatelain, about it not long ago and she said she hadn’t seen it.” She winced with embarrassment. “I apologize, I looked everywhere for the petitions you sent but couldn’t find them. I’m sorry you’ve had to come all the way here.”
Laying a hand over his heart—or where in the chest most others’ hearts were—Allarion assured her, “It’s no trouble, my lady. I just wish to resolve the matter.”
“Of course.”
Turning to her left, Lady Aislinn rifled through several volumes and parchment rolls, pulling out a large, leather-bound folio. She flipped to a large map of the Darrowlands, the land covered with names written in fine scrawling script that had long since faded to brown. Tracing the map with a finger, Lady Aislinn followed the curve of the Shanago River north, to a place that’s name had been scratched out.
“You’re sure you wish to let the Scarborough estate? It’s sat fallow for decades.”
“No, I don’t wish to let it. I wish to purchase it.”
Lady Aislinn stared at the fae for a long moment. “Purchase it? But it has no farms, no village.”
“Precisely why it will suit me.”
“You would be beholden to attend council meetings, as a landholder.”
“A good excuse to socialize.”
Lady Aislinn bit her lip, still looking uncertain.
“You seem to have no need of it,” Allarion reasoned. “If it has sat abandoned for so long, then no one has cared about it in a long while. I will restore the estate and land. I will pledge loyalty to the Darrow name, and none shall be a timelier taxpayer.”
That got a grin from the heiress. “You make a strong case. I only worry that the land is far away from the community youhave on the Brádaigh estate. It’s far from anyone, really.”
