Page 35 of Mushy Stuff
After Nanni leaves, I look at Pampa. She gives me an expectant look, but I do not know what to say to her. So I just continue to pace the rooms.
Pampa finally looks at me and asks, “You are my brother?”
I stop pacing to look at her. “Yes, it appears so.” I watch her for a minute, then I ask, “What do you know of our birth mother?”
“Not a lot. I was very little when she died. I do know she never had much love for me. She probably would have sent me away like she did to you if she had lived.”
“She was not a kind mother. I have always seen Nanni as my real mother,” I explain. “You are lucky to stay here with Nanni.”
She looks at me with fear in her eyes. “Nanni says she doesn’t know how long Lord Varik will let me stay. She’s trying to convince him that I am useful. But he doesn’t want me here.”
I remember what it felt like when I was facing my birth mother sending me away. I remember how afraid I was. “You could come live on my territory with me and Lydia. Nanni can come too if she is tired of being here. I have plenty of space, and I could teach you how to tend to the territory.”
Her face lights up. “Really…you mean it?”
“Yes. No one should be trapped here.”
I catch Nanni’s scent before she opens the door. She has a worried look on her face when she enters her rooms.
“What is wrong? Is Lydia okay?” I ask immediately.
“Lydia is okay. I spoke with Faylen. She’s one of Lydia’s elven servants. Lord Varik made her drug Lydia with the same powder they used when she was kidnapped. It madeher very sick today. She has been unwell and vomiting for most of the day,” Nanni says.
I growl at this. Nanni puts her hand on my arm to calm me before I can get too worked up.
“This works in our favor. Lord Varik will not want to be around a person that is ill, so she will not have to see him today. Faylen says that your scent is fading on her, and she believes that Lord Varik will want to visit her bedchamber tomorrow night.”
“No.”
“We will get her before then,” Nanni says.
“But how? How will we get to her? They are keeping her shackled to her bed!” I practically yell.
Nanni gives me a warning look that tells me I need to calm down. “Faylen will help us. She believes the other servant, Osonia, will also help us. Lord Varik…he is cruel to them when he has no other bedmates available. He forces one of them into his bed,” she explains.
I growl again and Nanni pats on my arm.
“Osonia and Faylen can help us get Lydia out,” she repeats.
“But what about the guards? There are too many of them for me—”
“Osonia has a lover that is a guard,” Nanni explains. “They want to officially mate, but Lord Varik will notallow it, and he continues to require Osonia to…serve him…in his bed. Not only is her lover angry, but the other guards are also angry at the obvious disregard he has for them. And Faylen is well loved and admired among the household staff. I can think of several male servants or guards that would fight for a chance to be in her bed, although I think she has a soft spot for the Guardian that is our cook. I have seen the fury in his eyes on the nights she must go to Lord Varik. She is softer than Osonia, and many of us—myself included—have seen Faylen sobbing after leaving Lord Varik’s rooms. He uses his glamour on them, and he is not… kind…or gentle with them.
“Just like your mother, Lord Varik does not have any allies in his home.” She pauses for a moment and looks between me and Pampa, before continuing, “And just like with your mother, everyone would look the other way at his demise. Your mother made herself a thorn in the other nobles’ sides. All of them were glad to be done with her when she was killed. Lord Varik has proven to be even worse than she was…” She pauses again, and a dark look crosses her face. “Some of the things he does…” She shakes her head. “I do not believe any authorities would demand justice for his death.”
Fear and rage boil inside of me. He’s a monster, and my Lydia is trapped with him. “How do we do it?”
Nanni rests her hand on my shoulder. “I will get word out with the staff. Everyone will need to be ready to leave. Faylen and Osonia will need to have Lydia ready as well.”
“When? Tonight?”
Nanni just nods.
“Nanni, you and Pampa should come with us and live on my territory. I have more than enough room for all of us to have a home.”
I can see the tears in Nanni’s eyes when she says, “I would love that.”
Pampa and I rest for the remainder of the day while Nanni whispers plans to the other household staff.
