Page 5 of Unrivaled
I went back to the cart repurposed to transport the heavy paintings and got out the knotted rope the lady had given me, re-measuring them until I found the last one incorrectly put in the medium pile when it was, going off our key, actually large.
“What else is it all being used for?”Cameron asked as he reappeared from the treasury, cheeks red and sweat drying under his arms.Hauling so much wealth had been more physically demanding than we’d expected.
Not like we’d had a lot of experience.
“What?”I asked, guiding him to the correct painting.“This one.Ship with three sails.”
“The money she’s taking,” he said, catching the painting as Jeff eased it out.
“To pay you,” I said, irritated.
“No, really,” he complained.“You said she’s paying mages?So, us folks can use them?Kinda like we’re all eating the rich jerks’ food, we’re going to use their mages?”
I regretted saying anything now.“There are no Healers about, but she’s trying to get some, yeah.”I was tired.I knew better than to open my trap when I was tired.
“What else?”he pressed, shuffling backwards and paying me far too much attention.
“I don’t know,” I snapped.“And neither does she.”That was truth.She knew there were problems, but she didn’t know how to solve them right now, so she was gathering the tools she was hoping she could use later.
“Chay said she’s thinking of re-doing the market squares,” bloody Cameron said, and I wandered over with them.“And the park.And also, the gardens, while it’s winter.The old community ones?”
Irritation scratched at me, low in my brain.Did he, just?“I haven’t heard.”
“SirChay,” Jeff reminded Cameron, on a grunt.“And he warned us it was all in the planning stages.”
“He said the plans were pretty far along,” Cameron shot back.
I watched as they eased the painting into the specially made rack.If Cameron had mis-stepped even a little I’d’ve bitten his head off.But he was smooth as butter.My irritation only increased.
“For the gardens,” Jeff countered.
“I’m not bad with stone, you know,” Cameron said, stretching out his back.“My old man, he was a mason.I wouldn’t mind helping re-cobble some streets, you know?Something different.”He was looking at me expectantly, as if I could confirm anything.
I couldn’t very well sayChay spends more time with her than I,now, could I?Not without everyone else getting as suspicious as I was.
“Ah, don’t feel bad, Tom,” Cameron said, slapping my back on the way out.“He’s a handsome knight with fancy heritage and a tourney title.Of course she tells him things she doesn’t tell the likes of us, right?”
The irritation in my veins started to simmer in earnest.If Rose and the girls were here, I’d just tell them I’d been with my girls.Simple, neat, believable.“I’ve heard a lot,” I said, without even lying.“I’m smarter than to pass it on.I shouldn’t have even told you about the mages.What if she can’t get one and your cock drops off?”
Cameron winced.“I’d need to find a new pastime, is what,” he said, on a sigh.
“I hear your pa was a mason,” Jeff put in, helpfully.“Mayhap you could make some statutes in memory of those lost in the plague.And your poor cock.”
“I could do that.Put a good, flared base on it,” Cameron mused, and Jeff laughed.
I ticked off the paintings they transported into the room, fighting against the anger that hadn’t abated with Cameron’s renewed focus on himself.
If this had been the first comment I’d fielded today about how close Chay was with our little lady, I wouldn’t have been tempted to strangle him.
The rest of the paintings stowed and accounted for, I signed off on the scroll, locked the damned room up and farewelled the two of them, going straight to the lady’s rooms.She had only a little time before she was due for her appearance in the mess, and there were plenty who needed her.
That I needed to add to that list didn’t thrill me, but I shouldered my shield, hefted my spear, and went to find her anyway.
I expected her to be pacing and practicing her speeches, the way she so often was.But only Isolde was in the common area, picking up a jug of cordial as if she had all the time in the world.Her blonde curls were perfectly in place, her pretty mouth unsmiling, her eyes flat as a siren.
“Problem?”Isolde asked me, her brows arching.
I hadn’t planned what I’d say.“Is the lady free for a moment?”
