Page 7 of A Light So Blinding
Four more men came through the door they had just entered. These were the king’s men though, each of them wearing armor and decorated with weapons. None of them even looked at her as they walked through the door, standing at attention and waiting on...
Harwick’s order.
What had gone wrong? How had she missed this? She could feel Lord Tolly’s gaze on her, but she had no knowledge of this plan. Harwick’s own people had always shared what they could with her, and they had never lied before.
Desperately, she looked over at Lord Tolly, hoping that he would see just how much she had tried, but he... he didn’t look surprised. If anything, he looked resigned.
“Debts?” she breathed, her voice perhaps too loud in this room where so many could hear her. “What debts do they speak of?”
His expression didn’t change as he looked at her. “I may have been attending some of the fights...”
“Oh, come now. Don’t lie to her, Tolly, not when she’s already seen it all. Priestess, your nobleman has been attendingmanyfights and betting all that he does not have.”
Her mind raced with all the details Tolly had explained away. “The food storage you said was going to a neighboring lord?”
“I could not afford more.”
“The missing paintings?”
“Sold so I could pay off some of the debt, although clearly not all of it.”
Harwick snorted. “Not even a small fraction, if we’re being honest. You owe enough that I could take your title and town, Tolly.”
That couldn’t happen. The Tolly line had been in that manor and managing that town for the better part of five hundred years. She’d vowed that she would protect it at all costs, not that she would... would...
Let it fall because of a man she couldn’t keep under her thumb. She was supposed to be one of the best. A priestess who had been trained to perfection with power that could assist her lord beyond any other. She knew how to draw emotions out of people, how to make them feel good or scared or tired. Anything that would aid her in her cause.
Turning her gaze to Harwick, she intended to do just that. But the moment she stepped toward him, one of those guards grabbed her shoulders.
She reached into his soul, feeling around for the emotion that she wanted. It wasn’t that she was just a calming presence, like these men thought she was. If she wanted to fight them, if she wanted to make them hurt, then she could.
Her elven bloodline had been cruel. The older priestesses told her stories about her suspected grandmother, a half-elvenwoman who had been as cold as steel. She’d known how to manage her family. That much was certain. She would have killed anyone who didn’t keep the magic strong within all of them. And she had done it before.
Although Astrid had never wanted to be like that rumor, she knew damn well she could be.
The guard holding on to her didn’t want to be here. His emotions were all over the place, swinging wildly from excitement to guilt to anger. She used that to her advantage. Weaving around his mind, she tied his guilt like a noose around his neck. He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want to hold a defenseless woman down, especially not a priestess who should be revered. He knew better. He knew that she deserved his respect.
The man released her almost instantly.
It should have made every man in the room tremble, but it didn’t. Instead, Harwick just rolled his eyes. “Really, priestess? Using your magic feels a little out of hand, doesn’t it?”
“Not for the likes of you,” she snarled.
She wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone other than her lord, but damn it, this felt like the right time to do it. Tolly did not need to be punished just yet. She could still fix this.
Scrambling, her mind started working in overdrive. “There is plenty for us to give you in exchange for his debt. Tolly hasn’t sold nearly enough of the household objects. Half of my dresses alone should cover what he owes. Why he has not spoken with me about this situation, I do not know. But I am willing to work with you, Harwick. We’ll get this paid off.”
Lord Tolly stepped up to her and grabbed her arm. “That’s enough, Priestess.”
By all the gods, she was so tired of men talking to her like that. Like she was nothing more than her title, rather than a woman who had thoughts and expectations of her own life. Shehad served him foryears,and he’d trusted her for that long. Didn’t he see that her reasoning might be better than his own?
She ignored her own lord and instead kept her attention on Harwick. “I’m telling you, I can make this work.”
“But can you keep him out of the gambling dens?” Harwick shook his head. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to kill him for this.”
Kill him?
No, no, no, she couldn’t allow that. If he were killed, then she would be sent far away from here. She’d pushed so hard for this job with Tolly because he was close to the city where her sister had been. And then when her sister had gone missing, she’d pushed to stay here because of Rose’s disappearance. This was where her only surviving family was. If she weren’t here, then Rose would be gone forever. She had to stay here and keep searching.
