Page 31

He forced her to spend hours at the small table set in the corner of his office, copying the same words over and over again until he approved of the slant of her letters. It was easier than learning to read had been, but by noon every day her hand was aching and she’d gained new calluses along her fingers and palm. But the chief commander didn’t care how much her hand was cramping or if her eyes hurt from focusing. Once he’d eaten his lunch, they’d move on to her reading letters out to him while he took notes and tracked numbers she didn’t understand.

She was lucky the days he didn’t eat as much of his lunch. By the late afternoon, when he’d leave to go meet with his second-in-command, she’d take a break from copying the letters he’d assigned her and sneak the cold food off his plate. It had become clear after the first few days that he didn’t realize Sofia actually needed to eat. The days he finished his food or the maid came early to cart it away, Sofia would be left hungry until she made it home for the night.

She savored the hours he was gone, when she didn’t need to keep her expression neutral and tongue bit. She quite enjoyed telling the small statues he had lining his personal bookshelves how little she liked him and what she’d say to him if it wouldn’t get her killed.

He had a number of books on the shelf of his office, though the spines indicated they’d be of little interest to Sofia. The volumes were dry histories of trade, descriptions of wars and battles in countries she’d never heard of, and the occasional guide on wildlife in the area that Sofia had already memorized during her time in the library. She hadn’t been allowed near the library since she’d been caught, and she doubted the chief commander would leave any books of interest lying around for her, so she plucked out some of the most interesting-looking books, reading and rereading them any chance she could.

Even the war records had their fascinating moments, as she learned of a creature in countries across the sea that humans sat on and rode into battle. She found the idea of working with an animal both intriguing and horrifying when she thought of them being killed. It didn’t seem the creatures had any voice in the matter. At least there were no records of their negotiations with the humans.

Her parents didn’t know of her new position and they wouldn’t find out from her. The chief commander hadn’t outright told her that what she was doing was a secret, but it was clear every time he swiped the papers off her table before allowing the maid in that he was hiding their activities. She guessed that even for someone of his station, teaching a Dragonborn to read and write would be frowned upon.

So she remained his secret and she was left wondering what the rest of the staff thought about the young girl locked in the chief commander’s office every day.

* * *

A hard slapfell across her face and she flinched back, the letter she’d been drawing ending in a long scratch across the page.

“Stop daydreaming and go faster. I could have copied the entire page by now.”

She refocused her thoughts on the parchment, ignoring the burning of her cheek as she attempted to make the best of the smeared ink. Despite it being his fault, she knew he would only blame her for it. His favorite form of motivation was either slapping her and pointing out how stupid Dragonborn were, as if she weren’thelping him.

She worked, biting the inside of her cheek, focusing her mind on the pain, allowing her face to remain neutral. He hated when she showed her emotions, perhaps reminding him too much of her humanity. When he finally left for his afternoon meetings, the pages were completed and the inside of her cheek was bleeding freely. She swallowed the iron tang down, expressionless.

He left her with a small stack of charts to transcribe and organize, which she left sitting untouched on the desk as she grabbed the small leather-bound book she’d been reading the day before. It was her third reread, but she loved the chapters the author spent describing the terrain of Falais. The book itself was meant as a straightforward account of the strategies used to fight battles in the country, but Sofia savored the descriptions, picturing the foreign land in her mind as she read. The author described craggy cliffs of red stone, towering trees as wide as houses, and hundreds of waterfalls that traversed the land. Sofia could barely imagine a place with so much water and greenery.

It wasn’t until she’d read the chapters over twice before she finally acknowledged she needed to complete the paperwork the chief commander had left her. She shut the book reluctantly, her reality of stone walls crashing down around her.

A knock sounded on the door as Sofia was slipping the book back on the shelf and she gave a small jump. The chief commander wasn’t due back for at least an hour and she wasn’t used to being disturbed in the afternoons.

“Come in,” she said, hesitant to act as if the office were hers, but more scared to ignore the knock.

A small round face peaked around the corner and it took Sofia a second to recognize the bright brown eyes.

“Mina!”

She smiled before slipping into the room, shutting the door behind her.

“What are you doing?” Sofia asked, voice turning sharp with anxiety.

“One of the other cleaning maids said you were probably in the master’s office.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I just wanted to say hi,” she said, voice soft. Her smile had faded with Sofia’s sharp words. “I’m off latrine duty. I’ve been assigned to this floor.”

Sofia gave a tight smile despite her anxiety, hating to be the one to make the girl tremble even slightly. “I’m glad you’ve been reassigned. Did those boys ever bother you again?”

Mina gave a smile that showed off her crooked teeth. “Not after that day. I’d just call your name if they came toward me and they’d go running. I think Ms. Garcia gave them a piece of her mind for what happened.”

Sofia gave a nod, happy the fight hadn’t been for nothing. The fight was the reason she was locked up here now, constantly dodging the chief commander’s anger.

“What do you do in here?” Mina said, looking around the room as if it were made of crystal and gold.

“I clean,” she said, matter of factly before giving a wide grin, “and sneak around looking into the kingdom’s darkest secrets.”

Mina giggled and Sofia felt a lightness in her chest for the first time since she’d been caught reading in the library. As much as she always told herself that making friends with the other staff was a pointless endeavor, she hadn’t realized how much she missed those brief moments of simply being with another child.

“You should leave,” she said after another moment, checking the large clock above the door. “The chief commander can return at any time.”