Page 27

J ulep was feeling a little frustrated and down. The little girl they were fostering, Noemi, had just lost her mother. It had been inevitable, but the child was heartbroken. Not only had she become understandably clingy, she'd also come down with a nasty cold.

Noemi was home now with the nanny, alternating between napping and restless wakefulness. Julep had taken turns watching the girl, and she seemed to have finally taken a turn for the better.

Julep seized the chance for a much needed break.

Artur owned a tea shop. Decorated in bronze and black, it tended on the side of moody elegance. Potted plants made excellent room dividers and lent a forested air. The dishes were copper and delicate pottery, with a smattering of carved wood.

Not only did they serve a delicious chestnut flavored tea and Goblin coffee, their little sandwiches and desserts were amazing.

Artur had gone with her once and ordered a full size sandwich and a cup of strong goblin coffee. He wasn't one to enjoy fussy little snacks, as he called them, but it was profitable to have a place where ladies could congregate for discussions that didn't involve alcohol.

The rescued girl Era worked there. She was polite to Julep, but had difficulty meeting her eyes.

Julep felt bad for her. Even though she believed Artur that the girl might be up to no good, she thought kindness might change the girl's mind. It was terrible to lose your family, and sorrow could lead to rash decisions.

Hopefully, the girl's resentment would fade with time. After all, she was working in a goblin owned business with no apparent difficulty. Julep would have thought that would be a bigger problem. After all, it was goblins who had destroyed her village.

Despite that, the girl had no issue flirting with Julep’s bodyguard. The Goblin wasn't doing anything to encourage her, since he was on duty, but he glanced her way.

That was an interesting development, Julep thought as she selected a tiny cream puff. It had a crunchy caramel drizzle on top and tasted like pure bliss.

It was too bad she didn't have time to ask In’shi to join her, but this had been a spur of the moment thing.

Besides, In’shi's stomach still hadn't settled down. It might be a while before she would appreciate the tea shop's delicacies.

Maybe she should have invited Gal. Inspiration struck, and she thought about inviting Gal and Noemi next time. They were both her nieces, after all. It would be good bonding time.

Clearly coming here had been a good idea. She was new to being an aunt, and she obviously had needed time to think about it.

Eventually, she would get the hang of parenting, but it would have been nice if the kids had come with a manual. It turned out that having been a child herself did not qualify her in any way to raise a young one of her own.

It was sobering to realize that an otherwise competent adult could be stumped by a child.

Maybe in addition to the young nanny, they should hire an older woman to serve in an advisory capacity.

That, or she could visit Aunt Rho. She raised a brow, contemplating it. Did Rho even have children? She would have to ask Artur if he had cousins.

She lingered over her tea, but finally it was time to leave. She headed to the bathroom.

??

Era glanced shyly at the guard as she cleared the table. When he met her eyes, she blushed and offered a little smile.

He watched with interest as she headed toward the kitchen. Since it was just past his post at the bathroom door, it gave her plenty of time to admire him.

In fact, she was paying so much attention to him that she tripped right in front of him. He reached out a hand to steady her and got a face full of burning dust.

Julep had finished up, and she stuck her head out to see what her guard was screaming about.

Era shoved her back into the bathroom and bolted the door. The door shuddered as the extra guard who’d remained outside rammed it.

The door was surprisingly sturdy for a bathroom door. The guard barely budged it.

Era drew a knife from under her skirt and turned on Julep.

There was precious little in the bathroom that could be used as a weapon, but Artur had recently taken the time to give her basic self-defense.

The first rule, he said, was that everything was a weapon. The tea in a teacup was a distraction, the teacup to the face was even more effective, especially if it was applied rim first.

Julep would have said that he had spotty success with the lessons. She did her best to be attentive, but she just wasn't a warrior.

However, with the threat of being stabbed, she suddenly found inspiration. She grabbed the small metal garbage can and tossed the trash in her attacker's face. Then she yelled as she'd been taught and rammed the can's opening over Era's knife hand, pinning it and Era to the door.

“Keep hitting her,” Artur would have said. “Don’t stop until she’s on the ground!”

So Julep eased up on the can and then rammed it into Era. That wasn't very effective, and Era had an arm free and was hitting and clawing at her face and pulling her hair.

Artur had talked about that. Clawing and hair pulling wasn't fatal. Knives were fatal.

She really didn't want to let the knife free, so Julep shifted her weight and stomped on Era’s foot.

That worked so well that Julep pulled back and smashed the garbage can in Era's face.

Unfortunately, Era’s wild swinging managed to get in a knife strike. Hot pain seared Julep's arm.

Oops! Letting the knife free might have been a miscalculation. Well, it's not as if she was going to become an expert from a couple of sessions on self-defense.

For now, the knife was bad. Get rid of the knife.

Julep was so hopped up on adrenaline, she barely noticed the pain in her stomach. She whacked the garbage can rim into Era's wrist repeatedly until she dropped the knife.

That was when the door exploded outward. The noise and light made her cringe, and she barely registered people rushing at her.

She belatedly thrust the garbage can in front of her as a shield, only to have it gently pulled away.

The guard who had been stationed outside the shop said, “Easy, it's us! We've got this. Are you hurt?” He hustled her out of the bathroom as she thought about it, so she didn't see what happened to her attacker.

Tashi Yal was outside the door, concern on his face. He leaned forward, looking her over for damage. “Madam? Are you okay? Oh, you're bleeding! Send for a doctor,” he told his bodyguard.

“No need, we'll take her there,” the guard who had gotten a face full of burning dust said. He was drenched in water and his eyes were red and streaming, probably from the effort to rinse his eyes.

He glanced at his partner. “The attacker is secured.” The way he said it made it sound like she was permanently secured.

Julep started to shiver. It was nerves, of course. The idea that there might be a dead body left behind was appalling, but Era had attacked her first. Julep didn’t regret defending herself, but the rage and fear were taking a toll.

“It doesn't look too deep,” the outdoor guard said, examining Julep's cuts. “Here, press this towel to your side.” He tied another towel around her forearm. “Let's go, Madam. The carriage is ready.”

She found out later that Tashi had been nearby when he heard the commotion. He'd seen her carriage and investigated, and it was a good thing, too. The door had been magic sealed, and her guards never would have gotten through without his help.

Although Artur was sure that she'd been working on Zul Kan's behalf, he couldn't prove it, because Era was dead. The bodyguards hadn't been taking chances once they finally busted in.

“Although I think at that point you would have finished her,” Zac said confidently. They were sitting in the family parlor the next day, helping Julep to soothe her frazzled nerves.

Zac was unexpectedly proud of her. He clearly hadn't expected his honorary aunt to have a steel spine. “I never heard of anyone winning a knife fight with a trash can.”

“I don't know why you're surprised,” Gal said loftily. “I told you she had grit. Just think what she can do with a little more training.”

“Hey!” Julep held up her hand in protest and winced. It wasn't her cut hand, it was her left side that had taken all the knife strikes, but she had pulled something in her right shoulder. “I don't think so. I'm clearly not meant to be a warrior.”

Gal started to protest, but Artur said, “Let her recover from this bout first, child. Although it's heartwarming to see you have such confidence in her, not everyone wishes to be a warrior.”

Gal didn't seem to agree, but she took a sip of tea instead of arguing.

“So where does this leave us?" Zac asked. “Is this escalation, or...?”

Artur took a breath and leaned back. “The girl is dead. Although we know she must have had help, we can't prove it. I would say it's an impasse.”

Zac scowled. “I can't wrap my mind around the girl's way of thinking. Her village was destroyed by goblins looking for Loose Tongue, so she comes after Julep in revenge? It doesn't make sense.”

“It's a child's logic. The group that killed her village was too powerful. Instead, she blamed Julep because she was an easy target,” Artur explained.

“Ironically, she accepted the spying job with the very group who destroyed her village so she could hurt Julep. Julep started it, so Julep had to die.”

“But why pick the bathroom? There was no way out,” Gal demanded. “It was stupid.”

“She knows she's going to die, but it's okay because she's going to kill her target,” Zac said distastefully.

“This is why they teach us strategy in school.

‘Never leave yourself without an exit route’.

It could have been much better planned. There's no need for the suicidal theatrics if you have a proper plan.”

The mention of their bloodthirsty school made Julep feel a little green.

“Why don't we speak of something else? Poor Julep has had a trying time.” Artur took a sip of Goblin coffee. “Tell me, Gal, what do you think of Tashi? He made a good showing the other day.”

Gal wrinkled her forehead. “Yes, he was helpful. What about it?”

Artur raised his brows.

Gal's eyes widened in comprehension. She made a gagging sound. “Ew! Gross! No, I don't like him. I can't believe you suggested that.” She shook her head. “Now I'm going to have to go soap my brain to wash the image out.”

“But he would make such a good ally,” Zac said, completely straight-faced.

She gave him a vicious look.

“All right,” Julep said in a warning tone. “Artur, I think you did that just to stir things up.”

“So you don't think...” Artur began.

“No, I don't, and neither do you. Leave the poor girl alone.”

Artur smiled. “As you wish, my dear.” He wasn't going to let the issue of the assassin drop, but his wife didn't need to know that.

The poor woman had been through enough, although he truly was impressed with her budding fighting skills.

If he'd had any idea how vicious she could be in a fight, he would have started coaching her a long time ago.

It just went to show, although he thought of her as a gentle soul, the woman had the heart of a tiger. He would do well to remember that.