Page 40 of By the Horns (Royal Artifactual Guild #2)

Twenty-Nine

Gwenna

Starting on Firstday, we’ll be heading into the tunnels for our first time,” Master Jay says later that day as he hoists his weekend pack on his shoulders.

“Rest the next two days, study your glyphs, and then be ready. We’ll start out in the training tunnels at the top of the Everbelow and work our way downward as we progress in our studies. ”

“Yes, Master,” we all reply, as expected.

Well, except for Raptor. He never refers to Jay as “Master,” just addresses him directly.

I think it stings his pride that he must answer to one of his peers.

It makes me wonder again what was so terrible about his actions that they demoted him.

Taurians are some of the hardest workers the guild has, to the point that their success makes the humans jealous.

Then again, maybe that’s the problem.

I head into the kitchen after Master Jay leaves, preparing myself a plate of food.

There’s a thick barley soup full of vegetables, but I leave that for Raptor, as I know he doesn’t eat meat and cow’s milk cheese like the rest of us.

There’s a heavy bag on a hook hanging by the door.

It must be Marta’s. Judging from the rectangles pressing against the side of her pack, it’s full of books.

She must love to read as much as Hemmen does if she makes the effort to carry around such heavy tomes, what with a bad back and all.

Marta smiles shyly at me as she wipes some of the plates clean. “I made extra food for all of you.”

“You’re so thoughtful. Thank you.” I beam at her and fill my plate with slices of bread, cold meats, and a few wedges of cheese. “You take good care of us.”

“Just doing my job.” She smiles again, her cheerful expression fading as the other students enter the kitchen. She ducks her head and picks up her heavy pack, scurrying out. Poor Marta.

Raptor immediately heads to the big pot of soup, lifting the lid and sniffing. His tail flicks and he sighs in pure bliss. Then he turns to look at us. “Who wants a bowl?”

“The rest of us are going to eat the meat and cheese,” I say loudly, gesturing at the food spread on the table for us by Marta. “You need your strength. Eat as much of it as you like.”

“But I like soup,” Hemmen says.

“And you can eat all of it when it’s chicken soup,” Arrod says, stepping in. He loops an arm around Hemmen’s neck and rubs his knuckles on the other man’s hair. “Let the big guy eat whatever that mess is.”

“Barley. And vegetables.” Raptor takes out a bowl and hesitates, ladle in hand. He glances at us. “You’re sure?”

Kipp hops on the table and grabs a handful of nuts, showing what he’s going to eat. I glance at Hemmen and hold the plate I’ve prepared out to him.

He takes it from me, shrugging. “I don’t really like barley. I can eat other stuff.”

“I’m sure if we ask Marta to make two soups next week, she can,” I soothe, making myself another plate. Arrod looks at me hopefully as I do, and biting back a sigh, I toss a little bit of everything on the plate and then hand it over to him. I’m starting to feel like their mother.

I pick up an empty plate for myself and glance over at Raptor.

He has the entire soup tureen in front of him and uses the ladle as a spoon.

I fix myself a few bites of food and then sit down at the table to eat with the others.

All is quiet, the only sounds those of Raptor ladling soup and Hemmen chewing noisily.

“Thank you,” I say to the others after a long moment. “For today. I’m not sure why I’ve been targeted, but it’s disturbing.”

“If you get booted, we all do,” Arrod reminds me, stacking his cheese and meat into his bread as a makeshift sandwich. “We’re protecting ourselves, too.”

“Who’s doing it?” Hemmen asks. “Is it a former lover who wants you gone?”

“You assume I know who it is,” I say, indignant. “I’ve no idea.”

“It’s some stranger, then? You didn’t flirt with someone?” Hemmen continues.

“Now I’m a tease?” I arch my brows. “All because I’m a woman?”

“Gwenna didn’t do anything,” Raptor says. “They’re targeting her because it’s easy to discredit a woman. No one wants her to succeed as it is.”

“Thanks for that,” I comment, the bitter feeling rising in my stomach. Maybe I’ll go spend time with Lark and Mereden this weekend or help Sparrow with her projects. I could use some time with women to relax.

“We want you to succeed,” Raptor continues, shrugging his big shoulders. “Even if you’re a thief, it’s in our best interests for you to pass regardless.”

He thinks I’m a thief anyhow? That hurts. I keep my voice flat as I respond. “Thanks.”

“It’s not personal. It’s just business,” Arrod says. “We all want to pass.”

“I do, too! I just…I don’t understand.” I spread my hands, frustrated. “If I was a thief, why would I go to so much effort to steal artifacts when I can make money by turning them in to the guild?”

Raptor clears his throat. “It’s not the same amount of money.”

“It’s not?” I’m surprised by this.

He chuckles, shaking his head as he ladles another huge swallow of soup. “Gods, no.”

“Exactly how much?” My brows draw together, and I try to imagine vast amounts of coin.

As a maid, I know all too well how much cheap things cost. I know the price of a loaf of bread, or how much it’ll cost to get a new pair of shoes.

I know the price of an apron, or a night’s stay at an inn.

I don’t know how much a fancy-pants mirror costs, or a glowing necklace. “I thought all artificers were rich.”

Raptor chokes on his soup, coughing as it goes down the wrong pipe.

“Artificers are paid a small standard wage established by the guild,” Hemmen says. “With a healthy bonus for every artifact turned in.”

“A very small standard wage,” Arrod agrees. “A pittance, really.”

“That pittance is four times as much as what I made as a maid,” I point out. “You lot don’t know how good you have it.”

They stare at me. Kipp turns to the others and gestures at me, then makes a cutting motion and shakes his head.

“Aye, I don’t think she’s a thief.” Arrod chuckles. “Not if she thinks the guild artificers are swimming in coin.”

Raptor just squints at me as if he’s noticing me for the first time.

I’m determined not to feel foolish at their reactions.

It’s not my fault they don’t appreciate the difference between making one gold crown a year versus four.

They’ve never bought three-day-old stale bread at the market just to make their pennies stretch because Ma needed a warm cloak for her morning walks to the hold’s kitchens.

“This is all beside the point. Someone’s lying about me because they want me out of here. How do we find who it is?”

“It could be someone sitting at this table,” Raptor drawls.

Startled, I look at Arrod and Hemmen. It never occurred to me that it might be one of them.

Kipp wouldn’t sell me out, because I know him too well.

We were fledglings together last year, and I know how crushed he was when we were removed and thrust into the repeater ranks.

He was even more hurt than Lark and Mereden, who also took it badly. I trust him.

I trust Raptor, too, strangely enough. He didn’t say anything about the strange artifact that was planted in my bag.

Still hasn’t said anything about it, even now.

That leaves Arrod and Hemmen. Arrod is smart but lazy.

Hemmen is bookish and even lazier, but he’s also repeated four years in a row.

Does he want to make it five? If so, why?

“Don’t look at me,” Arrod protests. “If I was the one trying to get you in trouble, I wouldn’t write it in a bloody book. I’d go straight to Master Jay.”

“I wouldn’t write in a book, either,” Hemmen adds. “It’s terrible to deface something that takes so long to print. You’re ruining it for the next person who wants to learn.”

Both have valid points, but they could just be saying that to save face. I cross my arms under my breasts, my appetite gone, and stare down at the half-eaten food on my plate. “What do I do?”

Kipp pounds his fist into the flat of his hand and makes a frantic motion, like he’s catching a bug.

“He’s right,” Arrod says. “Obviously we have to set a trap.”

“And how do we do that?” I ask. “Whoever this is already knows where I’m going to be at all times.”

And they might know that I’m a mancer. They might already be plotting to use that information against me.

The thought terrifies me. What if they turn me in to the guild enforcers?

Will I be burned in the square as a message to all?

It’s hard to think straight or control myself when I feel a dead body nearby.

Hot panic tightens my lungs, and I want to tear my tunic off and rip away my corset so I can breathe.

“It has to be one of the other fledglings,” Arrod says. “They’re the only ones who would want to take you out of contention. No one else cares if a woman is an artificer or not.” He shrugs, glancing at Hemmen and then Raptor. “So we figure out how to trap the fledgling in the act.”

“How do we do that?” Hemmen asks. He looks skeptical.

I am, too. I also can’t help but notice that Raptor says nothing. He’s just listening quietly to the others. That unnerves me, because I want to know what he’s thinking. For some reason, him believing in me matters more than all the others.

“Whoever it is who wrote on those books clearly has access to the library,” Arrod points out.

“We all have access to the library.” Hemmen shrugs. “I go there all the time.”

We all stare at him. Kipp thumps his tail on the table in a decisive manner.

“What?” Hemmen asks, confused. Then he realizes what he’s said. “It’s not me! I don’t want to repeat again, either!”

“But you are at the library all the time.” Arrod exchanges a look with Kipp.

“I like to read!”

“You could stake out the library,” Raptor says, finally speaking up. “Watch out for people who spend a lot of time there. Talk to the archivists working and see if anyone borrows multiple copies of the same books other than the masters teaching classes.”

Arrod snaps his fingers at Raptor. “That’s an excellent idea. We’ll do that. Since there’s five of us, we can set up shifts.”

“Splitting up is what the accuser wants,” Raptor continues. He leans forward, pushing aside the now-empty soup tureen. “You and Kipp and Hemmen should all stick together. Keep an eye on one another. If the accuser strikes while you’re all together, then we know it’s not one of you.”

Hemmen eyes the Taurian. “And what about you?”

Raptor leans back in his seat. “I’m going to be with Gwenna.

I’ll keep her away from the library all weekend and we’ll focus on training.

She’s still not very strong or good with her Prellian letters, and now more than ever, it’s important that she pass.

I’ll work with her. More importantly, I’ll keep her safe. ”

No one argues.