Page 13

Chapter 13

Argos

H ere it comes. I’m spoiled. Yes. I grew up with every advantage so why am I hawking wares instead of working to make the lives of those on my parents’ estate better? I’m a noble; I know nothing of real work.

“I’m sorry you lost your father,” Tully says.

I am stunned. This quick-to-anger female usually hits right below the belt at any chance she gets because she sees me as a rival. But she is looking at me with kindness.

“I, um, thank you.”

“Why didn’t you stay with your mother and work to run the estate?”

A familiar weight settles on my chest. “She is still grieving deeply. I haven’t been able to pull her out of the darkness. She isn’t herself. The king demanded his tax paid in full and the wheels were just completely off by that time. I was also wrapped in shock when the king’s collector first arrived.”

“Loss can paralyze us.”

I look up to see her jade-green eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Who did you lose?” I ask gently.

She turns toward the window. “My grandwitch. She raised me. I knew she was on her way out, but it still shocked me. I couldn’t work magic for almost a year. Do you know what that does to a magical creature?”

I don’t think she wants me to answer that. She wants an ear to listen.

Her hands fist at her sides as she gazes at the glistening river in the view beyond the window glass. “Humans call the experience depression .”

“I’ve heard of it. I think that’s what my mother is dealing with.”

“Laini helped me climb out. That’s why I take care of her when she needs it.”

“Good friends are worth more than gold.”

She nods and looks at me again. “Not to sound accusatory, but why did you leave your mother?”

“Because we’re out of money. Our land manager is there, caring for my mother. The king is holding our estate for two more months as a favor to my father’s memory.”

“So you have two months to do what exactly?”

“To earn enough to pay off our debt. When father first grew sick last winter, his management skills weakened. We were completely unaware that he had failed to order the seed for the next season. He bounced back for a while, but then the fever arrived again and latched its claws deeply. He’d never been good at delegating responsibilities, so no one else knew what to do when. And the farmers tried to talk to mother and me, but we were in over our heads. I was an idiot. I tried ignoring it all. I was gambling. Spending weeks away in frivolous travel. I was everything you probably hate in a noble. Spoiled. Selfish. Thoroughly unhelpful to the community. Living on other people’s coin.”

She tilts her head and looks me up and down. “The fact that you can admit that so freely means you aren’t like that anymore.”

I shut my eyes briefly, soaking in her words like the cure I’ve been searching for.

She touches my arm for a moment, pulling back like she hadn’t meant to rest her fingers on my forearm. “We will get you that money. Somehow.”

“But I’m your rival.”

She sighs. “Laini’s and Rustion’s good hearts have rubbed off on me, I guess because I don’t think I’ll enjoy smashing your business into oblivion now that I know you’re not who I thought you were.”

Her dark green gaze pulls me under. I feel like I’m drowning and couldn’t be happier. I can’t seem to move, but blood rushes through my veins like I’m sprinting. Her lips part.