Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
“Would ratlings have left you alone while you sprawled, passed-out drunk? Or would they have attacked you?” Gwenna shakes her head and picks up a torn piece of blanket. “This was clearly someone trying to sabotage us.”
Oh gods. Is it Barnabus? Is he somehow sending his minions after us?
“Who would want to do that?” Mereden asks, handing me the unknotted rope so I can free myself.
“Literally anyone with a penis!” Gwenna exclaims, gesturing at our group. “Look at how they’ve been treating us since we’ve arrived! They don’t like the thought of more women in their precious guild—or a slitherskin—and they’re doing their best to let us know that we’re not wanted.”
Oh. Or that. It could be that. I pull the rope free from my belt and collapse on the floor, overwhelmed. I want my spectacles because I don’t want to run into more spiders. I want to lie down and rest my head but my blanket is shredded—or gone entirely. I want to eat and go to sleep with my arms around my cat and not have to worry about Barnabus, or about other men in the guild sabotaging us. I want to not have to worry about Magpie spending her time drinking instead of teaching us. I want to not worry if my Taurian husband hates me or if Barnabus is going to expose me to the guild or simply just try to take over my father’s hold.
I’m so fucking tired of it all.
“Seriously, Auntie Magpie, how could you?” Lark gives her aunt a disappointed look. “How are we ever going to succeed if you’re sabotaging us, too?”
“Oh, grow up,” Magpie snaps at Lark. “You think they’re ever going to let any of you in? They hate women in the guild. Trust me, I know. They’re going to let you play at being guild artificers and never pass you. I figured if I brought you down here, you could at least get a taste of things. Don’t fucking blame me.”
Her words just make the ache in my chest even worse. She’s right. The men of the guild have made it clear that they don’t respect us. Even if we did find something, what would be the point? It’d just help Barnabus.
I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
Gwenna cleans up around camp while Mereden and Lark work on helping Magpie sober up. Kipp takes the waterskins and heads off to the nearest drip in the rocks to refill them, and I sit on my ass and feel sorry for myself, swiping tears as they fall down my cheeks. When things are tidied, Gwenna comes and sits at my side. “Are you done?”
“I feel pretty done at the moment, yes.” I sniff harder. “I don’t know why I ever thought I could do this.”
“No, no. I meant are you done feeling sorry for yourself?” She nudges me with her shoulder. “I recognize that look on your face. The ‘woe is me, I’m just a holder’s daughter, life is so hard’ expression.”
Shame moves over me. “I’m not—”
“Look. Is this a shit show? Absolutely.” She watches Mereden and Lark help Magpie do laps around the room, trying to walk off the alcohol and sober our teacher up. Then she turns back to me. “Is everything stacked against us? Undoubtedly. But when have you let that stop you before?”
I rub my brow. “There’s no way I come out ahead in any of this, Gwenna. I’m so tired of fighting against the tide.”
“You don’t give up. That’s not who you are, Aspeth. You make the best of whatever you’re given, always.”
“And the best-case scenario here is what, finding an artifact?” I spread my hands wearily. “And then it’s given to Barnabus, who’s going to use it against my father and steal his hold. I don’t want to help Barnabus.”
“Then we don’t,” Gwenna says, as if it’s that simple.
“What if we find something? A treasure of some kind? A magical artifact? We have to turn it over. That’s guild law.”
“We’re not in the guild yet, are we?” She gives me a pert look. “If we find something—and that’s a pretty big ‘if’ from where I’m sitting—we talk to Mereden and Lark and Kipp. We explain the situation and offer to compensate them in some way. Maybe we give up our shares for a few finds in order to pay them back.”
My eyes get misty. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course I would. I think they would, too. You’re part of our Five. You’re our friend.”
I manage a smile.
“Or maybe we sell whatever we find and keep the funds and you can send those home to your father.” Gwenna brightens. “Or maybe it will all be made easy for us. Maybe we’ll find an Urn of Ever-Giving Nether-Pox and we hand it over to Barnabus after all. Who can say what the future holds?”