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)
“Oh!” I gasp as a memory floods in. “I remember now. The Conch of the Tides!”
Mereden snaps her fingers. “That’s it!”
“What’s the Conch of the Tides?” Gwenna asks. “Why is the tide so important?”
“The Conch of the Tides is ideal protection for a sea fortress,” I point out. “It didn’t even need a word of magic to activate it. If you blew on it, the tide would change. I recall that the holder who acquired it lives upon an island where his shoreline is only available at low tide. He’s the safest holder alive, now.”
“And why my father wanted it,” Mereden agrees. “Our hold makes most of its income from low tide farming for shells and cockles because of the cove we’re in. He was very disappointed.” She eyes me speculatively. “You certainly know a lot about holders.”
I exchange a look with Gwenna. It’s time to come clean. I turn the envelope in my hands, running a finger along the edge. “I haven’t been entirely truthful with all of you,” I admit. “I’m not a merchant’s daughter.”
“I was wondering when you were going to speak up,” Mereden says. “Honori Hold, right?”
THIRTY-TWO
ASPETH
Mereden has known the whole time.
I’m a little shocked, but I shouldn’t be. Mereden is smart, and she sees everything that’s going on. That she keeps her secrets without spilling them makes her all the wiser, because secrets are power. But as I confess the truth about how and why I’m here, Lark’s jaw drops and continues to drop lower, and Kipp looks equally agitated. Once my story is told, I produce the ring from inside my corset and set it on the table, deciding to keep Gwenna’s name out of it. “I managed to snatch this from down below.”
“No, you didn’t,” Mereden continues. “I saw everything. If we’re telling truths, tell all of them. We’re all in this together.”
“I took it,” Gwenna says. “Aspeth’s protecting me because she’s a good person. Because she knows I’m worried. You two are noble, holder blood.” She gestures at me and Mereden. “I’m a servant. Who do you think they’ll come after if we’re discovered?”
Mereden hesitates, and then nods.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Lark drawls. “Did you, Kipp?”
Kipp gives his head a quick shake. Nothing.
Gwenna manages a little smile. “Thank you.”
Mereden reaches out to me, her hand palm up on the table. “I want you to know that your secrets are safe with me, Aspeth. There’s nothing I want more than to join the guild. We need all five of us for that. And I won’t say anything to my family, either, if you’re worried. If I did, they’d probably attempt to take over your father’s hold…and then send me promptly back to the Convent of Divine Silence.” She makes a face. “My situation is slightly different from yours but no less awful.”
“We’re in this together,” Lark declares, and slaps her hand down atop Mereden’s.
Gwenna drops her hand onto theirs and I do the same. Kipp places his atop mine, small and sticky. His little touch feels like a big deal.
“Thank you,” I tell them, and then feel the need to say more. “I know what we’re doing is dangerous and illegal…. I just want an artifact that’s enough for my father to protect the hold,” I tell them. “If the ring will do it, that’s all I need. Anything else can go to you guys. I know it’s a lot to ask, and I wouldn’t ask at all if my life wasn’t on the line. No one’s going to stop and ask me if I want to be my father’s heir. They’re just going to kill me, no questions asked.”
“How do you know your father won’t gamble it away?”
I don’t. “I’ll figure something out. Maybe I’ll tell him it has a curse on it, and if it’s sold or used for gambling, he’ll be doomed.”
“Tell him it has an ass-pox,” Lark says.
Mereden gives her a strange look. “What is it with you and asses?”
Lark shrugs. “Asses are funny.”
“Well,” Gwenna says in her no-nonsense voice. She picks up one of the envelopes and holds it aloft. “Should we deliver these, then? The sooner we get things started, the better.”
We head out to deliver the appeals, and I try not to think about the fact that Magpie has no idea of what we’re doing in her name. Like Lark said, if she thinks she did them, it can work in our favor, too.
Lark has grown up in Vastwarren and knows her way around everything. She leads us to one manor house that looms high above the other houses in the area, a tall hedge separating him from his neighbors. The housekeeper takes the letter with a sniff, and something in me suspects it won’t be looked at.
“That’s why we have multiples,” Lark replies cheerfully. “All we need is one person willing to override the guild.”