mean it.”
“That’s a rare gift, Eliora. Most people aren’t so genuine.”
“They could learn to be. Now, it’s late, and I was just about to draw a bath, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
The faintest hint of a blush crept along his rather pronounced cheekbones. “I’ll be going then,” he said, standing up just a bit too quickly.
She almost laughed and blushed herself, realizing her very innocent statement might have caused some embarrassing and in no way innocent thoughts.
“But maybe chess tomorrow night?” he asked, showing himself to the door.
“Maybe so.”
“Goodnight. And you should leave your hair down more often.”
She shut the door behind him, feeling a lot better.
Donnan read the books he had been given by the Head of the Salt Guild. All of them concerned the history, politics, and economics of the guild and all were fairly boring. Still, he pushed through them hoping to not look like too much of an idiot at his next meeting with Mistress Adrie. He also studied mind magic, and had mastered a lie-detection spell by the end of the week by practicing on the people he gambled with.
He was just making his breakfast the day he was going to start his new job when he heard a rather enthusiastic knock at his door. “It can only be Alain at this hour,” he thought.
Sure enough, his brother was standing there, looking exhausted and dirty as always but smiling. “Can I join you for breakfast?”
“Sure. Pull up a chair. What’s got you in such a good mood?” he asked, offering the larger man a cup of tea.
He sank down gratefully in the chair and took large gulps of the tea. “Gods, it’s cold out there.”
“Come on, Alain.”
“Well, I just got some good news. Reese got himself thrown out of the Guard.”
Donnan found he was actually surprised Adrie had been good to her word. “What? Really? How?”
“Two days ago that idiot went out with his friends and got drunk, again. Got in a fight, again. But turns out he wasn’t just fightin’ with some low class nobody, oh no, he got in a fight with the son of someone high up in the Salt Guild. Even Reese’s father couldn’t protect him from that kind of fightin’ ‘specially since the guy was threatenin’ to press charges. Kind of wish he’d done it, but Reese got thrown out instead of goin’ to jail. Tossed out just yesterday morning. Heard about it right before I went on duty, so I had to wait until I got off to tell you.”
“It’s about damn time too. He should’ve been thrown out years ago.”
“Yeah, we both know that, but hey, better late than never, right?”
“Yeah, right,” he agreed, feeling pleased. “So what’s that pretty boy goin’ to do now?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. I’ll tell you what, no one was real upset to see him go. Didn’t really make a lot of friends with most of the guys.”
“That comes from being a cowardly bully,” he said, setting out the meal.
“Yeah, that. Anyway, thought you’d like to know.”
“Thanks. As I said, about time. Oh, you might like to know I got a new job. Not workin’ for the Order,” he said, seeing his brother’s look.
“Really? That’s good. That’s real good. What’re you doin’?”
“I’m going to be a secretary for the Head of the Salt Guild.” He had expected Alain to congratulate him, but instead he looked mildly perplexed.
“How’d you get that kind of job?”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t know none of those people. How could you know she was lookin’ for a new secretary?”
“Oh, fine,” he snapped. “Dwyer told me she was lookin’, and I didn’t want to work for him anymore, so I went to see her.”
“So why’d she hire you?” he asked, now suspicious.
“She needed someone who knew Arcana,” he replied irritably, telling himself that was true, in a sense. She needed a mage, and mages knew Arcana.
“Oh, alright then. Well, that’s good you’re not workin’ for the Order no more. I’m glad you’ve got a new job, little brother. This should be good for you, too.” He started to eat his breakfast. “Yeah, that’s real good.”
Donnan found it difficult to eat his breakfast. He didn’t like lying to Alain, but telling him his new job was no more ethical than anything he’d done for the Order wasn’t an option. Instead, he took joy in the fact Reese was finally out of a position of authority.
His meeting with Adrie was very brief and to the point. Whenever he was the only secretary accompanying her to a meeting, he was to perform a lie-detection spell on everyone else and make notes. She told him she’d give him further instructions about other spells when necessary. She then deposited him with her four other secretaries and gave them instructions to train him.
They gave him no indication of what they thought of this task. They were all at least ten years older than he was, and all had a rather brusque manner that matched their employer. He noticed they occasionally emphasized a word or two in their instructions, which he gradually realized was a gentle correction of his pronunciation. He tried not to get angry and instead follow their example. The work really wasn’t that hard. Most of the secretaries did other duties such as accounting or running errands for her. He was given mostly menial tasks to occupy his time. The meetings he was required to attend generally started near the end of the usual work day and often ran late and sometimes were conducted over dinner at Adrie’s imposing house. He chafed at having his evenings occupied, but found out that Aolani had become quite sick since their last night out and hadn’t even been allowed to leave the house. He sent a couple of get-well gifts to her house but couldn’t get the time to go visit her.
About a month later, he was summoned to Adrie’s office.
“Sit.”
He did so.
“Your work is improving,” she said. “Tonight is a rather important social gathering at my house. You will attend. You will wear something formal. If I summon you to my side, I expect you to perform your duty on the guests I am speaking to. You won’t be able to take notes, of course, but I expect you will remember the topic of discussion and the results?”
He nodded uncertainly.
“Later, should I ask you about those topics, you will be able to relay to me those results by simply saying ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Understand?”
He nodded again.
“Good. My other secretaries tell me your diction is improving, so I hope you will not utterly embarrass me this evening. I would also suggest if all goes well, that you should find lodgings in a part of the city more befitting your new status. Understand?”
“Yes, Mistress,” he replied, annoyed but not surprised she knew where he lived.
“You may also want to consider finding different people to spend time with who better befit your station. I strongly suggest ceasing to associate with any members of the Order of Darkness.”
Now he was getting angry, but he nodded curtly.
“Excellent. The gathering is at eight. You should be in attendance ten minutes early.” And again, without saying it explicitly, she made it clear he was dismissed.
He left the guild building to go to a clothing shop. He’d never needed formal clothes before, and found them almost insultingly expensive, but he paid for them nonetheless. He wasn’t happy about the idea of getting a new place to live since he knew Alain would never be able to join him, but he was excited that Adrie felt he was doing so well. Her favor, he had gathered in just his short time working for her, was worth a lot more than gold.
“I don’t care what she suggests or insists,” he thought, walking home after checking out some new apartments, “I’m not giving up Blake as a friend. He saved my life, and that’s worth more to me than anything she thinks.” Besides that, Blake was the only person who could tell him what the Order of Darkness was doing on his behalf. He turned hi
s mind to that as he walked. The last thing Blake had told him was that the Order was trying to find mercenaries to give some force to what the guilds were trying to do, which both he and Blake were not clear about. But he figured working for Adrie would help give him a better idea about that. He wasn’t sure where they were going to find mercenaries, since the only people generally allowed to learn to fight or carry weapon were in the guard. “Maybe it’s different in other city-states,” he thought.
It was quite a different experience going to Adrie’s house that night. Instead of the look of disdain he had received last time from the manservant, he was treated with respect and quickly shown into the reception area. Despite being early, he was not the only person there. Adrie and her other secretaries were already there, as well as about a dozen or so people he did not know. She met his eye, gave a slight nod, and sent her senior secretary over to him.
The brusque man dropped his voice low and gave him very terse instructions. “You will mingle and make small talk with people of your age group and status. You may talk business, but you will keep it topical. They will try to get you to say more than you should. You will try to get them to say more than they should. Drink only from the blue wine glasses and only from the green punch bowl if you want anything besides water, tea, or juice. Understand?”
This last part he didn’t understand at all, but nodded anyway.
“Good,” he said, and as politely as possible made his way back to Adrie. More people had arrived during