Page 69 of Ties of Starlight

As soon as Frode was gone—with a parting quip to Asa—Asa immediately launched into a tangent about how unprofessional and annoying Frode was. Idonea was certain if Asa had any human blood in her that her cheeks would be flushed pink.

“I mean, honestly, who does he think heis? Really, of all the noble families, his is one of the least consequential. I have cousins who never come to court who ought to have more influence by birth than he does.”

Idonea kept her mouth shut. It was an easy question and assumption to make based on his family name. Frode’s father hadn’t been the important one, but his mother had been. In Idonea’s last life as a maid, his mother’s room in the castle had been part of her responsibilities. She’d been an invaluable aide to King Hrorr, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to Idonea to see Frode had followed in her footsteps even after she had married down. Frode had also gotten her dry, sarcastic wit that had nearly cost her her position several times in Idonea’s past life. If Lady Asa didn’t know that, then it wasn’t common knowledge, which meant Idonea couldn’t know it either.

Asa continued as they made their third loop through the camp, “I never understood how he managed to worm his way into being King Nyrunn's righthand man.”

“He's like a burr. He gets to you without you realizing and by the time you do, it's too much of a hassle to remove, so you leave it.”

Idonea and Asa jumped, turning to see Nyrunn approaching, a bowl in his hand. He nodded at Asa and said, “May I steal my wife, Lady Asa?”

She immediately dropped Idonea's arm and curtsied, flashing Idonea a pointed look and grin before saying, “She is all yours, Your Majesty.”

Idonea glared at Asa as she scurried away as Nyrunn came to a stop in front of her. He reached into the bowl and took out an asterberry, popping it in his mouth before holding it out to her.

She reached in and took one herself, asking, “Is there something you want from me? Are these a bribe?”

He rolled his eyes and gestured with his head for her tofollow. “I'm not sure I'd call them a bribe, per se, but encouragement? Basically, as long as I'm carrying them, you'll at least trail after me in the hopes of getting more and you’ll pay less attention to where we're going.”

Idonea looked up at the setting sun. This was certainly not their normal routine. What was he up to?

“Should I be concerned about where we're going?” Idonea asked. However, she did quickly catch up to him, so she wasn'tthatconcerned.

“Of course not. I’ve had this whole area swept through by the guards and cleared. There’s not a Moon Elf for a mile around us,” he said, holding the bowl out to her and she took another berry. “But considering how often you surprise me, I thought a little encouragement would help. Especially if you wanted to be difficult. Which is more often than not.”

Idonea hurriedly swallowed her bite and caught up to him. “I am not difficult!”

“Need I remind you of the Shelf Fall of the Northwest corner from five years ago? All because you insisted you didn't need my or anyone's help reshelving ten books on a ladder that desperately needed to be replaced.” He pointed at her with his free hand and said, “Difficult.”

He remembered that?

Idonea quickly recovered, huffing. “I'm not convinced you didn't have someone swap the ladders. I used that ladder every day and it just so happens to be the day you harass me that it breaks and gives you the satisfaction of being right? Far too suspicious if you ask me.”

Nyrunn raised an eyebrow. “You know you could have broken your neck using that decrepit old thing any day? And still you insist it was all fine.”

“Well, it wasn't that big of a deal. First of all because we were scheduled to get new ladders with our budget in a fewmonths after that anyway. And second of all, my neckhasbeen broken, and I can tell you it takes more than a tumble off a ladder for that.”

He shot her a pointed look. “First of all, not funny, and second, you weren't scheduled to get new ladders. You certainly didn't have the budget for it. I gave the head librarian the money to replace them all after that ladder brokebecauseI didn't want you to break your neck on the others.”

Idonea hadn't realized she'd stopped walking and was just staring at him until he disappeared around a tree at the bend of the stream. She picked up her pace and hurried after him, calling out, “You did?”

He came to a stop by a tree next to the bank of the stream, its large roots rippling out, big enough to sit on. He nodded. “It wasn't easy doing it under my father's nose, but Frode helped me find a few valuable enough pieces around the castle whose disappearances wouldn't be noticed by my father for us to sell to dredge up the funds.”

She came to a stop at the first root, an arm's length of distance between them. “Why?”

She’d been asking that a lot lately, and she still never seemed to understand his answer.

Nyrunn’s gaze was out on the water, and something flickered on the other side of their bond but he was speaking before she could identify it. “The death of a worker because the crown was too tight with the purse strings for things like decent, safe ladders would reflect very poorly on a monarch.”

Did he really think she was that gullible?

“No one would have blamed you. Everyone knows King Hrorr was unyielding and stingy. And no one would have cared if anything happened to me, especially your father.” Idonea tried to catch his gaze. “Half-human, remember?”

“I would have cared, now come here,” Nyrunn said, breezing past his statement as he took a seat on the root that was tall enough to be above the water on one end, but curved down and dipped below it.

He was just saying that, right? But why lie? If he hadn’t actually been the one to give her boss the money, she could check the truth when they returned to Novum, so it would only cause more problems in the long run.

She followed him, eyeing the water warily. “You know I have a complicated relationship with water.”

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