Page 19 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
Phina chuckled, but the sound wasn’t jovial. “I was awarded numerous unwanted luxuries when Lord Haron took interest in my research,” she said. “For a while, I went back and forth to the cottage, determinedto retain a sense of—I don’t know, independence? self?—but the late nights eventually caught up to me. I haven’t been home in months.”
“Well, the look suits you.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
A chuckle. “You’re right. I was just being polite.”
Phina handed him a cup of what smelled like brandy. “Whatsuitsme is having funding for my research. The rest is just…” She waved a hand, dismissive, then gestured for Noble to sit in one of the upholstered reading chairs by the window.
Reminded of why he was here, he resumed pacing instead. “Is it safe for me to imbibe after…?”
Phina settled into her seat and crossed one leg over the other. “You seemed like you needed a drink.”
That was permission enough. The brandy was a sweet burn on the back of his palate as he continued his travels back and forth across the rug.
“You’re lucky Hattie had what you needed tonight.”
His steps faltered; he covered it up with another sip of brandy. “Jumping right into it, are we?”
“I thought we’d undergone sufficient preamble, but I’ll endure more small talk if you prefer?”
“No. Continue.”
“So, do you know why?”
Between the sleepless nights and the come down from tonight’s adrenaline, he didn’t follow. “Why what?”
“Why she had what you needed?”
“I don’t.” He rolled his neck; when normally he felt like a coiled spring, he currently felt more like a pile of unspooled ribbon, loose and silken. “Whatever she gave me was…” He did another internal assessment, feeling for the ever-present curse in the back of his mind and finding it especially subdued. “It was effective, Phina. More so than the last batch. Do you know—”
“I didn’t have time for proper analysis with you writhing in an alley, but yes, I noticed her tincture was strong.”
He had no idea what to make of that.
“She mentioned a knight who recently retired in Waldron,” Phina continued. “Do you know an Idris Togren?”
Noble shrugged. “I keep to myself.”
“Not what I asked.”
“He’s in love with the innkeeper. Hattie’s employer.”
Phina’s cheeks tightened, a barely imperceptible shift. “Hattie works for Idris’s lover?”
He nodded.
“Hm.”
“What?”
“I’m afraid she knows more than she ought to about”—Phina gestured at his general state of wretched being—“you know.”
“Monsters,” Noble supplied flatly.
Phina stared into her cup for a moment. “She knows Mariana, too. Do you think it’s possible she’s aware of the existence of the Order of the Valiant? Their purpose?”
The Valiant were one of Lord Haron’s covert Orders, in which skilled criminals were offered knighthood as an alternative to the dungeons. The Valiant’s sole duty was to protect the realm from horrendous monsters called Morta, along with any poor souls afflicted with the poison of a Morta’s bite—usually animals. Noble’s former Order had caused him to encounter many Valiant Knights over the years.
