Page 6 of Talismaker

"What do you mean?"

Giving him a look of faint surprise, Liste said, "Rathte needs a talismaker, especially one who can go on tour with us, and you were the best talismaker in the army, and probably out of the army, if I know anything, and I know a lot."

"I am? Tour?"

Liste guided him over and down into a chair. Millé had barely settled before the promised—threatened?—second hot toddy was pushed into his hands. "You and your whiskey."

"No finer drink in existence," Liste said imperiously. "Now drink."

"Yes, Captain," Millé replied, grinning when that got him one of Liste's notorious stern looks.

Rathte laughed behind them. "Finally, someone who will sass you as much as I do. Master Greene, you are hired."

Liste rolled his eyes. "You didn't even ask if he'd be willing to go on this nightmare tour of yours."

"I'm always willing to travel," Millé said. It was just too expensive for him to do on his own, like everything else in his life. "Whatisthis tour?"

"I'm going on a lecture circuit, at the request—"

"Order," Liste cut in drolly.

Rathte shot him a scathing look. "Requestof His Highness Prince Ceddi. He wants company, somebody to share the load, as we are going to a great many universities, colleges, and other esteemed places of learning and knowledge, and I am the only one as good as, if not better than, him."

"So humble," Tyri said teasingly. "The two of you competing and showing off is going to keep this tour interesting, to be sure." He turned to Millé. "Rathte and His Highness want the lecture courses to be well-rounded, which means including specialists like talismakers, and he's also wanting to begin his own experiments with talismans, so he needs you for that as well. You really do have a stellar history. I don't think I've seen qualifications even half this good from the others I've interviewed the past couple of months."

Millé flushed and took another sip of his toddy as thoughmorewhiskey would help this situation. "Thank you. My instructors growing up said I seemed to have an inherent knack for it, though I never saw why everyone thinks it's so difficult to embed spellwork."

"Do you have any samples?" Rathte asked. "Not that it matters, I was sincere in saying you're hired."

"I'm afraid I don't. I did have a sample box, but it never arrived with the rest of my belongings. I assume someone in my platoon snitched it." He tried not to be bitter, but he'd been proud of those talismans, damn it, and they'd have helped immensely with getting a job. Or selling for sorely needed money.

Rathte waved the words aside. "You can make some up tomorrow, if you want, but as I said, you are hired. We'll discuss all the details tomorrow, because if I try now, Liste might kill me."

"I would never give you anything as kind as death," Liste said as he pulled out a pocket watch. "Dinner should be ready, despite Martina's attempts at destroying it. Come along."

"Yes, my lord," Rathte replied cheerfully.

Dinner proved to be amazing. There was wine he didn't drink much of because otherwise he wouldn't sober up for two days, and the finest roasted chicken he'd ever tasted, with a mushroom soup and wild rice and roasted asparagus wrapped in bacon. Millé almost cried to be presented with so much good food, and he ate until he was so full he wouldn't be hungry again until at least lunch.

By the time dinner ended, he could barely keep his eyes open, and it was Tyri who ended up escorting him back upstairs to his room, leaving Rathte and Liste speaking quietly in that way only two people who knew each other well ever did.

"Thank you for all of this," Millé said quietly. "I feel I have gotten far more than I deserve."

Tyri smiled, so much understanding in his gaze that Millé wanted to hug him. "I'll tell you all about how me and my baby sister were living in the slums and basically one day away from the streets when Rathte crashed into me and changed everything. He seems to have a knack for bringing in strays. For now, get some rest. You're safe here, and you can stay as long as you like." Tyri winked. "Can't go anywhere right now even if you wanted; we are completely snowed in."

"Thank you," Millé said again, and nearly started crying when Tyri did hug him before slipping quietly from the room.

Despite the exhaustion of the overwhelming day, it was still some time before Millé's spinning thoughts finally let him rest.

*~*~*

He woke just a few hours later, still not particularly good at sleeping the whole night through. Too restless to stay in bed tossing and turning, he climbed out and pulled on his breeches and shirt before venturing back downstairs to see if he could perhaps find a book to read.

Finding the books took trying a few doors, stomach churning anxiously at his own presumption all the while, but he did at last open a door to more books than he'd ever seen in one place, outside of the public libraries.

"Can't sleep for long either?"

Millé jumped, whipped around—and relaxed as he registered Liste's voice. He sat across the room in front of a crackling fire, a large book spread across his lap and a glass of his beloved whiskey on the table beside him. His hair was down, which did absolutely nothing to help Millé's brain function. He'd been attractive enough with it military short. Now, though, all long and soft-looking… "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

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