Page 62 of Lost in the Dark

Who wore codpieces anymore?

Her village was small and largely forgotten by the rest of the north, and even they knew that style had passed before the Golden Gods had fallen and the Spreading Dark had come for all the lands.

She forced her gaze upward. “I am honored to serve as mistress of your—”

“This is Gude,” he said, gesturing to the woman behind him. “She is our cook and housekeeper and is to be respected.”

“Oh.” Anna blinked again. “Of course. A pleasure.”

She inclined her head at the housekeeper—Gude didn’t return the gesture.

In fact, the housekeeper simply stood there, gray gown rustling in the breeze, white apron stained with dirt and what appeared to be beet juice. Her face narrowed to a sharp point at her chin, hair pulled back into a long braid of silvered hair. But it was her eyes that sent a chill down Anna’s spine, her gaze black and sharper than a hunting blade.

But her grandmother had taught her to respect everyone who worked in the house, so she forced a smile. “I look forward to learning how to care for this house from you. And in turn, caring for you.”

She snorted. “You assume you’ll last that long?”

“I…” Anna started. Her marriage might have been carried out by proxy, but a Chastry priest had drafted the document. Her family had taken money—money they needed to live. Surely it was binding?

“I have signed the contract with a priest,” she said quietly.

Gude’s lip curled and she scoffed. “The Chastry has no power here.”

Anna took a tiny step back. “But… but the Chastry governs all the—”

“This is Enulf,” her husband interrupted. “He also serves this house.”

Her attention snapped to her helper, who ducked his head.

She swallowed what she’d been about to say—something silly and trite about the Chastry governing all the lands of the North since the dragons fell. Something a foolish country girl would say, not the mistress of a grand house. “My thanks for your earlier aide, Enulf. I am honored to have your service.”

“Good.” Her husband smiled, and the tips of white teeth shone in the corners of his mouth. “For you will serve.”

Teeth?

She swallowed hard.

Regular people didn’t have teeth longer than their lips.

All three of them stood in a row in front of her, and dear gods, but they were so large. Twice her height, and larger than anyone she’d known—even Gude—with heavy jaws and angled faces. They reminded her of the drawings in her grandmother’s story book, the one that had written of monsters. The Chastry swore monsters had been driven from the northern lands, but what if they were wrong?

Don’t be foolish.

She tilted her chin upward.

This lord was her husband. He’d provided a home for her, and enough coin for her sisters to survive the winter.

She wouldn’t ruin such an arrangement with childish fears.

“You also serve this house,” her husband continued. “As our… mistress, you are here at the pleasure of myself and my servants. You will do what is required for all of them. And as such, we offer you a token of appreciation.”

He reached into his coat and produced a black velvet bag. A stone that burned with red fire tumbled onto his palm.

She gasped.

He held it up to the dim light, and it glowed more fiercely than the cold winter sun: a huge heart-shaped ruby on a heavy gold chain. The stone sat in an elaborate setting. Carefully patterned, painted with bright enamel, and dotted with shimmering pearls, the piece represented a wealth her family had never imagined. That stone had to be worth more than her entire village and all the surrounding lands.

“This necklace has been worn by the Mistress of Rathbytten since this house was merely a simple, stone cottage.” He motioned for her to turn around and clasped the piece around her neck.

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