Page 13 of Dishonor Among Thieves
“Not staying?” Antonia echoed. “Not staying? That’s foolish, girl! You cannot leave before morning. You’d be ensured an attack by air or worse.” She turned on Neo and pointed at him. “Neo, please. Whatever issue you may have with this young girl, make her feel welcome. I’ll not have a sleepless night because we sent an innocent out into the dark.”
“Innocent,” he muttered. But he waved a hand, and with a disgruntled chortle, Antonia left us alone.
Although the food was sitting right there in reach, my hands felt grimy from the horse and the road, and I just couldn’t stomach eating while Neo was pacing the room in a frenzy, no doubt trying to figure out the easiest way to cast me from his manor for good.
“I’ll not be a burden,” I said, lifting my chin. “Why don’t you leave me here? I’ll eat, sleep the night right here where I sit, and be gone in the morning before I can trouble your household further.”
Neo turned and looked me over, the intensity of his golden eyes sending chills down my back and arousing an uncomfortable heat in my belly. “I thought you were here for the job,” he said. “Now all of a sudden, you’re anxious to leave?”
I closed my eyes and swallowed a sip of water then set the mug on the cart and stood. I paced the beautiful room, moving away from Neo. The corners of the large room were dark, as no lamps were lit. Only the roaring fire in its enormous black hearth sent light and heat through the room. The floors were a smooth, glossy tile with thick woolen rugs set away from the fire to soften the sounds of footsteps. When I moved out of the warmth of the flames, the space felt empty. Dark. I wrapped my hands around my arms and stared into the fire. My expectant host cleared his throat impatiently.
“I am an orphan,” I explained. “A foundling. I was rescued by a woman who was not my birth mother when I was only three.” I sniffled and rubbed away any traces of grief as I spoke. “My mother, the woman who took me in, didn’t survive long. She was alone in the world as well. I have never been able to understand why one such as her would claim me for her own. Would put herself through the burden of raising a little one, as she herself was an outcast.”
I swallowed hard and looked at Neo. I had no reason to trust him, so I withheld the details about my adoptive mother that I knew would put him off. What she really was. An unholy, forbidden creature the name of which even now I feared speaking.
If Neo knew anything about my life before, anything about the secrets I was bound to keep, he might cast me out, dark of night or not. So I told as much of the story as I dared.
“She passed when I was very young. Just a girl of eleven. She knew she had little time left and installed me in a foundling home in a small shire called Byrlad. Have you been?”
He nodded his head. “Passed through at least. Of that, I’m certain. Go on.”
I stared into the fire, stroking the charm around my neck. “I was well treated there.”
That was the truth, in a manner of speaking. I’d been fed and not abused in the ways some might presume. But my life there was far from safe. Not at all peaceful.
My voice was quiet, but I could not keep the emotion from my words. “I should not have been allowed to stay. I didn’t belong there. By the time the woman who ran the home knew as much, it was too late. I knew her secrets, and she mine.” I met the man’s bright eyes and glared at him. “Secrets bind people in devastating ways,” I said.
“Secrets,” he echoed, a surprising concern in his voice. He strode behind me at the fire and reached a hand to touch my shoulder.
I lifted my chin, just peeking over my shoulder where his hand rested against the rough material of my dress. He withdrew, yanking his fingers away too quickly, before I could take a moment’s comfort from the touch. But I knew deep down there was no comfort to be had here. Even if he was moved to a moment’s kindness, it was already gone.
“You were never harmed?” he asked, his voice composed.
I nodded. “No serious harm of the physical sort was ever directed at me, nor at any of the foundlings. I made myself useful but, sadly, was unable to learn any trade that might have been gainful outside of the home. I was unable to leave, to seek a marriage, a guild for training or education. I remained there, in a place that was never meant for the likes of me, until just a few days ago when… Well, I’ve obviously left the place.”
Neo stepped beside me, lifting his chin as if fighting the words on his lips, his hands clasped together in front of his chest. “And what of your sister? Was that a lie, then?”
“A lie?” I turned on him. “My sister,” I seethed, “was my sister by bond, not blood.” I gripped the charm around my neck and closed my eyes. “She was special. Not meant for this world,” I whispered. “And as far as I know, she’s no longer in it.”
“I don’t understand.” Neo reached a hand toward my necklace but stopped short of touching it. Of touching me. “Is your sister dead or alive?”
“It depends on who you ask,” I spat bitterly. “She disappeared just over a week ago. Left of her own will or taken, I’ll never know. All that remained of her was this necklace. I found it hidden under my pillow as I tried to fall asleep the night she disappeared. The caretaker of the foundling home refused to speak of her. Every child eventually leaves, but most depart with a special meal, gifts, and well-wishes. Ginevra, my sweet little Gini, disappeared without so much as a goodbye. She would never, ever have left me that way. I’m certain of it. But I don’t know that I’ll ever know for sure what’s happened to her. I was cast out of the foundling home when I was caught looking through the books for any sign of where she’d gone.”
“I…I’m sorry.” Neo looked at me curiously, as if trying to puzzle through what I’d told him. Doubt and distrust set his mouth into a hard line, despite the hint of concern that lit up his eyes. “So you looked at the records to see if there were notes or clues as to what happened to the girl?”
I nodded. “I was discovered, of course. And when the caretaker found this around my neck—” I stroked the charm on its slim length of leather— “I was accused of stealing it. They tried to take the one thing I had that let me know Gini loved me. The only clue I had.” I sighed, my shoulders sinking. “After an entire lifetime in their care, I was branded a thief and tossed aside.”
Neo paced away from me, dropping down into a velvet-covered armchair. “So you’re on the hunt for your sister. And you need a job, a place to live. Money.”
I nodded. “Whether or not I’m ever able to find my sister, I have no home to return to. No savings, no skills.”
“And yet you mean to offer yourself for employment here?” His voice lacked judgment, but rather sounded curious.
“Managing a household is something I can easily do,” I assured him. “At any given time, I was responsible for the care and maintenance of up to a dozen foundlings. Each with very unusual needs.”
I clamped my lips together, hoping I already hadn’t revealed too much.
“I assure you, I only stole from you in Fish Head End because I had nothing. I am not heartless, nor am I selfish. Your fine clothes, your hair… You are by all appearances someone who would not be greatly harmed by the loss of a few sausages and mugs of ale. Your meal filled my empty belly. Had I kept your knife, I would have sold it to purchase only what I needed to survive. I am not proud of what I’ve done, but I hope you see the necessity that drove me to it and do not judge me harshly.”
