Page 62 of Dishonor Among Thieves
I went inside, a slightly slower pace driving my feet forward.It can’t be Haeloc, I assured myself. Would the deranged vampire show his face here and expect to survive Neo’s wrath?
As I walked into the main hall, Neo was talking excitedly with a man I recognized. The un-pretty friend he’d shared dinner with back in Fish Head End.
“Oy!” The man stomped his foot. “You promised me more than just a job. I’ll take a bit of healing from that sister-in-law of yours, don’t forget.”
The fear that there was another danger in the house gave way to a more complicated feeling: jealousy.
“The job is no longer available. Isn’t that right?” I interrupted, narrowing my eyes at Neo.
My husband seemed inexplicably delighted to see his friend. His eyes sparkled, and his plush, scarred lips stretched in an amiable grin. “Brexia,” he called. “You remember Trond.”
A shadow crossed the man’s face as he cocked his head at me. “Can’t say I remember this one,” he said, looking me from head to toe. “And I think I’d remember a pretty face like that.”
My mouth tasted sour at the implication in his voice and his unblinking stare.
“I’d prefer you not look at me like I’m food on your table.” I walked up to the man and flared my nostrils. “While that tone in your voice might persuade barmaids to go home with you, most decent women would be insulted. Since you’re a guest here, I’ll take no offense and simply remind you to sort your manners for as long as you intend to stay here.”
The scraggly mess of moustache on his face drooped as his mouth dropped open. I tried not to flinch at the stench of his breath while I looked at my husband with annoyance.
“Would you care to introduce me to your guest?” I asked.
Neo looked completely lost, torn between not fully understanding why I wanted to verbally eviscerate this man and why his friend seemed to immediately despise me. He for once was speechless but recovered quickly.
“Trond, this is Brexia Eloise, Lady Oderisi. My wife.” His words were wooden and felt stiff, lacking any of the warmth they’d had before. I never wanted to hear him say wife that way again, as if he were almost embarrassed to say it.
Trond’s eyebrows quivered, and he burst out laughing. “Wait… Is this a prank, Neo?” He looked from my husband to me and then back. “I know this girl from someplace…” He scratched his head, his florid, hairy cheeks puffing out as he breathed. “Aren’t you that… That rogue! The little thief from the pub the other night!”
Neo clamped a hand on Trond’s shoulder, no doubt seeing the color in my face rise murderously. I raised my chin, but before I could open my mouth, Neo seemed to find his voice.
“This is no joke,” he said seriously. “Please give my wife the courtesy she deserves. She is lady of this manor now.” He looked at me with a slightly tortured apology in his honey-gold eyes.
Trond slapped his knee and then held a hand out to me. “Well, Lady Oderisi it is, then. Pleasure to meet you.”
I dared not touch the disgusting man’s hand, but I shook his firmly, squeezing harder than necessary to let him know I was no weakling. He squeezed very hard in kind.
Antonia came from the kitchen with a cart of snacks and tea. “Oh! You’re back!” She clasped my hands in greeting. “I’d love to hear all about your time away, but I wonder if you could help me upstairs. You recall Odile’s patient. The one who was so sick that we gave him shelter here?”
I nodded, squeezing her hands. “Has the patient been moved?” I asked, concerned how they’d managed to hide the goblin from Neo’s visitor. I refused to call that man friend.
“Aye, we moved him, thanks in no small part to Syndrian. When Odile was called away to assist the midwife, he moved the patient upstairs to the bedroom. Figured it would be easier for Dale and me to manage his care closer to Odile’s tonics anyway. Would you care to check him?”
I lifted my chin and, without a word to Trond, headed upstairs. Antonia followed behind and slipped a key from the front of her apron.
“We had to move him,” she said, her eyes wide. “That Trond character came calling for Neo this morning. Thank the gods Flynn’s brother came calling even earlier. I sent Trond to the stable with Dale to sort out his horse while Syndrian moved our dear friend.” She smoothed her fine white hair away from her forehead. “That Trond has been asking a lot of questions. What happened to the front gate, where Neo is, where Rain and Gia went off to.” She unlocked Odile’s door with a trembling hand. “I don’t care for that man,” she said.
“Neither do I,” I said, suddenly incredibly disappointed in my husband’s choices. “How are he and Neo acquainted?”
Odile’s room was dimly lit. Some kind of fabric covered the window glass to the keep the place bathed in shadows. Whether that was Odile’s design or Antonia’s, I was relieved for it. From the doorway, Elgit looked like little more than a bundle of blankets on a settee. I approached the lump while Antonia explained. “He’s a raider friend. He and Neo have known each other for years. Went on a few adventures together before Neo’s turn of fortune with Rekker Haeloc.”
Once I saw the goblin, all my disgust at Neo’s friend Trond disappeared like smoke in the wind. The tiny man’s eyes half-fluttered open as I took hold of his hand. “Hello, my friend,” I whispered, my heart nearly bursting with that promising sign of life. “You’re still with us.”
He didn’t respond to my words, but I was certain his fingers tightened weakly in mine.
“I’ll be fine up here with him,” I said. “We have more guests than just Trond, I’m afraid.”
I told Antonia about moving the children from the foundling home, and just as I was apologizing for the additional work and cost, the butler dropped down onto a chair and took a rag from her apron. She mopped her brow as tears fell from her eyes.
“The gods have blessed us,” she said, her voice shaking. “Dale and I were never able… We have no family of our own. So many times I’ve prayed and wondered why. Why not us? Would we not have made fine parents?” She stared off into the distance, lost to her private pain. “I’ve been dedicated to Neo and Rain since they were young, and I love those boys as if they were my own. But they had a mother and a father, and later a stepmother who loved them dearly. But these foundlings… Will they stay?” she asked, the raw hope in her voice bringing a tear to my eye. “Will you raise the little ones here, under our roof?”
