by L M Gregory
"Anna, my darling daughter. This is Baron Sidemore. Your betrothed."
"Baron Sidemore," I said, trying to do a better curtsey. I almost tripped at the last words registered. Betrothed. Anna had said something about a marriage, but she hadn't been happy with it.
This was the man?
Wait.
This was her betrothed? Already?
"Uh. Nice to meet you," I said. What else could I say?
"My lordship, if you could give me a moment with my daughter?"
"Of course, of course. However, I must insist that the beautiful Anna agree to a stroll through the village afterward."
I flushed. Even though the words were intended for Anna and likely would have been said no matter what she or I looked like, something in the Baron's tone and look made me think he meant it.
The Baron stepped outside.
My father... Anna’s father loomed over me.
"What have you done?" he hissed.
"What?" I asked, looking around. Where was Anna?
"Daddy? That curtsy? And you look different."
Huh. Anna's father recognized her. That was surprising given some of the hints Anna had dropped.
"Uh."
"I know you aren't thrilled, but this is our chance to leave the gentry! To become something." He paused. Looked at me. "You're not my daughter," his voice dripped with menace."
Well shit.
I sighed. "No. I'm John, the wizard's apprentice."
"Why do you look like my daughter?"
"Only sort of," I mumbled. But waved him off when it looked like he might explode. "It's a long story, but the short version is that it was an accident."
"Damn it. Where is Anna?"
"That's a very good question."
Anna's father paced the room. Finally, he paused. "There's no help for it. You'll have to go on the walk with the Baron."
"Uh, That's not a good idea. I can't be Anna. We could tell him the truth?"
"And have me shamed for introducing you as my daughter? I was so angry I didn't even notice at first."
"Well, he might find it funny. Everyone else has," I added in a mumble.
"I don't," he said.
"Oh. Good point."
"No. There's no choice. Just keep him entertained. I'll look for Anna, and we can switch you out later."
"That doesn't seem like a good idea."
"I'm not asking. I'm telling."
Given the anger in his voice, it seemed prudent to do as he said. I wasn't afraid for myself. The worst that could happen is banishment from the village. Big deal. I'd survive. Well. I would have before the transformation. Hm. Maybe I did need to be more careful about what I said. Even if my situation was more precarious than I originally thought, I still worried more about Anna. Her father seemed furious enough that he might harm her. That I couldn't allow. So, I'd do her duty. But I would have a stern talk with her later.
Maybe involving spankings.
* * *
From my readings, I know that the gentry and the nobles live very different lives from the peasantry. Even the merchants in the cities couldn't understand the lives of a country person. Why am I saying this? Because the nobles and gentry have a belief in romance. That marriage should somehow be built on agreements but be romantic. And what is more romantic than a walk in the country?
Probably anything.
Seriously.
Still. Baron Sidemore was a nice man. Or seemed so in the time we meandered around the village. It's not like we could do anything except talk or look at the endless fields just outside of town. Most of which were still just small shoots of whatever crop would be coming up later.
Just as a side note, though I think I mentioned it earlier, Baron Sidemore is not the Baron our little village sits within. He came from further away. What exactly he hoped to accomplish with a marriage to Anna, I had no idea. Anna, despite her beauty and the position of her father, was common-born. She had no claim to the land and certainly not to the barony.
I knew that her father dabbled in trade. Maybe it was more than a dabble. I don't know.
"It's my hope that I can lift more of the peasantry out of the fields and into the cities," Baron Sidemore said.
"But who will grow the crops?" I asked. I suppose I should have remained quiet, smiled, and nodded. But I didn't think for one moment that Anna would have. And I was sort of pretending to be her. So, questions!
He smiled. "Specialization. My land isn't as fertile as the land around, for example, here. It takes three of my peasants to grow the same amount of food one of yours does. But what we do have is mineral wealth."
"You want more miners?"
He nodded. "Of course, that's a field more suited to men than delicate women." I managed to hold back a snort. Anna? Delicate? I think not. And me? I'd like to see Baron Sidemore handle an orc orgy. He'd be running before the first cock came out.
"But do miners live in cities?"
"Ah, you caught that, did you? Your father said you were smart. No. Or at least it's easier to have them living in small villages, much like this one, near the mines. But," he held up a finger. "I don't want to just mine the minerals and ores, then ship them to someone else to process. What if my people did that? Blacksmiths, metalworkers, gem workers, traders, I think we could create a large market."
"Interesting," I said. It was. I hadn't studied economics much at all, but it seemed like a good idea.
"That's why the agreement with your father is so important. Even to the point that I was willing to marry a commoner."
I winced. My apprenticeship hadn't involved much work with the nobility, but enough that I knew they considered themselves different from the common folk. Baron Sidemore likely didn't even realize he'd insulted his future bride. Sort of.
"How so?" I asked. Anna might have ripped him a new one, but I didn't want to go that far.
"Food. If my peasants move from the fields to the mines and the cities, they'll need to eat. Your father, as you know, produces considerable surpluses of food. Much of that has to do with your wizard, but more so the fertility of the fields."
I hadn't known that Anna's father shipped extra food. That... if there was that much extra, why were so many of the peasants still serfs? Shouldn't they have benefited enough to buy themselves out? Even my own family worked the land as serfs. I must have frowned.
"You didn't know?" he asked.
"I-I'm simply surprised more of the peasantry hasn't risen out of the poverty they live in," I said while gesturing to the huts around us. They were of okay quality, but nothing close to what they could be. Much of their sturdiness was my work, in fact. I had been strengthening the huts since I'd learned the right spells.
Baron Sidemore sighed. "Yes. The peasants are simple folk who seldom do what is best for themselves."
I stopped. "What do you mean?" I loved my family, even if they had been eager to get rid of me. Hearing them insulted, well, it didn't sit well with me.
The Baron stopped and pointed to the nearest hut. "I'm no expert, but that should have fallen long ago."
"The wizard's apprentice does some work on them," I mumbled.
"That's the point!" the baron said. "If they used the extra coin your father is bringing in to build a better hut, they could save some coin and still have a good hut to live in."
"But I-he doesn't charge them."
Sidemore frowned. "Then where is their coin going?"
"I don't know," I said.
The Baron seemed preoccupied as we returned to Anna's home. Hopefully, her father had found Anna and we could switch back. I needed to talk to my parents and some of the other peasants. If Anna's father sold enough excess crops to attract the attention of Baron Sidemore, there should have been more than enough coin for the peasantry to buy their own land.
"Baron Sidemore!" Anna's father said. He cast a glare at me but shook his head.
He hadn't found Anna? Where had she gone? Has she... had she seen her father coming and h
idden? Damn it! This was beyond me. The first thing she'd asked was that I take her place. I should have been more careful! But I thought Anna had liked me. Liked me enough that she wouldn't have tricked me. To the abyss with her. I was careful to only think the though and not put any magic behind it. Wizards could and occasionally did accidentally summon demons. I might be angry with Anna, but I didn't want her actually sent to the hells!
The room we ate in, a dining room apparently, had more space than most peasant huts. Anna's home might be bigger than most of the surrounding huts, but I'd seen real manor homes. Bailiffs did well for themselves, but not as well as nobles.
In fact... the tapestries on the walls were worn more than I would have expected for someone who brought in the amount of wealth Baron Sidemore implied our Bailiff did.
If he didn't spend it on his own home, where was the coin going?
Apparently, the Baron wanted to know that too.
He cleared his throat. "This is a bit awkward, but in my walk through the village, I can't help but notice the poverty of the peasants. I would have expected with the amounts of crops you are selling in excess that they would have improved lives."
Anna's father glared at me. This wasn't my fault! He can't have expected me to just nod and smile. Could he? Okay. He probably did. Oops.
But rather than chewing me out, he sighed. "If you wish to undo the agreement, I understand. The truth is most of the coin I make is sent onward to the baron."
Baron Sidemore frowned. "What amount is your tax?"
The Bailiff named a number. I choked on the bread I'd just bitten. Even my master didn't have near that much coin. I hadn't guessed the entire village held anywhere near that amount!
"That's preposterous! What could your baron need with that kind of wealth? That is far in excess of the allowed taxation. Have you informed the King?"
I swallowed. This had gotten way out of hand. I hadn't meant to cause an issue!
"I have been ordered not to."
"That's not an order you can be expected to follow."
"I've been ordered not to on my daughter's life," Anna's father said softly.
"That's why you were so eager to include her in the deal."
Anna's father nodded.
"And once she's safe?"
The Bailiff looked up; his eyes flashed with anger. "Once she's safe, there will be no power in the heavens that will stop me from reporting this to the King. Even should it cost me my own life. I have done what I could to encourage the wizard and, more so, his apprentice, to help. The apprentice has stepped up with services that would have cost hundreds of gold had he not done them for free."
I choked on my bread again. Hundreds? Gold? Oh Gods! The things I could have done with that. I sighed. No. I don't think I could have lived with myself, knowing where it came from.
The Baron nodded, then smiled at me. "I have no issue maintaining our deal as written."
"Thank you," Anna's father said.
The topic of dinner turned to more mundane and less serious issues. But my mind spun. Hundreds of gold. Hundreds! My master knew. He had to. He'd let me do it anyway.
Maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought.
After dinner, we sat in my—Anna's father's study. The men drank wine while I did not. Wine did bad things to wizards. My master had required me to get drunk as part of my training. I'd turned a stone room into an inferno. And the dreams... I shuddered. No. I'd never touch drink again.
"Baron Sidemore, I want you to know that I consider the marriage to already be in effect."
Baron Sidemore glanced at me with a smile. What? "Thank you, that's very generous."
"Not so generous," Anna's father said. "A sign of trust."
The Baron nodded slowly. "Indeed. It probably doesn't hurt that you know my honor would never allow me to back out having taken that step."
"Not at all," Anna's father said.
The Baron laughed.
What were they...?
Oh.
Anna's father had just told the Baron that the marriage could be consummated. Before the priests blessed it. Only because he knew the Baron's honor would require him to go through with the marriage once that step was taken. It would tie the two families together almost as strongly as the marriage itself.
Wait.
Anna wasn't here. I shot a glance at Anna's father, but he only stared into the fire. He wouldn't or couldn't look at me. He wasn't selling his daughter. He was selling me!
The bailiff sighed. "I can't do it."
"What?" The Baron asked stiffening. "You don't trust me?" There was a hint of danger in his voice.
"I trust you, my lord. It is I who must ask forgiveness."
"Whatever for?"
"This not my daughter," Anna's father said.
The Baron laughed. "I figured that out a long time ago. You've described your daughter in such detail I feared I'd get my head chopped off for a few of the things I said. But she just smiled."
I did not just smile! I had questioned him.
A grin of pride lit up the Bailiff's face. "I wish you had met her first. But I'm not sure I could convince her to marry you."
"And this one?" the Baron asked softly.
"You'd want her?"
Yeah! Wait!
"She... intrigues me. Who is she? A peasant? It would be difficult to marry her, but I could take her as a concubine."
I coughed. Concubine? I wanted to speak, to defend myself, but the Bailiff's look cut me off.
"It's the wizard's apprentice."
"What? I thought wizards didn't take female apprentices?"
"They don't. Until a few days ago, he was a man."
The Baron's head spun to stare at me. Fire crept up my neck and cheeks.
"Is this true?" he demanded.
"Yes. It was an... accident."
"I look forward to hearing that story," the Baron mumbled, but still looked at me. If I had to guess, I'd have said his gaze was intrigued. What was he thinking?
"You're still interested in him?"
"Are you female? In form? My attractions lie in the direction of women."
I stifled a groan. "I have the body of a woman, but my mind is still mine. And my soul." I assume. But I didn't say that part out loud. Nobles might be honorable, but wizards were not.
"And can you do magic?"
A gesture sent the fire racing up the chimney. It might have been a little extreme, but it got the point across.
The Baron shifted back. Then smiled. "Yes. I'm still interested."
My heart sped up. Anna had teased me all day, and my... pattern for the last few days had been almost constant sex. Honestly, I wasn't certain how I was still on my feet. I should have passed out long ago from lack of sleep!
The Baron was a handsome man.
Both men looked at me. "I purchased a nightgown for Anna. But it would fit you. If you were willing," the Baron said.
I flushed. No. I should say no. But... I couldn't even blame this one on wizard's curiosity. I'd already had sex with Tom. The Baron wouldn't even be my first human! I bit my lip. But he would be my first older man. Maybe...
Still warm, I nodded. "I am interested."
* * *
The Baron summoned a servant, who, after a whispered conversation, left the room in a hurry.
"My gift is being laid out on my bed. If you would wait for me there, I'll meet you after I finish talking to your father." The smile on his face said he knew the truth but enjoyed teasing me. That wasn't fair. Still. I slipped out of the room to follow another servant.
Anna might have known where the room the Baron spoke of was, but I didn't. I'd been in the house before as part of my duties, but not into the personal spaces.
I stared at the bed. When the Baron had said a nightgown, I'd pictured... well. Not this. Not an emerald green, almost transparent, silk gown. Silk! Silk was expensive. Monstrously expensive. My master had a few squares as it had uses in magic. But this gown, no matter how nebul
ous, would run into the dozens of gold. I couldn't even imagine.
And he wanted me to wear it?
I wanted me to wear it.
It shamed me, but I wanted to.
"Miss?" the servants were not in on the secret. "May I help you dress?"
Help me dress? People did that? "Okay," I said. Unsure. How would that work?
The servant's fingers deftly undid the laces of my dress. "Arms up," she said in a voice that left no room for argument.
I lifted my arms so the servant could remove my dress. I should know her name. The village wasn't that big. It was likely I had helped her or a relative at some point. But my mind wouldn't work right. I kept looking back at the gown. I'd never seen anything like it. Even my master's most elegant robe didn't match the sheer expense of what was to be a sleeping gown!
Or was it? Was it meant to be something one slept in or something one enticed a lover with? That made a little more sense, but not a lot. Gold just to look alluring for a few minutes? I didn't understand the wealthy at all.
I shivered in the cold of the room. The servant took the gown and turned to me. Then frowned.
"I swear your breasts are bigger than they were just a day ago," she said.
I flushed. "It's just shadow," I said, hoping she'd move on.
"Hmph, I've dressed you for all of your adult life, I suspect I know your body better than you do," she said. But demanded I put my arms up again so she could get the gown on.
Likely she is right, I thought. I didn't know this body very well. I'd learned a lot over the last few days, but even then, I'd let others play with it more than I had! What did that mean? Did it matter? Then again, the servant probably didn't know this body very well, since it was different from the real Anna's.
"See!" the servant said. "I took the measurements myself back when your father asked for them to send to the Baron. You have gained in the breasts and hips!" The gown settled into place, but as she said, stretched tight across my bosom and hips. And around back.
I sighed.
"Take a look, miss," she said, directing me to a mirror.
My breath caught. I took back my worries about the cost not making sense. It still probably didn't make sense given all the things coin could be spent on, but damn if the effect wasn't breathtaking. The silk gown gave the illusion of hiding everything while exposing everything. I wasn't even sure how that was possible. When I moved, my bare breasts seemed to flash through the green of the silk. My stomach showed clearer, while the fabric darkened below my waist, almost hiding the patch of hair between my legs.
