“I’ll see if I can grab something to repair it from one of the seamstresses while you’re out on the town.” The smirk on his face might have made me mad if I didn’t know we relied on making each other laugh and keep each other fighting.
“Ha!” I said, standing up. “You really think you’ll beat me to the library?”
“While I’m holding the book,” he said. He lifted up his pant leg to show me the latest brace he’d designed for his crooked leg. “This model helps my balance a lot more. I used some spare iron from the blacksmith’s shed. I don’t even need my crutch to run.”
“Run, maybe,” I said, “but I’ll still be able to beat you climbing into the kitchen windows!”
And before he could stop me, I tore out of the small servant’s house and headed for the main house, laughing all the way.
Ben quickly managed to catch up to me. I could see his twisted leg moving with a straightened limp, and he’d been right; his balance was kept in place as he ran.
As soon as I could feel him catching me, I twisted about, skipping through the pig’s pen.
The mud and muck would surely slow him down, I thought, less than thrilled to be so competitive that it made me less than compassionate.
Ben didn’t seem to mind.
“Ha, nice try, Nora!” As I watched, he pulled out the feeding trough and used it to slide through the muck. The pigs didn’t even see him.
And I didn’t really see them. I stumbled right into one, only managing to jump over him at the last moment.
Furious Ben had found a way to beat me, I grappled with the ivy vines, thick from years of growth in the Bohemian clime, and pulled myself up to the second floor of my father’s mansion.
“Ha, yourself!” I called back, teasingly waving as I headed down the stone battlement.
Ben grunted in response, but I saw the smirk on his face as he trotted up a small tower of hay bales and hurried into a nearby window, only catching his leg briefly on the outer trim.
“Hey!” I rushed toward the door.
Only to be immediately stopped by my stepbrother. “Where are you rushing off to?” he asked, as he lazed about in the doorway to the inner keep.
“I’m just going inside, Alex,” I muttered, avoiding his eyes.
He looked too much like Cecilia that I did not like to look at him in general, but he had inherited her vanity along with her looks.
As I glanced up at him, waiting for him to move, I caught sight of the leer on his face, and I felt the sudden urge to hit him. He was looking down his nose at me, as though I was beneath him.
Which, considering my role in his household, even I had a hard enough time doubting. But I was a lady, a true one, just as my mother had been, and my father made me a knight’s daughter.
“That’s Lord Alex to you,” he said.
“Well, then it’s Lady Eleanora to you,” I spat back.
“I’d hardly bow to a servant, especially a hoyden such as you,” he countered. “What kind of lady romps around on the battlements just before breakfast? One returning from an illicit, romantic tryst, maybe?” His gaze wandered down my dress, and I gave in to my hateful temptation.
My fist balled, and I struck him in the stomach before he could move.
“Ack,” he gasped, doubling over in pain.
“Serves you right,” I said, kneeing him in the face. I could feel the stark bluntness of the impact, and I was not surprised a moment later to see droplets of red slam against the stony walkway.
“You’ll pay for that,” he snapped, as his nose began to bleed.
“Oh, what are you ever going to do?” I countered. “Tell your mommy on me? She’ll hardly think you’re man enough to marry that countess then.”
“I’ll find a way to make you pay,” Alex grunted, “if it’s the last thing I do.”
“I would gladly let you try, if it was indeed the last thing you would ever do,” I yelled back, already moving past him and out the door of the next room.
It was no secret my stepbrother was a monster; Ben and I had caught him trying to coerce Betsy and some of the other younger maids into dark corners of the house a few years ago, and ever since then we’ve made sure he was well watched by the guards.
All of Táta’s playing around when we were younger looked more and more like a wise investment, I thought, as I arrived at my destination. Ben and I had learned to hit and fight as well as any siblings who shared the ups and downs of our lives, mostly thanks to each other, but plenty of others as well.
The halls around me were quiet and still. I burst through the double doors of the library and threw up my arms in triumph.
“Take that, Ben!” I cheered, as I swirled around and flopped into a chair. I decided it was the perfect place to greet him as he entered and found himself in second place.
There was just one problem with that.
“Take what?” Ben asked, all too innocently, from behind me.
I jumped up and swiveled around, the mud on my shoes making my feet more slick. “Oh, no.”
“Yep, that’s right,” Ben declared. “I’m the winner.” The innocence was gone, and the arrogance had come.
My shoulders slumped over. “I guess this means I have to go into town by myself.”
“You know it.” Ben grinned. A moment later, he softened. “It might be for the best,” he said. “If you go by yourself, you’ll take longer. That’ll give me some time to get the work done around here.”
I sighed. “Anything to get away from Alex, I guess,” I said. “I ran into him out on the battlements. That’s why I lost.”
“Then it is better you go,” Ben said. “So when I beat him, you won’t be around to take the blame.”
“I already took care of it,” I said, before diving into the details, telling Ben the story of how I had fought off our wicked stepbrother.
“In all seriousness, we need to practice your fighting some more,” Ben said when I was done, and he was done laughing. “He’ll be the master here soon, Nora.”
“Not for some time, surely,” I said. “Even if he gets this manor when he’s married, they’re only announcing the engagement tonight. It’ll be at least another year before they get married and move in. That’s plenty of time for us to get the funds we need for Liberté and then get out of here.”
“I hope so,” Ben said. “But that also gives him plenty of time to terrorize us.” He came up and patted me on the shoulder. “I don’t want anything happening to you, ségra.”
Since I coveted his approval and affection, I quickly hugged him before brushing off his concern. “We’ll be fine, brácha,” I assured him, using my own endearment for him in return. “Now, let me go. If I’m supposed to be back from town before tonight, I’d better get going. Alex might be a terror, but he’s still nothing compared to his mother.”
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review for this book and check out www.csjohnson.me for other books and updates!
Also by C. S. Johnson
Birds of Fae
The Princess and the Peacock
Favan & Flew
One Flew Through the Dragon Heart
Once Upon a Princess
Beauty's Curse
Beauty's Quest
Beauty's Kiss
Beauty's Gift
The Divine Space Pirates
The Heights of Perdition
The Breadth of Creation
The Price of Paradise
The Divine Space Pirates Trilogy
The Legend of Eydis
Eydis: The Island of the Dragon Bride
The Moonlight Pegasus
The Moonlight Pegasus
One Night of Moonlight
The Realms Beyond the Rainbow
Kitsuneko
The Starlight Chronicles
Searching
Slumbering
Awakening: A Christmas Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Calling
Falling: A Starry Knight Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Submerging
Seeing: A Wedding Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Remembering
Belonging: A Date Night Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Continuing
Reflecting: A Dream Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Outpouring
Reawakening: A Rebirth Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Everlasting
Awakening: A Christmas Episode of the Starlight Chronicles
Till Human Voices Wake Us
Across the Floors of Silent Seas
Till Human Voices Wake Us (Coming Soon)
Standalone
A Knight's Quest for the Holy Grail
Night of Blood and Beauty
The Girl of All My Memes
Should I Go to College? What About Student Loan Debt?
Good Writing is Like Good Sex: Sort of Sexy Thoughts on Writing
Watch for more at C. S. Johnson’s site.
The Price of Paradise Page 30
