❝Shae Burrower, failed author and city girl, from Lavender Lane, at your service.❞
⎯⎯⎯
The story contained within these pages is not about me.
You all know of whom I write. If not by word of mouth or by the speculation of the Chileez Times, then by...
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The sun was still sleeping when my mother woke me with coffee. It was still sleeping when I snuck past my sleeping siblings and ate breakfast with my parents. It was still sleeping when I walked the streets with my father, my destination Collette's and my heart's desire for my bed.
Fountain Square contained a soldier or two, which was a new development after Collette's was broken into, and the gurgling of three fountains filled the quietness of the night.
There was a lantern burning in the window of the small cafe. The door opened before we could knock, and it was the same girl as yesterday who ushered us inside.
"Keep your coats on, for now. It's really cold as I just started the fire." She led us to a table, the only one whose chairs were not stacked, beside a small fire. "My name is Colette Devereux."
My eyes wandered over the sharp angles the shadows cast; the play of light on the wooden floor and the emptiness of a closed shop. I turned back to the woman, who also was hard to see in the scarce light of the room, and introduced myself.
"Shae Burrower." I shook her hand, foregoing a curtsy entirely. "This is my father, Dr Burrower."
"Good to meet you both. I will start some coffee and tea if anyone would like some?"
"There's no time, Colette."
Lennon T. James strode into the room, nodded at us in greeting, and set his armful of supplies on a table. "We need to set out before the king wakes and makes my life even more miserable. We need to take the first train to Arriza and it leaves in less than half an hour."
This was off to a wonderful start. Already I was deemed a misery and I hadn't even fallen off my horse yet.
The explorer's gaze caught on my luggage. He looked at me. "That's not coming with us." Without waiting for an answer, he was once again focused on his task.
Before I could protest, there was a knock at the door.
We all stood very still, wondering who would be up at this hour. But then I thought of the adventurer's words and wondered if it wasn't too late for the king not to interfere any further.
Miss Devereux rushed to open the door, her skirts swaying about her, and in stepped a man dressed in the leather of the Chileez army. Behind him, a girl clad in rags and filth. It was all I could see of them and I bid my curiosity to be patient.
Lennon T. James straightened up and crossed his arms.
"His Majesty sent us to accompany you, sir." The guard pulled the girl forward, directing our attention from him to the manacles around her wrists and the chain attached to them. Light winked from the metal. "My name is Borys Nattaniel, sir. I am to guard the prisoner and she is to contribute her pickpocketing to the team. I was to inform you this was nonnegotiable." There was a short silence before the soldier continued. "He said to inform Miss Shae Burrower her student debt shall be repaid on her behalf if she survives."
