Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Luna had thought this would be easier. Of course, there were the moments when she had to deal with the madman who tried to lock her in his basement, but he could have been worse. Luther had turned out to be a rather kind, if odd, individual. She didn’t mind spending time with him when she was so used to thieves and thugs.

But what she hadn’t expected was to be bored out of her mind the entire time. He’d offered her a deal, she’d taken it all with the assumption that he’d help her get ready for this party in some way. She wasn’t exactly made to be a lady!

Instead, it had been three days since she’d even seen the Earl. He disappeared somewhere into the depths of his own manor and left her to her own devices.

How did noble women not go insane with boredom? Maybe that’s why they all were prickly and too quick to attack other women. She’d heard them throw daggers with their words before, and apparently that came from sitting around until their brain rotted.

Even now, her only option was to sit at the kitchen table, staring off into space while she tasted Magda’s newest soup. The delicious stew wasn’t for the Earl or any of his friends. It was for the people who worked here and Magda had apologized that Luna had to try it.

Luna reassured her that she much preferred to eat with the servants, as rich food always made her stomach turn sour. And besides, food was food. She’d take what she could get, when she could get it.

“You know,” Magda said, her eyes canting to the side before she cleared her throat. “You don’t act like any high-born lady I’ve ever met before.”

“That’s because I’m not one.” Luna stuffed her mouth with another spoonful of potatoes and beef chunks. She flashed a grin at the old woman and added, “He brought me here to convince his aunt that he was at least trying.”

With every word, Magda’s eyes widened further. “Oh dear. Well, that’s going to be rather difficult for the both of you, wouldn’t you think?”

“I’ve brought up that very concern with the Earl and he doesn’t seem all that worried about it.” She swallowed, then shrugged. “It’s his life he’s toying with. Not my problem if he refuses to help me be more convincing.”

Except, it sort of was her problem. If she didn’t uphold her end of the bargain, what if he decided that was enough reason to send her to jail? She didn’t even know if the officers he’d eventually call would think it had been too long since the crime, but they all knew her face. A thief with bright red hair was rather hard to forget.

She set the spoon down and chewed on her thumbnail. “Do you think I should try a little harder? Maybe I should talk with someone that knows how a real lady would act. I certainly don’t look like one, but I’ve seen uglier people with nice dresses. Fabric and color fixes many flaws.”

Magda watched her with a horrified expression on her face. “I think it’s a little late to be teaching you much, miss. The dinner is coming right up in a couple of days. We’re already preparing for it in the kitchen, and his aunt... Well. She’s a dragon, that one.”

Just what Luna needed. Something else to worry about in this godforsaken place.

His aunt terrified everyone she came in contact with, apparently. Luna was a brave soul, but she wasn’t ready or capable enough to go head to head with an elderly woman who ruled her entire family with an iron fist.

That was too much like the nuns in the convent. Too much like the women who had beaten her down for years because she’d been born in the arms of a pagan who wanted her daughter to follow in her footsteps.

Luna blinked those memories away before they swelled over her head like a wave. She would not think of those dark days. Not when she needed to focus on the present.

“Right.” She slapped her hands on the table as though the movement would help her conviction. “I’ll have to work extra hard at making sure this aunt of his likes me, then. I do believe I’m a rather likeable person.”

“You are, darling. That’s for certain.” Magda reached across the table to pat her hand. “But I don’t know if I’d want my son to marry you.”

Luna winced, but she knew it came from a kind place. The sight of her would make many a mother worried, so she couldn’t blame Magda for the harsh words. Every mother wanted a son to marry a tiny little cherub who would give them pretty little babies. One look at Luna and they’d worry about the giants she would create.

Ah, well. She’d heard it before and would hear it again.

Finishing up the soup, she planned on asking if there were any maids that might at least teach her how to walk. Or fit a dress to her, considering she’d been wearing a pair of pants and a white shirt she’d stolen from one of the butlers. The Earl knew she needed a dress to wear to this party, didn’t he? It wasn’t like she’d shown up with a bag of items to wear.

“I should probably find Luther,” she muttered, standing from the table. “I realized there are a lot of things about this that we need to talk about.”

“I’ll ask one of the boys to go find him,” Magda replied. She bustled to the front of the kitchen, already prepared to fight on behalf of the young pagan she’d found.

Except they both froze when they heard a loud banging from the front of the manor. A banging punctuated by angry shouts and frustrated screams.

“What on earth?” Luna said.

The banging echoed again, this time a little more urgently, and with a lot more anger behind the screaming voices that shouted for Luther to open up. Apparently, the Earl had done something they didn’t like. Or, as she was all too familiar with, he’d done something that a mob thought was worthy of attention.

She didn’t want to be poor Luther. The last time a mob had gotten involved in her life, she’d ended up running across the rooftops in the hopes that they’d lose her. Thankfully, they did, but it wasn’t a memory that she was proud of.

Why was Magda staring at her?

“What?” she asked, shifting back to the table. “I’m not a servant here. I’m not going to go get Luther and let him know that someone aggressively wants to see him.”

“No, but you are supposed to be pretending to like Luther.” Magda pointedly stared at the door, then back to her. “So I would imagine the soon-to-be wife of the Earl would want to know what all the fuss is about.”

“You just want me to see what’s going on and then report back to you.”

“That’s exactly what I want you to do. Now get your ridiculously large body out of my kitchen and figure out what’s going on!” Magda stomped away from the door and picked up one of her wooden spoons.

Memories flashed through Luna’s head of getting slapped with one of those when she was a little child. Not hard, of course. She hadn’t broken anything. But her mother had whacked her behind and hands with the back end of a spoon like that and it had stung worse than any other wound she’d gotten in her life.

She leapt from the table and raced toward the door, grumbling the entire way about women who meddle in too many things. Why did she have to go save the Earl’s reputation? Luther was a grown man with a torture basement. Surely he could handle a couple of irate men from Dead Man’s Crossing.

Except, when she reached the door, she was shocked to find that Luther already stood in front of it. His shoulders curved inward, as though his chest had tightened with anxiety. He stared at the door as though it were going to burst open at any moment, but she could clearly see the deadbolt had been locked.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He jumped at the sound of her voice, holding up his fists in preparation for an attack.

When he realized she was the one standing behind him, he dropped those raised fists with a shocked grunt. “Luna. My apologies, I didn’t know it was you.”

“Clearly, although I wouldn’t be surprised if you wanted to punch me in the face either.” The door trembled with another solid strike. “Are you going to open the door and see what they want?”

He glanced behind him, then back to her. “No.”

“Why not? I don’t think waiting until they get tired of yelling will help anything if I’m being honest with you. They seem quite persistent.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and then blew out a long breath from his nose. Was he grinding his teeth? She’d seen the signs of someone gearing up to lie before, and Luna had always prided herself on knowing when someone was about to spout bullshit.

The Earl might be a very curious man with a lot of secrets, but he couldn’t hide from her. Not like this.

But he surprised her, yet again. Luther dropped his gaze and muttered, “I’m afraid.”

“Afraid?” she repeated. What a strange thing to say. No one in that mob would be dumb enough to attack the Earl. The last thing they needed was to piss off the king, especially since he was rather fond of hanging people who defied him. Removing a member of his esteemed peerage hit that nail into the coffin.

What did an earl have to fear? Losing the opinion of the king, sure. Maybe even having to worry about whether he could afford to keep his fine house in such a condition. But other than that, she couldn’t imagine what he would fear from the men outside his door.

Her breath froze in her lungs when he looked up and met her gaze. Those eyes were filled with so much shame and guilt. The poor man was suffering, and she hadn’t even noticed.

“I’m afraid of why they’re angry with me,” he replied, his words slow and measured. “I have done a lot of things in my life. Some intentionally, others not. I fear they have discovered something I did not intend to do, and now I will never win their good regard back.”

Well, she didn’t know what to say.

Luna looked at the shuddering door and then back to the trembling man in front of her. Luther really cared what they thought about him, and that said a lot about his leadership. Sure, there was still the murder dungeon he hadn’t explained. But if he cared about his people, that was a start.

No one would be happy if he didn’t walk out those doors, though. If he stayed frozen, they would stay mad. It was the way of the world, unfortunately.

She licked her lips and said, “I learned a long time ago that the regard of others doesn’t mean much in the long run. You have to believe in yourself and be happy with who you are. Everyone else can have their opinion, but it should never affect your opinion of yourself.”

He shook his head, almost as though he didn’t believe her. “My life is not that. I have to think about the opinion of others or I could lose all of this. It’s important that they believe in my judgement, my ability to keep this town running. They need to understand and believe that I am worthy of this position.”

“Why?” She genuinely wanted to know. “The town prospers. Their pockets and bellies are full. If some of them still don’t like you or think you aren’t good at being an earl, then let them. They’re alive and well, and that’s better than most people get.”

She could see him thinking about what she said. He squinted his eyes at her, almost as though he were expecting her words to be a lie. But she wasn’t lying. Luna had never cared who was the leader of her province as long as there was food on the table and wine to drink. She cared nothing about the nobility at all.

“So you think no matter what they have to say out there, that it doesn’t matter?” he asked, clearly skeptical of her thoughts.

Luna rolled her eyes up to the ceiling as if God himself could give her strength. “It shouldn’t matter what I think at all, Luther. You should be able to hold yourself proud for the good you’ve done in this area and know that no matter what they’re angry about, you’re still the Earl they need. Who cares about the Earl they want?”

And if they argued with him or complained even a little about their lives, she would remind them that other provinces were starving to death while their nobles slept in feather beds and drank from golden decanters. Literally. She’d stolen about twenty of them and they always ended up bringing in a ridiculous amount of profit.

Luna crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Luther. “I don’t know what you’re looking for here. Shouldn’t you be used to this by now?”

“Why would I be used to it?” His eyes flicked away from her, as though he were guilty about something. “Do you think I frequently have mobs at the front door?”

“Again, it doesn’t matter what I think. But you are an earl and you’ve lived here your entire life, at least I assume. So you must have dealt with this before?” Why did his face turn bright red when she said that?

Perhaps the last mob had been for something unsavory. It wouldn’t surprise her. But either way, he still had a lot of people waiting for him to make a move, and she didn’t want to stand here with him until they went away. Mobs rarely did that. And then they would wait out Luther until they ran out of food. She’d be starving again, and Magda wouldn’t give her anything to eat because she wouldn’t have any story to tell the nosy old woman.

Luna nodded at the door again. “So, are you going to open it or what?”

He took a long, steadying breath, then nodded. “Let’s open it together.”