Chapter 4

Sitting while someone else cleaned was a torture all its own. I drank my tea and grumbled insults under my breath, but I didn't get up. I did, however, let a tiny bit of magic seep through the walls so I could keep track of his progress.

And he was doing a good job, dammit.

Once he was done, I would just have to sweep and mop and this level would be clean. I silently urged him to move faster.

He saved the room I was occupying for last. I curled my fingers into fists as he worked. He diligently wiped down all of the furniture before meeting my eyes. "Well?"

"You obviously can clean, so why don't you?"

He lifted one shoulder. "Once you reach a certain age, time flows differently. The dust accumulates between one blink and the next."

"Is that age thirty? Because you can't be much older than that, and I've yet to meet anyone else who fell to pieces so early."

Something dark and ancient crossed his face. "Thirty was a long time ago." He tipped his head to the side as he considered me. "Did no one teach you about the creatures inhabiting this world?"

"My mother did her best," I said stiffly. My father had left her pregnant and alone without ever once mentioning that he was one of said creatures. A baby witch was a horrible liability under the current king, but my mother had refused to give me back to the forest—a quaint euphemism for a terrible practice.

We'd moved every three months until I'd learned to control my magic, then every year just to be safe. I'd made every single thing about my mother's life harder, but she'd loved me with a fierceness that still stole my breath.

Losing her was a wound that wouldn't quite heal, even five years later.

I tucked away the pain and rose from my seat. "Thank you for dusting. I will take over from here."

For a moment, Baldric looked like he would argue, but in the end, he bowed slightly. "Dinner is in an hour. Don't be late. Unless you'd like my help tomorrow, too."

* * *

Despite my best effort,I was five minutes late to dinner. I was still wearing the gray dress I'd worn to clean, but I had taken the time to ditch the apron and magically pull the dirt and grime out of the fabric. The sun had set, and my magic was replenished enough that cleaning the dress had required barely any effort.

I could start on the third floor after dinner. Though maybe I should prioritize my bedroom or the room's discordant song would prevent me from sleeping well.

Baldric had covered his shirt with a dark jacket, and I mourned the loss of his bare forearms for a moment as I settled into the seat next to him.

"You're late," he murmured.

I sniffed. "I am perfectly on time. You were unfashionably early."

Rather than responding, Baldric lifted the silver dome covering the large platter in front of us, revealing a rib roast and glazed carrots. My gaze darted to him in amazement. "You made this? And you're going to share it with me?"

Some emotion flashed across his face before he dipped his chin. "You are my guest."

I shook my head with a rueful smile. "I'm a servant, and an unwanted one at that."

"You are my guest," he repeated. He carved a thick slice of meat from the roast and gestured to my plate. "May I?"

I held my plate out and he put the meat on it, then did the same for himself. I served myself some carrots, then put some on his plate as well. It was weirdly intimate, serving each other food, even if it was practical.

If he shared my discomfort, he didn't show it. He poured me a glass of deep red wine. "Did you finish cleaning the fourth floor?"

"I did. After dinner, I'll clean the kitchen, then start on the third floor." I smiled. "I might get done early."

That did not elicit the relieved response I'd expected. Instead, Baldric frowned at me, his expression once again unreadable. "I hired you for a week of work."

"You hired me to clean your house," I disagreed. "I estimated a week, but since I no longer have to worry about you catching me using magic, I can get done sooner."

"No." His voice was flinty. "I want the week we agreed to."

"Why? You didn't even want to hire me in the first place."

"I also don't want you to work yourself to exhaustion. Is that so difficult to believe?"

"Honestly? Yes." My knife slid through the meat on my plate with an ease I wasn't used to from the cuts I usually bought. The first bite was bliss and the second was even better.

"If you insist on continuing to clean today, then I will help you."

"You could do that," I said slowly. "Or you could retire to your study and smoke cigars or whatever it is that smugglers do in their free time and leave me to my job."

The corners of his eyes crinkled the tiniest bit. "So you've decided on smuggler then?"

"For now. Unless you'd care to enlighten me?"

He shook his head with the ghost of a smile, and we lapsed into silence as we ate. I couldn't quite figure him out. I'd thought he was icy and forbidding, and he was, certainly. But heat and humor lurked under his frozen exterior, and he was treating me better than any employer I'd had in the past.

After dinner, Baldric helped me clean the kitchen despite my protests. When everything was tidy, he tipped his head toward the door to the rest of the house. "I don't have any cigars, but I do have Knights Bandits. Care for a match?"

The popular strategy game was one of my favorites, and I was good at it. I nodded slowly. "I'll play a game. But only if I get to start as bandits."

"You think a smuggler can't play knights?"

I grinned at him. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"