I Read What?!

So last time, our boys found a clue, got into a fight, and scampered off to a new mission with dubious backup. Sounds about right.

But there are four short chapters left, so I think we're hitting the climax stage of this shindig.



So we rejoin Alec and Seregil as they start the honey trap stage of their vigil. Basically, Alec, as "Elrid" meets up with the serving girl, Stamie, and tells her that he's learned about a position available in the city. He claims that he'd been waiting outside because he figured that her aunt wouldn't be welcoming, and lays it on even thicker by saying it was cold and he couldn't start a fire.

Stamie, of course, reacts as we all do to an attractive young man who has suffered through his own adorable incompetence, and falls hook line and sinker.

Alec, of course, feels terrible about this. It's one thing to lie to innkeepers and nobles, but Stamie's a plain, kind, desperate girl. So desperate, actually, that she's more than happy to leave RIGHT NOW.

That's a bit quick for the plan, so Alec cools her jets and urges her to wait until just before dawn instead. She's on board. In fact...

Turning, she pulled him close with surprising decisiveness and delivered a rough, tooth-knocking kiss. Lips still locked against his, she drew his hand up against her flat bosom with one hand and began rucking up her homespun skirt with the other.

I do appreciate a girl willing to go for it. Unfortunately, she's apparently been chewing raw garlic (to ward off winter ague) so Alec is a bit less into it. He manages to urge her back to work, so she won't get in trouble.

He helps with gathering kindling, and has the opportunity to get some backstory and info about the broken tower. Mostly ghost story type stuff, but Alec does remember the strange breeze he'd felt in the main hall, so he's uneasy.

Poor Alec really is good at this seduction stuff, because it ends up being Stamie's idea to let him in to wait for her in the pantry. And Alec, of course, feels terrible.

I like his conversation with Seregil about it:

“Lucky for us she’s a lonesome country girl,” Seregil said, shaking his head. “A Helm Street maid would’ve given you the air. ‘Here now, there’s no time for that!’ and ‘Hold off, can’t you?’ A fine, hot suitor you sounded!”

“I told you I’m no good at it,” Alec retorted, stung by the criticism. “Besides, it felt rotten lying to her like that.”

“This is no time for an attack of conscience. Illior’s Hands, haven’t we lied to someone on any job we’ve ever done?”

“I know,” Alec grumbled. “But this was different. She’s not some footpad or randy ship’s captain, just a poor nobody like me. Here I am offering her the one thing in the whole world she wants, and tomorrow all her hopes will be dashed.”

“Who says we have to dash her hopes? She wants a position in town; I’ll see she gets one.”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course I’d do that. I forge a lovely reference. She can have her pick of situations. Think you can live with that?”

I enjoy Seregil mocking Alec's reticence more than I ought to. But he's a good mentor where it counts. And it's nice to see Alec's influence on Seregil too. I don't think Seregil, on his own, would have thought twice about Stamie. But Alec basically was Stamie, or would have been.

Seregil also teases Alec by suggesting they take her in at Wheel Street, which isn't exactly what Alec had in mind.

The chapter is insanely short, and ends here.

--

Now in the next chapter, Stamie lets Alec inside, and it seems that he's taken Seregil's criticism to heart:

Alec felt ribs jutting beneath the coarse fabric, and the rapid tripping of her heart. Determined to play his role better, he took her in his arms. Kissing her just below the left ear, he whispered an endearment Seregil had suggested. The girl gave a happy shiver and pressed closer.

“Where’s your room?” he whispered.

She giggled softly. “In the servant’s attic, you naughty pup! I sleep on a pallet at the foot of Aunt’s bed.”

“Have you a window to watch the sky?”

“There’s a dormer just over me. I’ll prop the shutter open.”

“Come to me when the stars begin to fade.”

“When the stars fade,” the girl breathed. Giving him a last squeeze, she hurried off.

Well now, that was darn near dashing.

Anyway, Alec sneaks Seregil inside and it's time to sneak. (They take off their boots and hide them: sneaking is easier in barefeet. There are no legos in fantasy realms.)

They head into the keep and very quickly encounter Stamie's "ghost" - fine black silk that had been hanging in the stairwell. The drafts are easily explained by air channels in the walls. Seregil had expected this, of course. He doesn't expect magic (since Kassarie's a Leran and magic originally came from the Aurenfaie) but does expect traps.

There's an interlude where Nysander has a premonition of danger: the boys falling and screaming.

Meanwhile, Seregil and Alec continue to explore. They reach the tower door, which is surprisingly well maintained and oiled. Which is notable to them, of course, because why would a broken tower have such a well-maintained door.

Sneaky sneaky. Sorry. It's fun to read, but I can't very well recap every step. The place is tricky though, and there are some nice diversionary paths. Eventually though, Alec finds the real way in: a niche in flagstone that he only felt because he's barefoot, that opens into a trap door. It is, of course, booby trapped, but Seregil's experience saves the day.

They continue on. There's fun description here, of dust and candles that had recently burned. Et cetera. There's a scary moment when they hit a pit trap, and Seregil nearly falls in. Alec manages to save him. Nice fakeout.

And of course, of course, when they get to the last door...the chapter ends.

Hmph. Well. I'd make a joke about how of course the first expressly queer series that I've reviewed for this blog would also give us a nice example of edging, but that's probably in bad taste.

Oh well. We'll get the money shot next week! (Maybe!)