He was a weak, despicable, spineless fool.
There was no time as he lost himself in her.As addictive as letheon, but far more pleasurable.Even after he found his release, he enjoyed causing hers, watching Nora’s responses to his touch, his mouth.They each took pleasure in the other, and he wished for the night to never end.
When he woke, she was gone, leaving nothing but the scent of her hair on the pillows.
All his doubts flooded back in as he pressed his face to the cloth.
No one camewith the scroll that morning.Witless just shrugged when asked, so Riven focused on the matrix.Later that afternoon, Mira appeared and gestured for him to follow her.“The Queen has arranged for your request,” she said, her dimples showing.
The guards let them pass easily enough.Riven noted that they were eyeing him with little curiosity and plenty of suspicion.He’d clearly been marked as one to watch.
They wound their way down the stairs, then toward what Riven soon realized was the kitchen area.Then even further, to a door close to the roasting pits.
Mira knocked.
A woman stepped out, a broad woman with a horse -face and a frown.She closed the door behind her, but Riven caught the faint whiff of a familiar odor.Been a while since he’d gotten the full stench of a killing yard.
“This is the lad?”she demanded, in a rough voice.
“Yes,” Mira said.
“Humpf,” came a rude noise as he was sized up.“How’s this skinny lad to wrestle a cow to the slaughter?”
“I’m stronger than I look,” Riven said.“Besides, best practice is for two, one to extend the neck, the other to hold the stunning hammer.”
That got him a closer look.“You’ve a boning knife?”she asked.
“No,” Riven answered, looking her straight in the eye.“My father butchered, and he taught me well, but I…” His throat closed unexpectedly and he had to clear it.“I did not follow him into the trade.”
“Perhaps you can earn your knife here,” she said.
“No,” Mira said firmly.“He is to take no knives from this place.”
“A boning knife is one of the marks of entry into the craft,” Riven explained.“I will obey my instructions.”He returned the woman’s suspicious glance with a weak smile.
“Humpf.”The woman glanced at Mira and gave her a sharp nod.“We’ll see how he does,” she pronounced.
Mira nodded back.“That is what the Queen requires.”
“I am Kenda, Master Butcher,” the woman said, turning back to Riven.“This is my slaughter yard, and all is done here as I require.You obey or you are out, regardless, understood?”
“Aye,” Riven said.
“Come,” Kenda said, opening the door.Mira stepped back, clearly intending to wait in the kitchens.
Riven followed, bracing himself for the usual, often eye-watering, stench.It would take time for his stomach to adjust.
But the first smell to hit him was soap and water, in a yard as clean as he’d ever seen.The workers were scrubbing the floors, and he could see carts leaving out the back gates.There was a faint scent of old blood and meat, but naught else.Startled, he looked at Kenda, who barked out a laugh.
“Aye, you’ve experience, that’s clear.”Kenda said.She stood with fists on hips.“I endured years of stink and rot.When I got my mastery, I vowed there’d be none such in my yard.Can’t abide rot or waste.No reason for any of it and you will find none here.”
She walked off and Riven followed.
“Animals come in, and we slaughter, skin, and butcher.Meat to the kitchens, bones to the soup caldrons, blood and guts to the sausage cooks.Skins and feathers set aside for the craft guilds.”Kenda showed him the racks and tools.“We start at dawn, scrub and wash every day after the slaughter, and are done by the nooning.”Kenda said.“New animals are delivered in the afternoon, and we wash and check them to prepare for the next day.”She frowned at him.“I’m told you are not to be a part of that.”
Riven gave her a weak smile.“I have other duties.”
Kenda snorted.“Whatever.We need every hand while we prepare for the Summer Solstice celebrations.Be here at pre-dawn, every morning.”
