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“I guess,” he said. “I don’t remember getting home.”
Oh, you didn’t miss much…
It’d been an hour since I woke up and my legs still felt a little shaky.
I took Cleb’s hand and led him downstairs. I kept walking ahead too fast and had to slow down. I was too excited about seeing Traes again.
The guards opened the door and we passed through. Traes sat at the dining table already, waiting for us. He got to his feet the moment we entered.
“Would you like something to drink?” he said. “We have all sorts of teas and coffees.”
“Black coffee would be nice,” I said, helping Cleb up onto his chair.
“Bring the lady a fresh pot of coffee, please,” Traes said. “Cleb? What would you like?”
“Orange juice, please,” Cleb said.
The servant nodded, clicked his heels, and hastily left.
“So, how did you sleep last night?” Traes said to Cleb.
“Great. I remember playing with the town kids but I can’t remember anything after that.”
“You fell asleep with the other children when you cuddled up to the arjaths,” Traes said.
“I did?” Cleb said. “I can’t remember it at all.”
“It was a pretty long day,” Traes said, glancing over at me.
“And an even longer night,” I said under my breath.
Traes heard me and grinned.
The servant brought the drinks and began placing the food in the middle of the table. It was nice to think that many of the ingredients we were eating now had been grown by the locals. It made the food taste even better. I was learning more about this place and was no longer such a stranger.
“What’s the plan for today?” Traes said.
“We’ll have an easy day today,” I said. “I’m not sure we could do what we did yesterday again.”
“Perhaps not all of it…” Traes said with a dirty smirk.
“What about you?” I said.
“If you guys are studying this morning, I think I’ll catch up on a little work,” Traes said. “Just the important things. I should be able to quit by lunchtime. Are you guys free for lunch? Maybe we could have a picnic in the garden?”
The change in him was remarkable. He had a newspaper to read, but it sat at his elbow on the corner of the table. I could tell by the perfectly folded corners that he hadn’t so much as attempted to open it.
“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Traes said.
After last night, I doubted there was much he could ask that I wouldn’t do for him. We didn’t have many secrets between us.
Except for the one I was still harboring. The fact I was a slave and owned by an evil master. For the first time in the past two days, I thought about Asshole and where he might now be.
I shook my head of him, refusing to let him ruin my happy mood.
“What?” I said.
“I’m in the process of raising funds for a new mine,” he said. “I usually go to these social gatherings alone but I was thinking maybe, if you’re free, you might want to join me tonight.”
