AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Although the outside wall of the building was pushing against the street like all the others, the entrance led into a courtyard with trees. The outside wall was decorated with ornate carvings, culminating in two moon sculptures positioned atop the wall and leading up to the roof.
The moon sculptures were a hallmark of the nobility, which meant this was a lord’s manor. A high lord, with lots of money and connections. I wanted to ask Aislinn why a member of the nobility would support the resistance, but this wasn’t the time for it.
This was the most inconspicuous and quick way to reach the resistance. Nothing else mattered.
A servant girl with dark brown hair opened the door. She examined us both calmly before she spoke.
“Yes?” she asked.
“We’re here for Lord Aster,” Aislinn said. “He was a close friend of my father’s. My father had a beautiful voice.”
The odd end to Aislinn’s sentence did not seem to confuse the girl at all. She nodded and let us in.
Once the door closed behind us, the girl spoke again.
“He’s in his study,” she asked. “Have you been here before?”
“No,” Aislinn said.
“This way,” she led us through one of the doors leading out of the courtyard. We entered behind her into a dark hallway lit up with torches on each end.
“You can talk safely now,” she said, gesturing to the stairs on our right.
Aislinn nodded and turned to me as we followed her up the stairs.
“This is a safe house,” Aislinn explained. “Lord Aster is a member and he opened his house for meetings and such.”
“And he was your father’s friend?” I asked.
The servant girl sighed, but I wasn’t sure if that was meant for me as Aislinn spoke.
“No, no,” she said. “That was a pretense. Lord Aster accepts members at all hours. As long as you use the code word.”
“Singer?” I asked.
We were done climbing up the stairs and were now in another hallway. As the servant girl continued to lead us, she looked over her shoulder and met my gaze. Her eyebrows were raised slightly, but that was all the reaction I got from her before she resumed her walk.
“Yes,” Aislinn replied.
“The whole household is in on it?” I asked.
“We don’t have a whole household,” the girl said as she stopped in front of a door. “Lord Aster keeps a small staff in order to avoid any spying.”
She opened the door without knocking.
On the other side of the door, a man sat with his back turned to us. He was at his desk, crouched over some parchment. His clothing was unremarkable, consisting of a tunic paired with fine wool stockings. I felt as though we had just interrupted him in a private moment, but upon hearing the door open, he casually glanced back over his shoulder.
“Singers?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” the servant girl replied. “They used the code.”
“What do you need help with?” He asked, setting aside his work on the table and getting up.
“We need to contact the resistance,” Aislinn replied.
“Couldn’t it wait for the next meeting?” Lord Aster asked.
“No,” I took a step forward.
