Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
“I assume all these females have chaperones?” Rooster continues in that haughty voice of his. “You can provide proof of this?”
“They do and I can.”
He eyes us and then gestures for Aspeth to sign. I’ve never seen a student so giddy to put their name in the book as her, only to pause over the book itself and then look at me. “What’s our last name?”
NINE
ASPETH
Ifuss with the sash on my shoulder over and over again, just for an excuse to touch it. Right now the sash is plain white, but I envision the day it’s covered in pins representing the artifacts I’ve brought to the guild. Small circles for minor artifacts, and the four-pointed stars for the major artifacts. I imagine Magpie’s sash must be absolutely encrusted, and the weight of it on her shoulder must bring so much pride.
I cannot wait to meet her. It’s going to be glorious.
Glancing up, I eye the others in our nest. Lark looks bored and slightly hungover, slumped on a bench. Gwenna sits properly on the bench in front of her, frowning as the brown-skinned priestess at her side folds her hands and goes through yet another prayer. On the far side of Gwenna, the strange child-sized lizardman slitherskin sits, swinging his tiny feet, the massive shell of his house on his back. I haven’t heard him say two words since we arrived, but maybe that’s normal? I genuinely don’t know.
Our teachers are nowhere to be seen. There’s still no Magpie, and now we’ve lost Hawk, too.
I purse my lips, trying not to frown. The other nest groups have abandoned the hall, along with their teachers. I’m not sure what we do now. Do we follow them out? Wait for instructions? Gwenna looks at me, curious, and the priestess does, too. It’s clear they’re looking to me for answers.
All right, then. “I’ll go find our teacher.”
“Your husband,” Gwenna says, pretending to study her nails. “You’ll go find your husband.”
“Right. Yes. That.” My face gets hot. It’s jarring to think that I’ve just married a stranger, but I don’t want anything to come in the way of the classes here. “My husband,” I say confidently, lifting my chin. “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.”
Lark tumbles back on the wooden bench, lying flat and flinging an arm over her eyes. “Wake me up when you find him.”
I frown at her, but it’s not like I can scold her. She’s a student, just like me. With a flick of my fingers over my coveted sash, I pretend to wipe away a speck of dust. “Be right back.”
I turn and walk away, heading out of the main hall and into one of the side corridors. I’ve never been deeper into the actual guild hall before today, but it can’t be that hard to figure out? I hope. I’m familiar with the entryway, as that was where I was humiliated yesterday, but deeper inside? Not at all.
All of the students filed out of the main doors, heading toward the Swan statue, but I head in the opposite direction. Something tells me that Hawk wouldn’t leave without us. He seems to take his job quite seriously. So I head farther into the hall, turning down one curving corridor lined with doors. I pass something that looks like a blurry library (I wish I was wearing my spectacles) but appears to be empty.
Farther down the hall, I hear the sound of arguing.
“I said I’m handling things,” a deep, sonorous male voice says as I quietly approach. That’s Hawk, and he’s in one of the nearby rooms. I peek in, and when I see his enormous, blurry brown form standing near a short, squat man who has to be that Rooster arse, I duck behind the door and hover in the hallway. Should I let them know I’m here? Say something?
“Your version of ‘handling things’ is very different from mine,” Rooster says in a haughty voice.
I hear the stamp of hooves on the ground and a loud, bullish snort.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but your only male candidate for your nest has fled. He signed up with Mallard’s class this morning, filling their last slot. Now you’ve nothing but a horde of flighty females—”
“Don’t forget the slitherskin,” Hawk drawls.
“—and a lizardman who won’t take off his house to get in uniform. Truly, it’s embarrassing.”
My mouth purses into an angry little pucker. How dare he?
“It’s a disgrace to the guild’s history,” Rooster continues. “And where is Magpie?”
“Like I said, she’s sick. I’m handling things.”
“She was sick last year on enrollment day,” Rooster counters. “And the year before she showed up late.”
She was? She did?
“Like I said, I’m handling it.” Hawk’s tone grows more and more impatient.
“I do not doubt your competency, Hawk. That has never been in question. You are good at your job, but you’re not a guild master. Only guild masters can teach a fledgling nest. You know the rules as well as I do.”