Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
I don’t think she understands who her husband is quite yet.
I also don’t think she was deliberately spoiled. I think she is the product of a very quiet, very safe, very charmed life. I have every intention of sheltering her too, but she will need some exposure to the world in order to live a full life. I cannot have the mother of my children being completely innocent to the ways of the world.
“Very well,” she says. “I will go out with Lydia.”
“Good decision.”
CHAPTER 7
Mila
There are no plants in New Boston, except for one place where there is a great glass dome that covers the equivalent of several city blocks. Inside the dome there are more plants of various kinds than I have ever seen in my life.
It occurs to me that I have no idea what is commonly eaten here, as there seems to be no vegetable supply. But this garden answers that question. Part of it is a farm, dedicated to hydroponic bays many stories high.
Then there are exotic areas, with trees and bushes of kinds I have never seen before. This would be a nice place to go for a romantic stroll with Arthur. It’s not the nicest place to traipse about with a heavily armed soldier behind me.
I want to spend all my time with Arthur, but of course I cannot. It is too much to expect. But that does not mean I want to spend so much time in Lydia’s company either. I will have to make some suitable friends. Thinking about friends makes me think about the woman I met on the plane, Elizabeth. She seemed nice. And she’s from Angeland as well, so she has the same background as me. We can commiserate together.
“Do you know a man named Edward Idaho?” I ask the question.
Lydia glances at me. “Where did you learn that name?”
“I met his bride on the plane over here. Elizabeth. She’s close to my age, and I was thinking we could perhaps be friends.”
“I will ask the Archon-General,” she says.
“Or I will,” I say. “I’m capable of speaking on my own account.”
“Of course you are.”
“So what did you do to end up with this job?” I ask her the question because I don’t know why Arthur chose her, and I want to know.
“I’m a woman,” she says. “And a soldier.”
There’s a lot not said there. She must have been a good soldier. He wouldn’t trust just anybody with me.
Arthur
The ladies have returned. I can hear my bride complaining. It speaks to my attachment to her that I find the sound endearing. My work has been tedious compared to the time spent with her.
“I need a bath,” she says. “Lydia pushed me into a pond.”
“I did no such thing,” Lydia denies immediately.
Mila rushes past in a huff, going straight to the bedroom.
“Interesting visit to the gardens?”
“She takes pleasure in not listening,” Lydia says, following me into my office. “However, an opportunity presented itself today.”
“Oh?”
“Mila met a young woman now known as Elizabeth Idaho on the plane. She was matched with Edward Idaho. She wants to meet up with them in the hope of making friends with Elizabeth.”
“I see.”
Edward Idaho is my equivalent, in a sense. He is the leader of the merchant class, a man with more money than most, and almost as much power.
We do not move in the same circles, because there is something of a mutual mistrust as well as a symbiosis between those who go to war and those who sell weapons. The Artifice is responsible for both our successes, in a way, though I would not be where I am if I were not capable of surviving. The same could be said for Edward. I have heard he is ruthless and brutal.
“Thank you for letting me know, Lydia.”
“Arthur! I want to invite a friend over. Her name is Elizabeth Idaho.” She asks me the question as we are preparing for bed. I have watched it percolate through her mind all evening as she worked her way up to asking me. It has been a most adorable process to observe.
“Consider it done,” I say, mostly because it is.
“Really?” She smiles very broadly.
“Yes, of course. I want you to be happy here, Mila. And I want you to have suitable companions.”
“Ones you don’t banish to the colonies,” she smiles. Then the smile falls. “You won’t banish Elizabeth, will you? She seems very nice.”
“I will try not to,” I smile. I like seeing her excited about something. I like the idea of making her happy. She wants such simple things. Other men talk incessantly about their wives’ endless requests for jewels and such. Mila might be working up to begging for a diamond, but I don’t think so.
“How exciting!” Mila smiles broadly. “I can’t wait. When will dinner be? What will we have? We’ll have to play parlor games. She’s from Angeland like me, so she’ll know them all. We’ll have to teach you.”