The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4)(53)

“This comes from her getting lost in Sanctuary so often,” Neph said with a chuckle and nodded. “It’s a good sign that she is taking what is wrong in other cities and correcting it in her own.

Vaze slowed in his steps for a moment and then laughed, shaking his head at Neph. “It’s amusing how you think. It’s just her city she is planning to correct. Wait until after you speak with her this morning, Neph, and then we can have this talk again.” His voice was thick with amusement as he spoke and he simply shook his head at Neph’s questioning look. “Just wait,” he urged with a wide smile and continued toward the house.





*





Neph paused in the doorway and leaned against the door frame. Vaze had directed him toward the kitchen before parting company to attend to his own concerns and Neph expected to find the High Lady directing servants. Instead he found Jala with her hair braided up like a farmer’s wife, elbow-deep in flour. She had replaced her dress from the night before with a black tunic that looked to be about four sizes too large for her. If not for the belt that was holding her faded trousers up Neph had no doubt the tunic would have fallen well below her knees. His eyes trailed down the patched legs of her trousers to her bare feet and he fought back the urge to laugh.

So far she hadn’t noticed him and she was rather amusing to watch. Between her outfit and the flour coating her arms as well as a few splotches on her face she reminded him more of a child at play than the leader of one of the most powerful nations on Sanctuary.

She paused in her labors and snatched a chunk of fruit from one of the bowls. Humming happily to herself, she popped it in her mouth and returned to whatever task she had been attending to. Neph couldn’t truly say what it was that she was doing, beyond making a mess. He had never spared much time for the art of cooking. It had always been easier to buy the food prepared than to worry about its preparation.

Turning, she brushed a bit of flour from her hands, which resulted in more coating her clothes, and then froze as she spotted him. Her face split into a wide smile and she waved him into the room. “When did you arrive and how long have you been standing there?” Jala demanded as she waved him toward the table.

Neph smirked and dropped down into a seat with a shrug. “Long enough to realize you should hire servants,” he said.

Jala rolled her eyes at him and frowned as she poured a cup of tea and sat it down in front of him. “That’s the same rubbish Sovann is always going on about. I don’t see servants in his house, though,” she muttered sourly.

“He isn’t a High Lady,” Neph pointed out. He eyed the tea for a moment and then reached to the center of the table for the sugar dish. Still watching Jala, he dropped several spoon-fulls in and began to stir slowly. “So Vaze tells me you have a lot to talk with me about,” he began slowly and watched several emotions flash quickly across her face at his words. Excitement had definitely been the strongest, but there had been a touch of fear there as well. That sight alone gave him pause.

“We should see to getting your people settled before we worry about anything like that, Neph. I told Ash to make sure we had room in the Barracks for your men, but none of us were really sure exactly how many people you were bringing,” Jala said as she pushed a pan into one of the massive ovens and joined him at the table.

“You just need to worry about me, actually,” Neph said with a smile. She stared at him in confusion first and then dismay as he carefully took a sip of his tea. He leaned back in his seat and ignored her continuing stare as he tried to guess what herbs she had added to the tea leaves. There was a very strong trace of mint and another somewhat bitter flavor that he couldn’t quite place.

“They wouldn’t follow you?” Jala demanded, once she realized he wasn’t planning to explain more.

“They are with me,” Neph said vaguely and had to resist the urge to laugh as her frustration with him grew more obvious. Lifting the cup, he inhaled deeply, still trying to puzzle out what the odd flavor was and frowned. “I recognize the mint and the tea leaves obviously, but what else is in this?”

“What do you mean your people are with you but I don’t need to worry about housing them?” Jala stormed and let out a loud breath.

“Really, do you think I honestly want to discuss the tea mixture right now?”

“Do you see how irritating that is now, Jala? When you desperately want to know something and your friend is being annoying and cryptic. Doesn’t it just make you want to choke them? Like, say someone returns from the dead and drags you out of your home in the middle of the night for a secret meeting that they won’t explain?” He let his words trail off and smiled at her in smug satisfaction as he took a long drink from the tea.