Morning had fully started in the keep by the time Virelya reached the main hall. The servants were bustling through with food and some were set about their cleaning duties. The bright late autumn sun was shining through the windows deceiving in its promise of warmth. Winters were brutal in the north and the sun did little to help. Virelya had assumed the light would soften the heaviness she had felt last night but the gentle pressure of the rune reminded her that life remained the same.

  The door to the dining hall stood open.

  Aethryn was in his normal seat at the head of the table looking out the long row of windows to the bustling city beyond. He was in dark maroon robes his black hair almost reflected the sunlight. A half finished plate and goblet sat at the table in front of him. He looked at ease, the kind of relaxed that made her feel on edge.

  “Come in, my little shadow,” he said without looking towards her. “You’re early.”

  She stepped fully into the hall on quiet boots she had trained over the years. Small, hidden, just how she should be. The slight tingle of the rune changed to a familiar gentle warmth as she crossed the room. It’s familiarity request calm, control, respect.

  “I didn’t sleep well.” Not an out right lie.

  A gentle smile graced Aethryn’s face at that and he finally looked at her. His grey eyes soft but always assessing landed on her bright blue ones. Something that almost resembled fondness laid there.

  “Hmmm,” a twinkle danced in his grey eyes. “Dedication and that ever present desire to please. That’s why you’ve lasted when others haven’t.”

  Others.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  That word hit her and stayed.

  Aethryn waved his hand at the chair beside him. She sat folding her hands in her lap lacing her fingers together.

  “I have a task for you.” He continued as if he hadn’t just dropped a rock in her mental space. “A man is traveling through the southern edge of the city. A historian, that’s the title he uses anyway but that title is self issued and what he truly is far lower.”

  Virelya nodded and remained still her posture muscle memory.

  “He’s been collecting and telling stories. Old ones, dangerous ones, the kind that make people believe they could have more and cause chaos.”

  Her interlaced fingers tightened around each other under the table.

  “Beliefs like this can become volatile.” He said as if discussing nothing more than the weather.

  The rune at her wrist pulsed with an intense warmth urging her to agree.

  “Where am I to go?” She asked not taking her eyes from his face.

  Aethryn slid a piece of parchment across the space between them. “He’s staying at an in.ln near the river. But my sources say he plans to leave by morning. He won’t be any trouble for you.”

  She looked down quickly at his hand on the parchment then back to his grey eyes.

  “And after he’s been dealt with?”

  His smile widened and he pulled his hand back to his lap, “You’ll come straight back to me, my little shadow.”

  Not a command it didn’t have to be he knew she would return anyway.

  She nodded rising from the table and placing the parchment in her cloak pocket.

  Aethryn’s voice was soft, caring as she turned to leave and he brushed finger along her left wrist.

  “You are quiet after last night. Is my little shadow okay?”

  The question seemed soft almost intimate but it was probing.

  “Just tired.”

  He paused the gentle strokes over her tattoo before releasing her.

  “Of course you work hard.”

  The warmth from the rune spread up her arm in silent approval. As she stepped away and out of the dining hall she tried to tell herself the unease she felt was nothing more than lack of sleep.

  But for the first time she wondered if the task was really what it was being presented as.