Free The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss Page A

forcing a pair of Cealdish merchants to detour around me.
    I pretended to watch the crowd below until Denna came close and tapped me on the shoulder. “Kvothe,” she said anxiously. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I seem to have lost an earring. Would you be a dear and help me look for it? I’m sure I had it on me just a moment ago.”
    I agreed, and soon we were enjoying a moment of privacy, decorously searching the floorboards with our heads close together. Luckily, Denna’s dress was in the Modegan style, flowing and loose around the legs. If it had been slit up the side according to the current fashion of the Commonwealth, the sight of her crouching on the floor would have been scandalous.
    “God’s body,” I muttered. “Where did you find him?”
    Denna chuckled low in her throat. “Hush.You’re the one who suggested I learn my way around a harp. Kellin is quite a good teacher.”
    “The Modegan pedal harp weighs five times as much as you do,” I said. “It’s a parlor instrument.You’d never be able to take one on the road.”
    She stopped pretending to look for her earring and gave me a pointed look. “And who’s to say I won’t ever have a parlor to harp in?”
    I looked back to the floor and gave as much of a shrug as I could manage. “It’s good enough for learning, I suppose. How are you liking it so far?”
    “It’s better than the lyre,” she said. “I can already see that. I can barely play ‘Squirrel in the Thatch,’ though.”
    “Is he any good?” I gave her a sly smile. “With his hands, I mean.”
    Denna flushed a bit and looked for a second as if she would swat at me. But she remembered her decorum in time and settled for narrowing her eyes instead. “You’re awful,” she said, “Kellin has been a perfect gentleman.”
    “Tehlu save us all from perfect gentlemen,” I said.
    She shook her head. “I meant it in the literal sense,” she said. “He’s never been out of Modeg before. He’s like a kitten in a coop.”
    “So you’re Dinael now?” I asked.
    “For now. And for him,” she said, looking at me sideways with a small quirk of a smile. “From you I still like Denna best.”
    “That’s good to know,” I said, then lifted my hand off the floor, revealing the smooth emerald teardrop of an earring. Denna made a show of discovering it, holding it up to catch the light. “Ah! Here we are!”
    I stood and helped her to her feet. She brushed her hair back from her shoulder and leaned toward me. “I’m all thumbs with these things,” she said. “Would you mind?”
    I stepped toward her and stood close as she handed me the earring. She smelled faintly of wildflowers. But beneath that she smelled like autumn leaves. Like the dark smell of her own hair, like road dust and the air before a summer storm.
    “So what is he?” I said softly. “Someone’s second son?”
    She gave a barely perceptible shake of her head, and a strand of her hair fell down to brush the back of my hand. “He’s a lord in his own right.”
    “Skethe te retaa van,” I swore. “Lock up your sons and daughters.”
    Denna laughed again, quietly. Her body shook as she fought to hold it in.
    “Hold still,” I said as I gently took hold of her ear.
    Denna drew a deep breath and let it out again, composing herself. I threaded the earring through the lobe of her ear and stepped away. She lifted one hand to check it, then stepped back and gave a curtsey. “Thank you kindly for all your help.”
    I bowed to her again. It wasn’t as polished as the bow I’d given her before, but it was more honest. “I am at your service, my lady.”
    Denna smiled warmly as she turned to go, her eyes laughing again.

    I finished exploring the second tier for the sake of form, but Threpe didn’t seem to be around. Not wanting to risk the awkwardness of a second encounter with Denna and her lordling, I decided to skip the third tier entirely.
    Sim had the lively look he gets around his fifth drink. Manet