Free Nobody's Lady by Amy McNulty

scowled. “From a long, long day at the quarry.”
    I skirted the table and put my hands on Jurij’s back, twisting him gently and guiding him to the door. “And a big feast will prove just the thing to make you feel better.”
    “Noll, you invited my parents. My brother. Nissa. My aunt .”
    I smiled, feeling the sickening sweetness I poured into each muscle responsible for the movement. “Just be glad I didn’t invite my family, too.” I’d considered it. But since the Tailors had informed Elfriede that her former husband was safe and sound and living exactly where her own sister had sworn he’d never be found, I’d since realized they’d never reunite if Elfriede knew I was involved. “Now, go on. Invite our friends.” I opened the cottage door.
    “Yes, ma’am,” mumbled Jurij. “Are you sure you didn’t get a lot of practice being a goddess?”
    “What was that?”
    “Never mind.” Jurij stepped onto the dirt leading to the road between the village and the quarry. “ Friends is probably the wrong word anyway,” he muttered.
    He headed down the road toward the mass of men going home from the quarry. My gaze turned to the horizon. Good. No rain. The fire popped behind me. “Right. The pig.” I rotated the animal on the spit, my mind racing with all of the preparations left to be done.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    “I like this one.” Nissa probably meant it, but the extent of her enthusiasm made the comment seem about as genuine as Jurij’s love for hard labor. She stroked the wooden rabbit in her lap like it was a live pet. It took a moment of studying her in the flicker of firelight to remember that Luuk had often worn a bunny mask, a hand-me-down from his brother.
    I finished chewing my portion of meat. “You can have it.” I nudged her. “No charge.”
    Nissa shook her head, and then, remembering herself, smiled ever so slightly at me. She placed the rabbit gently back into the basket I’d brought outside in order to show everyone gathered around the fire the new additions to my wares. “Let a child have it,” she said quietly, failing to recognize that being thirteen hardly made her an adult. She observed the fire, and I noticed a hardness in her heart, maybe even harder than the hardness I’d felt at her age, when I saw the last of my friends leave me behind for my sister. Sure, Jurij had still been my friend, thanks to an unintended command from his goddess, but it wasn’t the same. The secret hope I’d been harboring, that Jurij might love me when we grew older, was gone when I was Nissa’s age. The way Nissa’s eyes kept drifting to Luuk across the fire made me think she felt just as hopeless.
    I’m sorry, Nissa. But you don’t want a love like that anyway. I tossed the bone onto the fire. It wasn’t real. It didn’t last.
    “Nice pig.” For a moment, I thought Siofra might be complimenting the wooden pig I’d begun carving before they’d all arrived for dinner, but the block was still too formless for anyone to identify. Siofra was nodding at the tree stump on which I’d placed the roasted pig slices on a large platter and wiping her mouth with a scrap of cloth I’d gotten from the Tailors to serve as a napkin. “Good cut. Good buy. Good cooking.”
    I tucked the stray bit of hair behind my ear, still not used to compliments from the woman I’d grown up thinking was so surly. “Thanks.”
    Siofra held her plate out to Master Tailor beside her. “Coll, put another slice on my plate?” It wasn’t a command exactly. But she’d already turned her attention to her mug, not even regarding the plate, which she must have assumed Master Tailor would take from her. It fell to the ground with a thunk.
    Master Tailor stared at Siofra as he lifted his fork to his mouth and chewed slowly. You could practically hear every movement of his jaw between the crackling of the fire.
    Siofra’s face darkened as she snatched the plate. “Of course. I can do it myself,” she said quietly.