Free The Pages of the Mind by Jeffe Kennedy

bending me to her will.”
    â€œHmm.” Kral released Ursula’s hand and bowed slightly from the waist, his respect solidified. “I begin to understand the attraction. Are there more like her?”
    â€œWomen warriors? As a matter of fact, there are. Once we make this agreement, I shall introduce you.”
    â€œThen, let us have at it. Scribe away, nyrri .” Kral gestured at me. “I find myself hungry for more than meat.”

    That part didn’t take long at all. I had my notes, so we simply reviewed the terms and I wrote it out twice—once in Common Tongue and once in Dasnarian. Kral and Ursula set their seals to both. The logistics would take more discussion, but with relief we left the council chambers with the possibility of conflict resolved. Ursula walked ahead, escorting Kral, while Harlan and I followed behind.
    â€œWill you really introduce him to one of the women warriors?”
    Harlan lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “I will pass the word to Jepp of Kral’s interest, and she can tell the Hawks. Best to keep it within their ranks. More than one will likely be interested in Kral’s offer. They know how to handle Dasnarian men.”
    I shouldn’t have asked the question, because I blushed then. Any number of women at Ordnung had sampled what the Vervaldr offered and talked about the results as very satisfactory. I couldn’t see the appeal, myself, much as I liked Harlan.
    He must have sensed my unease because he patted my shoulder. “Have no concerns, librarian. Kral may be a shark, but he’d never take a woman unwilling.”
    â€œWhat is that word he calls me?” I asked him. “Is it an insult?”
    Harlan grimaced slightly. “Not exactly. I don’t think he means it as such, but you might take offense.”
    Not like him to be less than straightforward. “Just tell me.”
    â€œIt means a small, female nature spirit, one that lives in the cinnamon trees. Your eyes are very much that color and you are . . .”
    â€œShort,” I filled in.
    â€œWhich is not an insult,” he hastened to add. “But compared to Dasnarians, you do seem unusually . . . I can’t think of the right word in your tongue.”
    Ursula made a snorting sound and said over her shoulder, “Yes, you can. You just don’t want to say it.”
    â€œIt’s fine,” I said. “I understand now.”
    We entered the dining hall. Despite the late hour, an astonishing number of people had gathered to enjoy a celebration of coming to accord with the Dasnarians. Ursula asked Harlan to show his brother a seat—now as guest of honor—and to provide him with whatever he wanted. “ I will pass word to Jepp,” she informed him wryly.
    â€œSo you can give instructions?”
    She smiled thinly. “And so you can talk to your brother. Extract some of those amends he owes you, so I don’t have to.” Though she tried to pass it off as a joke, her quiet concern for him showed through.
    He laughed, a soft one, and shook his head. “Will you fight all the world for me?”
    â€œYes. Which I don’t have time for.”
    Kral looked back and forth between them, apparently bemused. Harlan lifted Ursula’s hand and bowed over it, kissing the back. His fingers caressed her palm as he did and I wondered if she knew how he felt about her calluses.
    â€œCome, shark,” Harlan said to his brother. “Let us take a cup of wine together and talk of old times.”
    â€œHave you anything stronger than wine, rabbit?”
    â€œI might. I just might.”

5
    A fter staying through some obligatory toasts, I passed on the remainder of the party, exhaustion crashing over me. Even so, by the time I left, Harlan and Kral had already put away a fair amount of some liquor Brandur brought from the Vervaldr barracks, and several female Hawks, including Jepp, were matching them shot for shot.