Free Aveline by Lizzy Ford Page B

your position should be forced to sully her hands as you
are.”
    “Burden,” she repeated and whirled, gliding
back to the table. “May no one else ever know such a life as
mine!”
    “My master understands this and wishes to
help make your life more comfortable.”
    “I had thought my stepson wished me to
suffer!” she snapped.
    “He does not,” George said firmly. “Consider
this a gift to you as well.”
    George is a damned good
liar, Aveline thought, entertained by how
he was manipulating the fickle-tempered beauty.
    “Then I accept. For now.” The dark-haired
woman lifted a plate and placed a heel of bread, three strawberries
and a half-eaten piece of meat upon it. She leaned over to pour a
cup of tea next, dropped a sugar cube into it, then reached into a
pocket hidden in her sleeve for a small vial. She delicately
dispelled two drops from the vial before replacing it. “Slave,
serve your mistress her dinner!”
    George nudged Aveline forward.
    Is Tiana a dog? She thought, looking over the paltry dinner. She
approached and accepted the plate and saucer held out towards her
while the woman glared at George.
    “It will be your life in the fire, if this
does not go well, or if I find upon his return he did not arrange
this,” she warned him.
    He bowed his head at her then signaled
Aveline towards the door.
    Aveline obeyed, not at all eager to remain
in the presence of the wealthy woman. She exited and waited in the
round cul de sac for George. He appeared after a minute and closed
the door to the woman’s chambers behind him.
    “You will need to tread very carefully,” he
warned Aveline again. “Tiana has never had a personal slave, and
her stepmother will object to her husband if my master fails to
reassign you. At the very least, you should have three weeks, until
my master returns.”
    Puzzled by the dynamics of the assignment,
Aveline waited for George to explain.
    “Do not ask too many questions and do not
cross paths with Matilda, if you can help it,” he said. “Her drugs
have made her pleasant today.”
    “That was pleasant ?” Aveline asked,
eyebrows shooting up.
    George said nothing. He knew far more than
he let on, Aveline assessed. Surprised he had stood up to the
stepmother named Matilda, she chalked it up to an impressive sense
of loyalty to his master. She had never heard how slaves lived. By
the nature by which they were bought and sold, she assumed loyalty
would be difficult to assure.
    “This is Tiana’s room. It’s kept locked from
the outside at all time,” he said and approached the door right of
center. “My master ordered for you to be provided a key. It will
allow you to exit Tiana’s chambers. You cannot give it to Tiana or
to anyone else. She must not leave her room. Ever. You must not
speak about her to anyone, ever.”
    Aveline’s instincts were on edge. George’s
expression, always grim, had turned severe.
    “What’s wrong with her?” she asked when he
finished the lecture. “Why is she locked up?” Her concern was not
for some wealthy girl living in opulence but her own safety.
    “It is not my duty to know,” George replied
and looked away.
    But he did know. Aveline would wager every
one of the gold candlesticks in Matilda’s fancy parlor on it.
    “Take Tiana her dinner. Remember, if we are
caught, we both burn.” By his tone, he had little hope of Aveline
succeeding.
    “You’re as pleasant as Matilda,”
Aveline said. “Don’t worry so much, George.”
    “I am old. At least, I will burn quickly.”
He handed her a large key.
    She smiled, entertained by the dour slave.
George left her standing before Tiana’s door and Aveline focused on
her mission.
    The only obstacle between her and the
ability to claim her place among her father’s assassins lay beyond
the elegant mahogany slab of wood with its gilded fixtures. Hired
first to protect Tiana, then to murder her, Aveline doubted
anything could surprise her more than the turn her life had