Free Sterling by Emily June Street

to us if you could take the other’s place. You do have references, of course?” She glanced rather shiftily at Cortis the footman and dropped her voice. “Though I might forgo references, as it were, if you would agree to the position immediately. We wouldn’t have to explain to the master why there was no chambermaid, if you see my meaning. I’ve been in a dither about what to do. A maid is expected to arrive with us today.”
    I didn’t even hesitate. “I accept the position.” I had to hide Sterling Ricknagel so well that no one would find her, and a chambermaid seemed the perfect, least-expected disguise until the fallout from the events in Engashta was sorted. And if I was taking the place of a girl who hadn’t shown up, all the better. No one would think of me as a lone woman, but rather as one servant among many. I would blend.

    * * *
    A playground of the young and beautiful, the city of Avani boasted a scandalous reputation. Two buildings dominated the cityscape: an enormous Temple and an ornate opera house.
    “Amaranth,” Scelpts the housekeeper said as she stepped down from our conveyance at Avani’s central posting station across from the Temple. “I’ve heard about that Temple. A den of wickedness.”
    “Wickedness?” I knew mages used the Temple of Amarite to restore themselves after magic, and that the Temple acolytes gave their life force to sustain the mages’ power in a ritual that I didn’t fully understand, except that it had to do with lovemaking.
    Scelpts sighed, the long lines that bracketed her mouth deepening as she stared at the statue of the naked goddess on the Temple’s steps. “I wouldn’t have accepted a position in Avani under normal circumstances. It’s the war, though. It’s made finding work difficult. Can’t be choosy.” She turned to Cortis the footman. “Do you remember the directions to the house?”
    “Of course, Mrs. Scelpts.”
    Cortis looked up at the Temple, an eager expression flashing over his face. “Ah, Avani,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to live here. It is a place for mages and men. Come, everyone. Follow me. Our new life awaits.”

Chapter Eight
    “ I t’ll be a wonder if the master isn’t angry that we are late,” Scelpts said as we arrived at the fine townhouse a few blocks off the city center. She checked her timepiece, which she wore on a chain from her girdle, and clucked her tongue.
    She needn’t have worried. The master, we learned from the butler who welcomed us through the servants’ entrance, was not in residence. The butler had worked for the master for some time, in one of his “other houses.” I wondered how many there were.
    Orgin, the butler, showed me to my room. I would abide in the traditional maids’ quarters in the basement. My room, if one could call it that, was dark, cobwebby, and barely larger than a broom cupboard.
    “We are on an economy,” Orgin informed me when he read the dismay on my face. “The master’s financial means are uncertain due to the war. That is why there are so few servants here.”
    Orgin left me to settle myself. I put my reticule on the room’s only shelf. Two hooks hung empty on the wall, presumably for my nonexistent nightgown and spare dress. I had only the clothes I’d worn fleeing from Engashta and the boots Rachell had given me. I sighed. What had I gotten myself into?
    A lot of hard work, I discovered later as Scelpts and I toured the house with Orgin. The huge townhouse should not have been so lightly staffed, economy or no.
    “Will all these rooms be in use?” Scelpts demanded.
    Orgin faced us. “Only when the master comes here. But we must be ready for him at any time. His lifestyle is unpredictable. This house is not his primary residence.”
    Scelpts sighed. “And we are to run this vast place with the current staff of four?”
    Orgin nodded. “He hasn’t allocated funds for more.”
    Despite the obvious hard work before me, I thanked Amassis for my good fortune