magic

“From today forward, you will work for the city guard. I will take you to the palace where you will begin your training,” the elegant woman said.

“Am I really going to work for the city guard?” Jade asked.

The elegant woman smiled. “You will use your skills for the Crown. That might take you to the city guard. Occasionally.”

“We did not know you were there. And we normally know everything. There are two choices for one as skilled as you. We can recruit you,” the elegant woman said.

“Or?” Jade asked.

“Let’s not discuss the second.”

Jade hadn’t waited long when an impeccably dressed woman entered the sanctuary, offered a prayer to Dracor, and sat beside her.

“You must be the child that almost cost the king his life.”

Jade swallowed hard but didn’t deny it.

“You’re holding blood money,” Sir Leopold said. “Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Jade stared at the coins. “Give it to Dracor. Let him find justice for it.”

“You do that. Then there’s someone you need to meet.”

Jade told Sir Leopold everything.

Kissing the earl. Her father losing his job. Her family falling onto the charity of others.

The jobs she’d taken to listen and report.

Sir Leopold listened to it all, never once interrupting.

Jade stared at the Knight of Valor. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“I’ve heard a lot in my years of service,” Sir Leopold said. “Doubt you can surprise me, but I may be able to help.”

Jade instantly like this man. Trusted him. And it was more than the dragon tabard.

He was everything that the man who had given her the jobs wasn’t.