Chapter 9

  The Rodrigo footman hurried to bow and open the front doors of the manor. It was rare that the keep received visitors, and even more rare that they were personally greeted by members of the family, but years of decorum ensured she kept her composure as the blurring form of her young lord rushed passed her and out into the late autumn morning. Eli was practically brimming with barely contained energy. Some mix of excitement at both his new friend, and at successfully making and maintaining contact with Aria had him giddy beyond belief. He wondered, not for the first time, just how much of his emotions he could really blame on his young body, and underdeveloped mind.

  Shaking the distracting thoughts away, he focused on today, on what it represented. Bringing Aria closer to him this early would be his first real steps to changing the future. Not only was she a strategic resource that the Families had only lost in the end due to sheer luck and stupidity, she was an absolute delight to be around. This time he wouldn’t even let them lay a finger on her. Not unless it was her choice. If it was her choice even after all of his advantages, then he truly didn’t deserve her.

  That in mind he continued his forward dash until he was directly in front of Aria.

  Eli grinned up at the two house guards that had escorted the very wide eyed and overwhelmed girl to the keep. Eli had no doubt his father would keep his word about inviting her over, but he was more than aware that no outcome was truly certain until it actually happened. And seeing her here in front of him - seeing her in his childhood home made the reality of her presence somehow more real. He looked down to take her hand in his, planning to lead her away immediately but frowned when he was obstructed. Eli’s eyes flicked from the large market-basket Aria was carrying, to the guards, whose leathers creaked as they fidgeted under the boy’s disapproving glare.

  Looking back down at Aria, at the way her muscles were tensed, and the pads of her fingers were turning white where he could see them squeezing around the handle of the basket, Eli decided he could magnanimously let the situation go. Instead, he looked back down at the girl and smiled once more. Her answering smile was small but sweet.

  “Hi,” Eli said.

  “Hello,” she replied.

  “Is that for us?” He asked, pointing to the basket filled with what were obviously choice cuts of meat. The butcher at least knew decorum, Eli thought, when Aria nodded her head. There was a brief pause that Eli found kind of funny for some reason.

  “Want to… give it to us?” Eli probed.

  “Hm? Oh! Yes, thank you. Sorry, thanks.” She got out as Eli took the basket and handed it to the shorter of the two guards.

  “Thanks for escorting her here safely, if you could take that to Chef, I’m sure he’d be delighted.”

  “Of course, young lord.” The guard, said, bowing. She was a woman, and not far out of training if her demeanour, and obvious youth were anything to go by. Eli called out to her before she could leave with her partner.

  “You. What’s your name?” He asked. The guard looked around as though to look for who he was addressing. It was her.

  “Me, milord?”

  “You,” Eli nodded.

  “I am Kara.”

  “Kara,” Eli repeated, staring hard at her before he smiled and dismissed them.

  His attention now squarely back on Aria, Eli inclined his head towards the entrance to the manor. The building inside the keep where Eli’s family resided.

  “Thank you, Marta,” Eli said, as he passed the footman while escorting Aria inside.

  “Yes, young lord,” Marta said, startled but delighted by his obvious cheer.

  Eli ushered Aria in with a flourish. “We have a little time before breakfast. Want a tour around the manor? Are you okay for a walk?”

  Aria blinked up at Marta, uncertain, then gave Eli a quick nod.

  Eli turned to Marta again. “Could you call Cailean as well? I’m sure he’d benefit from the example of how to give an informal tour to guests with only second level clearance.” He threw over his shoulder. Marta’s eyebrows raised but she responded in the affirmative, none the less.

  “Of course, young lord.” She inclined her head and called an aide to her side.

  While they waited, Eli bent slightly toward Aria. “How did you sleep?”

  Her reply was polite if a little distant. “Okay, thank you.”

  “Okay,” Eli said easily. It was obvious she was putting in an effort to relax a bit more around him, but he would take it slowly with her. Then he leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Want to know a secret?”

  Aria hesitated. “…All right.”

  “I was so excited I could barely sleep.” His smile was soft and warm. The look on his face was conspiratorial.

  Aria’s brows pinched. “Excited? For what?”

  “For you, silly.”

  The words hit her like sunlight in the rain. Her lips parted, but no words came. The only reaction she seemed able to muster was the rush of heat to her face.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  The moment of silence didn’t drag on too long as soon footsteps could be heard fast approaching. Cailean, pale and boyish, black hair flopping into his eyes, rounded the corner.

  As soon as the older boy made it to them, Elig gestured away. “Shall we?”

  They set out across the keep’s courtyards. Eli slowed his usual brisk pace to match Aria’s smaller steps, pointing things out with practiced words and well-trained gestures, but the familiarity of an old friend.

  “This is the outer hall, where we do public functions. Cailean, which servants are allowed in this area?”

  “Retainers only, though of any clearance level,” Cailean promptly responded.

  “Correct. And who from the public?”

  Cailean hesitated. “No one without invite or escort?”

  “Exactly.” Eli grinned, then turned to Aria. “That’s why you’ve got me.”

  Every servant they passed bowed or curtsied. Eli gave each a polite nod, sometimes a quick smile. Aria nodded with interest. Her silent acceptance indicated that while she saw him as friendly, and while he was seemingly well liked, there was a distance there, between him and the retainers that was both invisible, and painfully present.

  Eli in turn watched Aria take in the keep. His goal was for familiarity to grow through exposure and proximity. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t acknowledge that a big part of why he’d approached Aria was because he missed his friend. She wouldn’t be the same Aria he knew in his first timeline, even if they did end up becoming friends again, but he didn’t want or need her to be that. He just needed her to be herself.

  Three years was both a very long time for a seven-year-old, and also not nearly long enough. Or was it? She’d always been a quick adapter, they both had. And it was remarkable how quickly people could get used to things. Certainly, it wouldn’t take her too long to feel like this place was home. With what Eli knew of her father, she was in desperate need of one.

  They paused at the yard. Shouts and the clashing of wood filled the air as groups ran sword drills, spear forms, and defensive manoeuvres under stern instructors.

  Aria’s eyes widened. “So many…”

  Eli gestured expansively. “And this is only one of our training grounds.”

  “One of?”

  “We have four just for our combat division.” He grinned.

  “Just,” she asked.

  “Mhm. Only the best for our Blades. My father was an Alvaro after all.” He nodded as though that explained everything. Which considering Cailean’s nod of agreement, it sort of did.

  “These are our newer additions.” Eli continued. “They’re fresh recruits who are only beginning to be trained as blades for house Rodrigo.” He paused and studied them for a while longer. “Looks like they’re beginning with the common version of our house’s signature sword forms today.”

  He crouched slightly and followed the lines of the sword arcs with his fingers. Tracing the patterns in the air so Aria could see the carefully coordinated lines of motion. “Do you know the word proprietary?”

  She shook her head.

  “That’s all right. Cailean?”

  Cailean blinked, scrunched his brows, but answered. “Something that belongs to one person, my lord.”

  “Close,” he smiled at his aide in training. “It basically means something that is owned, and that is only allowed to be shared by those who own it. If somebody else wants to use it or have it, they need to ask for permission.

  “In this case it means my family doesn’t share these martial forms with just anyone. If someone used them, or taught them without first getting our family’s permission… Well, they’d be in a lot of trouble.”

  Eli shook his head in remember tension at a future that had yet to pass, and his father’s fury. It had been a betrayal so unexpected that it set back recruitment efforts nearly a year and had incited a purge within the house that had seen both the guilty and some innocent people eliminated with great prejudice. Eli already had plans to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

  Eli’s voice flattened. “Every organization -every power, and anyone who intends to become one - has secrets. From the Families to the farmers. Your father wouldn’t show just anyone how to butcher, would he?”

  Aria shivered. “No. He would not.”

  “Exactly.” Eli’s eyes softened, and he squeezed her shoulder as he recognized that he’d unintentionally touched upon a sore subject. “Secrets can make all the difference.” Be it survival, profit, or power, he silently added.

  Eli focused on Aria again, a playful spark in his eyes. “Would you like to learn to fight, too?”

  Her lips parted, shocked. “I can’t. I’m just- Just some girl.”

  “Just some girl?” Eli repeated. He tilted his head. “I don’t see just some girl here.” He looked at Cailean. “Do you see just some girl?”

  “I… see a girl, my lord, Calean answered carefully.

  “Exactly.” Eli turned back, smile widening. “No ‘just’ or ‘some’ about you. I see Aria; the girl who carried heavy deliveries all the way across town, the girl with enough resilience to make our best blades jealous. I bet you’d make a great fighter.”

  Indeed, Aria had been both an incredible reservoir, and an incredible blade. Her work with both the midrange recurve bow, and the spear had always been terrifying to face on the battlefield. That combined with the minimal internal body reinforcement she had access to made her one of the most fearsome combatants he’d ever had the displeasure of facing.

  Her cheeks flushed. “Girls like me don’t fight.” She said, her voice small.

  “Oh? Kara!” Eli called from across the yard. Many heads turned. Most of them were immediately and painfully punished for their distraction, though a few of them stayed watching as a young adept – a step up from the raw recruits – broke away from formation.

  She had her helm tucked under one arm as she jogged over and Eli took the opportunity to really study her. He hadn’t had any real recollection of the woman from his first future. He thought he’d seen her in passing, but the outer guards tended not to have much interaction with the family.

  Tightly coiled black hair was cropped close to her head and sweat made her dark skin glisten in the morning sunlight. The young woman was more handsome than beautiful in appearance, though undeniably attractive. Once she reached the small group at the edge of the training yard she knelt. “Yes, young lord.”

  “Kara when did you first pick up a weapon?” Eli asked. The young woman furrowed her brow but answered anyway.

  “When I was ten.”

  “Would you say you were a girl?”

  “I was a girl, yes.” Kara looked between Cailen and Aria before her eyes fixed back onto her young lord’s face.

  “Aria, does she seem strong to you?”

  Aria nodded mutely, and Eli smiled then his expression became more serious, more commanding and imperious as he once more addressed Kara.

  “I’d like you at my training later.” From what he could tell through his brief observation, the woman was no weapons prodigy. That was especially true if she’d stayed in the outer guard even after he’d returned from the academy in his first life. However, Eli could sense that her true worth wasn’t something that could be measured through fists or steel.

  Kara’s gaze flicked toward the lord’s tower. “If their lordship permits.” Of course, Eli thought. She didn’t have clearance, and Eli was so used to being the ranking authority in the keep that he’d forgotten his word alone couldn’t grant her permission.

  “I’ll speak to them,” Eli said easily. He doubted either of his parent’s would oppose. “You are dismissed.”

  She saluted him, slid her helm back in place and jogged off.

  Eli turned back to Aria, mask slipping into boyish delight again. She’d been quiet, but interested, Eli wanted to know her thoughts. “See? I bet you’d be great. Would you give it a try.”

  Aria’s voice was quiet. “Maybe.”

  Eli didn’t press; he just nodded. He would get her there. If she didn’t yet believe in herself, he would have belief enough for the both of them until she no longer needed him to, and long beyond even then.