Finder: First Ordinance, Book One by Connie Suttle Read Free Book Online

would bear the blame.
    Even though Wolter had beaten me often enough when I was small, I preferred that his head remain on his shoulders. Bumping Amlis' shoulder as I reached in to pour wine (he was about to cut into the meat) I deliberately dropped the wine flagon on the edge of his plate, upending most of its contents in the Prince's lap.
    Yes, the blows he delivered to my head and shoulders amid laughs and encouragement from others at the table were expected, but these wounded more than any blows had ever done.
    Steeling my heart after cleaning up the plate (which lay face down on the floor) and clearing away the poisoned meat lying on the table, I took it away.
    Wolter stared at me in surprise when I carried the Prince's plate into the kitchen, after which he eyed the wrecked meat with a lift to his eyebrow.
    "Not fit?" he asked. I shook my head.
    "Then it won't go to the dogs," he sighed. I nodded vigorously. I watched as he prepared a second plate and I carried it back to the Prince, who was now dressed in fresh clothing—I'd ruined the formal jacket he'd worn before.
    It was a shame; Amlis looked quite good in the blue with red piping. His blows and shouts I felt, still, and refused to look at him, pulling on my right earlobe instead. He failed to notice, Etlund tasted Amlis' second plate, pronounced it fit and the dinner resumed.
    Had I thought the evening over? I was very wrong. Meekly following Amlis as he strode angrily toward his suite, I took his jacket and removed his boots when the knock came. Setting the boots aside for the moment, I went to answer the door. Timblor had come, bearing a bottle of wine.
    "I just wanted to sit and enjoy the beating," Timblor grinned and held up two delicate wineglasses in one hand, the wine bottle in the other.
    I stared at the fragile, blue-tinted wineglasses Timblor carried—glass that thin was nearly unheard of and according to kitchen gossip, there were no artisans remaining in Fyris who could create it. What Timblor held carelessly in his fingers was worth a fortune.
    "Rodrik hasn't returned yet," Amlis' expression was sour.
    "Ah. Well, we'll drink and wait together." I blinked at Amlis, working to school my face. Had Amlis intended to have me beaten a second time, or was Timblor forcing his hand? Regardless, Rodrik would now deliver blows, and I would learn unwillingly enough how heavy his hand might be.
    Quite heavy, as it turned out. Rodrik hadn't been privy to any of the evening's events, so Timblor informed him, ridiculing me and exaggerating my actions, making it sound as if a carnival of performers had left Amlis' jacket ruined and his dinner strewn across the King's dining hall. Rodrik had taken his riding crop to me after that, and several blows had landed on my face and at the back of my neck, leaving red welts and purple bruises behind, which ached. A few of them bled as well.
    When he was finished with me, I pulled myself from the floor where I'd fallen and went to put the Prince's boots away while Timblor drank and laughed at my retreating back. Tears would be useless, as they generally evoked more laughter and ridicule, but I wanted to cry them anyway as I finished my duties for the evening.
    * * *
    "I wanted to tell you myself, as the physician has declared it was her heart giving out on her at last," Chen offered the plate of cakes to Amlis the following afternoon. "Wolter set aside the plate of veal you'd been served after Finder brought it back to the kitchen. He was going to dispose of it, since Finder let him know in the way she has that he shouldn't feed it to the dogs. While Wolter's back was turned, Irdith ate a portion of the meat—you know kitchen help seldom gets to taste veal. Two candles later, Irdith was dead in her chair beside the fire. Wolter left her there and went about his business."
    "The plate was poisoned," Amlis rubbed his forehead in frustration. "And then Timblor came last night, forcing me to have Rodrik beat the girl nearly