The Wolf of Harrow Hall (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 7) by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online Page B

toward me. I saw no softening in the lines of his mouth, and I braced myself. Would he also throw me out in the snow after he had refused my request? No, that was a foolish notion. He could have done that days ago if he had been so inclined.
    “How much?” he asked.
    My cold fingers knotted themselves in the warm woolen folds of my borrowed gown. “T-two silver pieces, my lord.”
    “A staggering sum, to be sure.”
    He was mocking me. I repressed the urge to snap at him, to tell him that what might seem like nothing to him was a great deal to me, to my grandmother. Instead, I stood there in silence, knowing there was nothing I could say to sway him. I did not know this man, but I could already tell that he was not one who had much patience for begging or pleading.
    Then he said, “Tell me, Mistress Sendris. What would you do for those two silver pieces?”
    “‘Do’?” I repeated, puzzled.
    “Yes, do. Surely you do not expect me to give you those two silver pieces in exchange for nothing?”
    I tilted my chin up at him. “I already told you, my lord, that I would repay the sum in a few months, after I have time to replenish my stock and sell some of my goods.”
    “Ah, that. There are some who would say that summer is a good deal more than just a ‘few’ months off, but rather half the year. Do you intend to pay interest on this loan, since it will extend for such a lengthy amount of time?”
    Interest? What in the world was he talking about? “I fear I do not understand, my lord.”
    “Forgive me. I forget that you are a simple girl from a small village.” I stiffened, but made myself stand calm and still as he continued, “‘Interest,’ Mistress Sendris, is a small percentage of the original sum of the loan, a sort of tax for taking your time to pay it back. So on your two silver pieces, if we were going to ask for interest of ten percent, that would be twenty copper pieces in addition to the two silver you originally borrowed.”
    My head swam. So if he would deign to lend me the two silver, I would also have to give him twenty copper pieces? I had never before heard of such a thing. It sounded like outright theft to me, but I knew I didn’t dare tell his lordship that. “I — I see.”
    “I am not sure that you do, but that is no matter. If I lend you the money to cover your taxes, do you promise that you will repay me with interest?”
    So he was not going to deny me outright. Could I come up with such a staggering sum? Perhaps, if I could convince more of my fellow villagers to pay me with real coin, and not a dozen eggs or a sack of meal or whatever else people tended to use for currency in our part of the world. What would happen if I could not repay him?
    Then you will go to the debtor’s gaol, just as you feared at the beginning. But at least you will have held off the evil day for a six-month, which is something. Much can happen in the span of six months.
    I looked up into his eyes. In the pale light that shone through the many-paned windows, it seemed almost as if there was a spark of gold behind the darkness of his irises. But I knew that strange shimmer must have been only a trick of the light.
    “I promise,” I said, praying that my oath might not turn out to be a lie.
    “Then we must shake on it,” he said, and extended a hand.
    Something in me quailed at having to touch him in such a way, flesh to flesh — it seemed far too intimate — but I knew there was nothing I could do to avoid the contact. Besides, it was only a simple handshake, the ancient way to honor such a deal. I need not make a fuss about it.
    I reached out my right hand and felt his fingers wrap around mine. In that moment, it was as if a spark kindled between us. A strange, pulsing warmth rushed from my palm and up into my arm, and I snatched my hand away.
    Lord Greymount was staring down at me, eyes wide with consternation. “Who are you?” he asked after a weighty pause, the elegant timbre of his voice