Read Coins and Daggers for Free Online Page B

a
bountiful bouquet and sighed dreamily.“This is Dextrem House,
child. A truly prestigious place and you ought to be honored to be
invited here.”
    Audelia smiled, gaze still sweeping the room
and thoroughly enthralled with its beauty. “But...why me? I do not
know Lord Dextrem or his wife, and I hardly can believe they are
familiar with me in any way.”
    Miss Darcott shook her head. “Do not concern
yourself with such irrelevant things. What matters is that a very
wealthy family has found interest in you and has offered to be your
benefactor.”
    “ My benefactor?”
    “ Precisely. They wish you to be....their
ward.” Miss Darcott had approached her then, planting firm hands on
Audelia’s shoulders as she made to reassure her. “You understand
that, do you not?”
    “ Of course. It is a rare privilege, I
presume, for a person of my stature.” Audelia grinned and blinked
away the surface of tears that threatened to well up in her eyes.
“I sure am fortunate to catch their eye, am I?”
    “ That you are, dear. That you are.” Such
reassuring hands then made their way slowly to Audelia’s cheeks as
Miss Darcott cupped them, much as Audelia had imagined a mother
would to a beloved child. “But you must understand that nothing
comes totally free and you must be well behaved, correct?”
    “ Of-of course.”
    “ Perfect. So you must make the Madame
proud, Audelia Rolfen.” Miss Darcott squeezed her hand
affectionately. “She works very hard, you see, to pair you girls
with the best of benefactors. Therefore you ought to make an
example of this opportunity. The rest of the girls’ futures may
well rest upon it...”
     
    A udelia’s eyes blinked
open, her vision a bit hazy as she welcomed the bitter taste in her
mouth and the prickly sensations irritating her throat. Thirst was
something she’d become a master at ignoring over the past year,
especially with water hardly in her reach. But now, she scarcely
felt as if she could manage to bear it. While she’d managed to live
through such terrible conditions of life, she supposed no one
really deserved to do so. If only she could get a bite
of...
    Shifting her legs, she made an attempt to
move, her vision now steady as she stared up at a high wide
ceiling. Stilling instantly, she frowned as she slowly became aware
of her surroundings. Either she was lying on the softest bed she
had ever felt or she was dead and floating off to the Heavens.
Audelia was more prepared to accept the latter for no one, on first
glance of her, would allow such fine hospitality. Especially
someone with a fine bed as this one.
    And if her
memory served to be correct, she was still locked away in a gaol,
and far away from daylight. Perhaps the guv had managed to hang her
in her sleep and that would then make her very much dead.
    But apparently, she was very much alive.
Audelia hadn’t pinched herself or closed her eyes and then counted
to ten. What convinced her was the presence of the barbaric looking
guard, the one she knew to stand at her cell door, and a petite
servant girl both hovering near her. The guard spoke first in a
brisk tone.
    “Go get Lord St. Rosso,” he said to the
girl, who did as she was told. Audelia watched the man move closer
until his knees were touching the side of the bed. “Have any rocks
under those sheets with you, wench?”
    She glared up at the man. “I hardly think
I’d confess such a thing even if did.”
    Her gaze swept past the giant and towards a
small table, where a water-jug sat next to a quite tempting
preparation of loaf and meat. Her mouth watered just knowing that
she was within its direct vicinity. The guard seemed to have picked
up on her gaze because he shifted to block her view.
    “Lord Ulric had it brought in for you to eat
whenever you were to wake.”
    She eyed the guard carefully. “He’s feeding
me?”
    “Exactly that.”
    Now she was
just downright baffled. “And you expect me to believe that it isn’t
poisoned or something