A Promise of Iron by Brandon McCoy (the reading list .txt) 📕

smile stole into a frown, but I recognized the expression as one of loss and longing.

“Ama,” I said warily. “Thank you, but I can’t take your courting ring.”

“Oh, you most certainly can, and you most certainly will.” She might have stomped her tiny foot too if she thought it would have better illustrated her point.

“Crylwin told me everything, and I won’t have any of it.” She waved her hands in the air like she was swatting flies. “If this young lady is half as special to you as Crylwin says, then you had best put a ring on her pretty little finger. I will not have one of my boys running around kissing respectable ladies and not making it a proper courting.”

“Ama, it’s a little more complicated than that, you see…”

“See what, my boy?” she mumbled. “These old coppers don’t see as well as they once did.”

I let out a long sigh. “It isn’t so easy to just give her a courting ring and ignore—”

“Of course not, you foolish barbarian. You’ll need to think of a clever way to give it to her.” Kerry put her finger to her chin once more. “My Ellon hid the ring in a patch of wildflowers. Oh, it was romantic; we had just—” She stopped abruptly. “Well, never mind that. You’re a clever boy. I’m sure you will think of something.”

“It’s not just that, Ama, it’s—”

“It’s what, boy, spit it out!”

“It’s her father, Ama.”

“I see,” she said, leveling me with a pitying look. “So you think because your eyes have a gram of blue in them that you can ignore the proper way of things? Ellon thought the same when he first met my father. You barbarians are all alike, brave on the field, cowards at home.”

She sighed and placed a hand on my arm. “Do you like this girl?”

“More than like if I’m honest.”

“Does she feel the same?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Who can know these things?”

“You will know when she knows,” she said with a smile. “Her eyes won’t be able to keep her secrets from you. You charming barbarians and your piercing blue eyes can read a woman’s heart like a recipe for soup.”

I chuckled softly.

“Do the right thing, dear. If you are serious about this young lady, you need to act seriously. Love has no use of cowards. You will need to confront her father, but not to seek his permission.”

Slowly, I nodded as I considered her words. “I need to confront him....I need to make my declaration.”

She winked as she pinched the flesh on my check. “Come on with you, let’s get you something to eat.”

I flipped the ring in my hand and placed it in my purse. Ama gave me an approving nod.

“My boys always do the right thing,” Kerry said as she patted my cheek and turned toward the manor house. “Oh, but you were asking about Crylwin, dear. I’m sorry you got me all emotional. He said he was heading to some party, a Lord Ellington, I think he said.”

“Sauril,” I cursed in Illyrian, prompting a scathing look from Kerry.

I had utterly forgotten that Ellington’s party was tonight. That explained his quick exit this morning. The Ellington estate was in Soffenwold, and the road east was long, maybe the better part of a day. Lord Ellington would likely have his guests stay over too, not wanting to risk them on the road under a fell moon. That pretty much killed any chances of getting Crylwin to loan me any coin before tonight. I was out of the pot and into the fire.

I cursed again.

“What’s the matter with you, boy?” Kerry asked. “I expect that kind of language from Crylwin, but not you.”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing, Ama. I’m just in a tight spot, is all.”

“Tighter than courting the daughter of the purity council? Tighter than being a Ruk in the Imperial Officer Corps?” She laughed and let the corners of her lips turn sly. “Tighter than living above an illegal forge?”

She saw the look on my face, and I knew I had no hope of denying it.

“I knew Cole since before you were on your mother’s breast. But that’s beside the point, what could possibly be more concerning than all that?”

“Coin,” I blurted before I could muster the propriety to stop.

“Oh, that’s all?” she said, patting again at the pockets on her dress. “How much do you need, dear? I can count on one hand the number of times a Ruk ever asked a coin of me, and I would still have four fingers standing up. Must be in a terrible spot; you haven’t been gambling, have you? Playing at bones? I won’t have it if that’s the case, so tell me true.”

“No, Ama,” I said honestly. “But, I can’t rightly explain what I need it for, not yet at least.”

She fixed me with a suspicious stare. “You barbarians and your secrets.” She stopped on a bulging pocket at her hip, pulling free a black and white striped pouch. It didn’t look like something she would carry. It was rugged and stitched from an animal hide I didn’t recognize. It looked like it belonged on the belt of someone hoping to dazzle with the exotic origin of his purse, not in the pocket of a sweet old lady.

“How much did you say you need?” she asked, fingering through the coins.

“Um well, I honestly don’t know…. How much do you think—”

“Oh, who am I playing at? It isn’t my coin to be sure,” she interrupted. “Here, take the lot, just get rid of the bag somewhere along the way.”

I paused for several reasons. “Ama, I can’t take all your coin.”

“Faerin, my dear, If I need coin, I’ll ask Edwin, and he will sell a business or fell a forest or something. That just happens to be all I have on me. As I said, it isn’t even mine.” She smiled that same sly smile. “I nicked it off some sword hand that was strutting around here a