The owner behind the counter gave Julia and Alys a creased look. Yet, the moment he settled on his face, the man’s smile grew.
“You must be the handsome blond noble with amnesia I’ve heard making the rounds from the Chatty Cathys! Word is you’re part of distant nobility. Lord Daniel, is it?”
“That’s him!” Julia lied without a hint of shame. “Very distant. He could even be a king!”
“Really?” The man’s eyes practically sparkled as he danced out of the booth, calling for help. “I have heard of your rather enormous orders coming out of the Trade District. Anillita, get the measuring booth ready.”
An elven slave woman with pale, smooth skin, who looked in her mid-thirties, exited with perfect grace.
“Yes, Mr. Cooler. Shall I bring out the new patterns?”
“Absolutely! Isn’t he a vision? And everything is half off, My Lord… So long as you contract to use me exclusively. One of your splendor wearing my brand will pull every eligible bachelorette from here to the Eastern Sea to my doors!”
“I can’t argue with a deal like that!”
Julia and Alys posted up as guards outside the changing room as more and more women cycled in, ‘looking around’ at the wares. He thought it was endearing that they were so protective of him. Clara would agree.
He was told to strip down to his underwear, and he hesitantly complied. He half-wondered if he’d get attacked by his wife for this. But she could see everything in her mirror. It was just a fitting. Maybe she was taking notes? Why hadn’t she shown up yet today?
Was my letter and painting too much?
Is she mad I saw her painting?
No! I need to take notes so I can measure Clara properly!
An evil laugh rumbled in his chest at just the thought of all the teasing he could do.
Anillita paused when his shirt left his back. Her cold fingers slid over his scars before retreating.
“My apologies, My Lord… I have never seen scars like these. They glow so bright, it blinds me… As if you hold the sun within your skin. It looks so painful. I felt drawn to the white halos… As if something were pulling my heart toward them. Beautiful, tragic, and agonizing… Am I crying?”
Her eyes immediately dropped to the floor as she wiped them away.
“I do not know what I am saying.”
Daniel’s mirth faded, and he reached around his side to hold the circular mark of the base of his bottom wing. Clara’s work left it surrounded by bleeding gold, inked through his skin.
“Work around it, please.”
“As you wish.”
Daniel found his thoughts wandering back to his earlier conundrum as the elven woman worked, measuring him. Halfway done, Mr. Cooler came in for a moment and froze in place upon seeing his six scars.
“My Lord! What sort of…torment have you endured? Is this a wound from one of the Six Mythic Paladins of the Crown?”
Daniel filed that information away. He reached around his neck to pull his long hair around his front as the elf stepped away, eyes wide and fixated on the same place as the tailor.
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“Interesting. I wouldn’t know. As my documents state, I have amnesia.”
“Remarkable… What else could produce such a mark? Perhaps not even the Mythic Paladins. My Lord, I cannot explain this feeling this sight gives. Am I weeping? I have not wept in years. Such tragic beauty…”
Daniel moved off the stand, retrieved ten copper coins from his back, and returned to the man, holding them out.
“If you could keep this private, Mr. Cooler. I don’t think the Department of Shadows would enjoy this getting out. I am under some investigation as to my identity, after all.”
“Oh, absolutely!” He refused the money with a gesture, blinking away the tears. “You are my valued customer. I would never betray your confidence, My Lord. Even in the face of investigation. I take my clients’ privacy to the utmost confidence.”
“A man of honor. I see I chose the right shop.”
Cooler beamed, sniffling a little.
“Yes. Well, I need to go blow my nose before I return to those wolves outside.”
He left to freshen up, still rubbing his eyes. Afterward, he left to handle the growing chatter of the women entering his shop. Daniel looked down at the dull-faced elf as she returned to her work, trying to avoid getting lost in the scar each time she passed it in her task.
“Do you enjoy your work here?”
“Hmm? It is my lot in life.”
“How did you end up here?”
“I was too slow and had a broken leg one hundred and twenty years ago during the tail end of the last Great War.”
One hundred and twenty years of slavery…
I suppose they live much longer than humans.
“What would you say if I offered to buy you from Mr. Cooler?”
The elf’s hand paused, the measuring tape held against his torso as her amber irises lifted.
“It is not my place to discuss such things. All decisions are made by Mr. Cooler.”
“And if I want to know your thoughts before I offer?”
“Then I would want to know what purpose you have for me. Mr. Cooler’s treatment toward me has been the best of my years as a slave.”
Daniel searched her face and found a hint of fear underneath the mask.
“If I wanted you to work as a tailor for fellow elves and others? Nothing more. And if I offer even better treatment than Mr. Cooler?”
“Then I would think those are lofty, sweet words. Now, please remain still, My Lord.”
Daniel did as instructed.
When she finished, she bowed and left, Mr. Cooler bustling in with the biggest grin.
“Lord Daniel, you have made up more than double what I expected in just this first visit! Ellegale bachelorettes have a hunger to make ravenous dire wolves blush. I’ll craft your outfit for free if you’ll trust me to handle all the designs and styles!”
He finally had the name the nobility called this city. Ellegale fell from his mind when Anillita entered with a temporary suit she’d fit for him on the spot.
I cannot tell her the options she has. She wouldn’t believe me if I asked.
As much as I hate to stress her out… Maybe Julia and Alys are right.
“I’m happy to be of help, Mr. Cooler. But what would it cost me to purchase Anillita from you? Naturally, it would be for clothing for my other service staff. That said, I will sign a binding contract making you my sole tailor. I will not have Anillita make me anything.”
Anillita froze as stiff as a board as Cooler paused and considered his words.
“Hmm… A lord does need a good slave to clothe others. Normally, that sort of offer would put a real bitter taste in my mouth. Like you’re trying to cut me out. Anillita is hardly my only slave, but I’d say she is my second-best. Some tendon damage during her war days can cause some errors from time to time.”
He tilted his head left and right, debating it in his head as the elf held her breath.
“I’m a fair man. You should know all the details of what you want to buy. Anillita is three hundred and eighty-seven. One of the oldest slaves in the city. In the past, she was a rather unruly troublemaker, as her records state, when she was in her two hundreds. Went through three dozen owners over her life. She’s a good worker now in her older years.”
The man sighed and looked at the woman.
“She’s only got another fifty years before she really starts to age, as elves do. She can get sick if she works too long in the sun, and she often has headaches. You still want her after knowing her history?”
Daniel’s heart went out to the petrified woman.
“Yes. How much?”
“Mmm. Three silver.”