Ellen Kushner by The Privilege of the Sword

Author:The Privilege of the Sword [Sword, The Privilege of the]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-08T13:55:25+00:00

chapter VI

I WOKE UP WITH KITTENS ALL OVER MY FACE. I RAISED a hand to brush them off, but they turned out not to have any legs or tails. My uncle the mad duke was sweeping swathes of velvet over me, cheerfully urging, “Get up, get up—have some tea and tell me which one you like best.”

I pulled the blankets up around my neck. The swathes were attached to several large bolts of fabric, which a nervous shop assistant was holding while the duke tried them against my face. I looked around for Marcus, but he, thank god, was not there to see; only Betty stood by, patiently holding a cup of tea. I seized it from her and drank, and said, “My sword!” I had put it away dirty last night. Blick, blick, blick, as Venturus would say. I’d be ages getting the rust out.

“Never mind that,” my uncle said. “Just tell me which one you like best.”

“I like them all,” I said, playing for time while I tried to wake up. There was a fire in the hearth, and the sun coming through the thick old windows was mid-afternoonish. I remembered coming home in the thin light of dawn, my uncle a dead weight in the sedan chair beside me. He’d had his fill of the red-haired artist and a number of other stimulants, besides. There’d been no moving him without two hefty footmen. I’d tumbled into bed without a thought for anything other than how soft it was.

“Well, you’re not having them all, just one.”

“One what? You shouldn’t be here,” I groused. “I’m not even dressed.”

“Don’t be prudish. You can defend yourself perfectly well. You proved that last night. I am very, very pleased. Also relieved. I’m making you a present: a lovely velvet cloak. Made to your measure, with room to grow. Now, which do you like best?”

I clutched at the nearest velvet, and to my shame I started to cry. It was unbelievable. I had almost killed a man last night, and now I was going to have the cloak of my dreams. And my friend Artemisia had been forced in a crowded ballroom, in her beautiful lavender gown.

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