The Diminished by Kaitlyn Sage Patterson

Author:Kaitlyn Sage Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-25T19:58:05+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BO

After spending an uncomfortable night waiting, at Gerlene’s insistence, in a fleabag inn near the wharf, it was a relief to be shown to my cabin aboard the Adelaide. Despite her initial protestations, Gerlene had eventually stopped trying to convince me to change my mind and booked a first-class passage for Bo Abernathy on the next ship leaving for Ilor. The pseudonym had been her idea—Abernathy was Ina’s surname, so I supposed I had a better claim to it than I did to Gyllen. More importantly, though, it was a name that linked me to Vi.

She’d asked, over and over, if I wanted to go back to the house in Esser Park and say a final goodbye to Claes, despite the danger such a venture would present. I’d nearly gone, but the fury and betrayal overwhelmed everything else I’d ever felt for him. I didn’t want to give him a chance to explain—I knew what he’d say, and I had no interest in his excuses. The Claes I’d loved was really and truly gone, if I’d ever known him at all. Everything I’d understood about him, about us, had been ripped away when he told the Suzerain my secrets.

Gerlene would tend to the running of my estates until I returned. She’d provided me with a handful of drott, a small sack of ovstri and a larger pouch of tvilling. It was as much money as she could gather quickly without raising eyebrows, though it didn’t seem like much to me. She also gave me letters that would allow me to withdraw funds from the bank in the town closest to the land my mother owned. I would travel under the guise of an assessor, hired by Gerlene to check on my mother’s holdings in Ilor.

Lost in my thoughts and unaccustomed to answering to the name I’d assumed, I didn’t hear the steward call me at first. “Mister Abernathy,” he repeated. “Your room is down this hall to the right.”

He unlocked the door and handed me the key before showing me in. The room was quite small, its furnishings outdated, but it was well equipped enough to serve. The steward gave me a map of the ship. He pointed out the first-class decks, dining halls, exercise room and parlors, as well as other amenities, such as a swimming pool and cards room. Then he said, “If you’ll give me your tag, sir, I’ll bring up your other bags.”

I blinked at him for a moment, not understanding. When he gestured to my rucksack and the valise Gerlene had given me, it dawned on me that most of the other passengers would have a great deal of luggage being loaded from the wharf, and the tag he mentioned must be a way of organizing those bags. “Oh, eh, this is all I’ve brought, actually... What was your name?”

The young man’s face split in an incredulous grin. “Schaffer, sir. Would you like me to send up the tailor? He’ll have you a whole new wardrobe by the time we see land again, he will.

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