The Wyvern's Spur: The Finders Stone Trilogy, Book 2 (Finer's Stone Trilogy) by Kate Novak

Author:Kate Novak [Novak, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786963201
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2012-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

Giogi stood at the bottom of the staircase, watching Cat descend. He was sure there wasn’t a more beautiful woman in all of Cormyr. She wore a low-cut gown of lavender satin covered with golden lace. Her long hair was fastened high on her head with a matching golden lace net.

“Is this all right?” Cat asked, halting two steps above him.

“I don’t think I’d ever seen mother wear that,” Giogi said, trying hard to avoid staring at the dress’s decolletage. I didn’t know she had anything so, um—”

“Revealing?” Cat suggested, crossing her hands coyly over the gown’s neckline, which was nowhere near her neck.

“Small,” Giogi said, recovering his wits. “My mother was not as slender as you.” He offered Cat his arm.

“Not while she was your mother, perhaps,” Cat replied, laying her fingertips on his sleeve and moving down beside him, “but as a girl, she must have been. I found this at the very bottom of the chest. It might have been something she wore when she came out.”

“Oh, she was never a debutante,” Giogi explained as he escorted the mage through the main hall. “Her father, Shar of Suzail, was a carpenter. He made furniture, of course, but he also supervised the timberwork of all the bridges in Cormyr, and the locks at Wheloon, and they’re all still standing. He made a lot of money, but, according to father, he was very humble. King Rhigaerd II, Azoun’s father, offered him a peerage for his work, but he turned it down. He said he couldn’t do both—work and be a lord. Old Shar begged Father to rescue his daughter, though, when she was kidnapped by an evil mage. That’s how my parents met.”

“Your mother would have been presented to court, though, when she married your father.”

“Yes, I guess she must have.”

“Perhaps she wore this then. I didn’t want to borrow anything too valuable, but this one fit so well. I did pick out something especially nice for you.”

“Pardon?” Giogi asked.

Cat halted and held Giogi back from the dining room door. “Here,” she said, pulling something out of her sleeve. “I found it in the jewelry box.” Cat held out a platinum headpiece and latched it about Giogi’s forehead. “There. That’s just right. It gives you the look of nobility.”

“It feels funny,” Giogi said, shifting it about on his head.

Cat laughed. “You’ll get used to it,” she said, steering him toward the dining room door.

Giogi turned the handle and led the enchantress in to dinner.

The nobleman was heartened to see that their fancy attire had pacified Thomas considerably. The manservant dropped his earlier reserve and served dinner with considerable courtesy. Giogi caught the servant smiling at him once and sneaking appreciative glances at Cat often.

Thomas wished his master had removed the rakish jewelry in his ear and hair, but the headdress actually pleased the servant. He decided it gave Giogi a commanding air—something he’d always lacked. As for the woman, though her earlier slip in decorum marked her of “lower” birth, her speech revealed a certain amount of education.

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