Rise of the Shadow Mage by Haddock James

Author:Haddock, James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Matron Publishing
Published: 2024-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

I started doing my exercises twice a day to keep my secrets. I couldn’t train as intensely and incorporate my shadow dance while training the boys. One evening during my training, Brea opened the door and came down the stairs. I shifted to my basic knife training dance and continued.

After a few minutes, I stopped. “You’re up late tonight,” I said to her.

“I wanted to talk to you,” she replied.

“Sure,” I said, wiping the sweat from my face, head, and arms.

“Emma and I have been talking about opening a business, or maybe reopening the used furniture shop. It’s a big step for us. Women are not taken seriously in business, unless it’s baking, sewing, or a related business.” I nodded for her to continue. “I don’t necessarily want to spend all day working in a shop of some kind. I’d rather own the buildings and rent them to others who do want to sit in a shop all day.”

“Have you looked at any properties, checked purchase prices and potential rental income?”

She nodded. “We have, but we wanted to talk about approaching it from a different angle?”

I frowned. “Like what?”

“We want to buy the land where the fire destroyed the buildings in the shop quarter.”

My eyebrows raised. “That will take quite the investment, and you probably won’t see any

return for at least a year, maybe longer.”

She nodded. “Which is why we want to partner with you. We have the ideas and experience with the shops, and you have contacts and money. But we want this to be separate from the trading house.”

Nodding, I thought an undertaking of this size was overly ambitious for their first endeavor, but I didn’t want to stop their momentum. It’s easier to turn a ship that’s moving than one that’s standing still.

“And will you manage these properties?” I asked.

“We’re going to hire Stan to keep the books and manage them. I know you might think this is a big step for a couple of women, but I have learned the hard way that it is unwise for a woman to be dependent upon a husband for her survival. If that man dies, she is left with nothing and is at the mercies of the world. And the world offers few mercies.”

“It would be a big step even if you were a man. Okay, get your plan together, and we’ll sit down and talk,” I said.

“There is one other thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Teach me to open-hand fight, and maybe to knife dance.” I raised my eyebrows. “But,” she continued, “you’ll have to teach me at night, I don’t want to intrude on what you’re teaching

the boys.”

“Then, m’lady, may I have this dance,” I asked, smiling.

She returned my smile, taking my offered hand. “You may, m’lord.”

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