Michelle West - Sun Sword 06 - The Sun Sword Read Online Free PDF Page A

surface of her gleaming desk.
    I'm too good at following orders
, Finch thought guiltily. She heaved
the large, flat bag up onto the desk and opened its leather ties.
    "You two!" Lucille barked.
    Carver and Angel flinched.
    "You're big, strong men—what were you thinking, making her carry that all
this way? It weighs as much as she does!"
    "Aw, Lucille," Carver muttered. "We're supposed to be on duty."
    "And there are now so many assassins in the streets that you had to hold on
to those swords the entire way?" She snorted. "It's not as if you know how to
use
them."
    Carver wisely chose to offer no other defense, and Angel had actually moved
to stand
behind
him. Finch was suddenly very glad they'd left Ellerson
behind.
    Lucille began to look through the unsigned, unsealed contracts. She frowned,
and the frown brought out the map of lines that made her face so interesting.
Smiles, Finch thought, and the fiercest of frowns, resided in the crinkles
around her eyes and mouth, and one never knew which you would find if you
followed the creases to their natural end.
    A gray brow—iron gray, not the delicate white of real age— rose. She set down
the papers. "Is that Daine I see with you?"
    "Yes, ma'am," Daine said, striving for the same meekness of tone that seemed
to afford Finch so much protection.
    "Don't mumble, boy. At your age, it's a discourtesy to the elderly."
    No one pointed out that Lucille was not, and would
never
be,
elderly.
    "You've come all the way to the Authority for
these
?" Her voice had
dropped; she wasn't exactly whispering, but the quiet in her tone was as close
as a booming voice could get.
    Finch swallowed. "Not exactly," she said at last.
    "Are those jumped-up nobles on the House Council giving you trouble, girl?"
    "Not more than usual."
    The frown deepened. Not for the first time, Finch was grateful for her size.
    "I'm thinking that young Daine isn't here to keep you company."
    Daine looked confused.
    "You'll want to leave by the back, yes?"
    Finch, on the other hand, looked grateful. She was.
    "You'll want to leave by an exit the ATerafin don't normally use either."
    "Lucille, I don't want to be trouble—"
    "Nonsense. You do want to be trouble, just not to me." Her grin was wide.
"You leave these complicated things with me and I'll see that those layabouts do
something with them. Cormaris knows they're slow as slugs; they'll take hours.
Or should that be days?"
    "Hours," Finch said promptly.
    "Hours, then. Come with me, Finch." She paused. "And you two lackwits, you
follow as well."
    Angel rolled his eyes, but only when her back was entirely turned.
    Unfortunately for him, she turned again, spinning so quickly it was hard to
believe she was a big woman. She casually smacked him upside the head; it was
loud, but it wasn't—Finch hoped—too painful. "I've had sons," she said grimly.
"Don't you give me attitude."
    "Yes, ma'am."
    She snorted, and then paused. "And who's this?"
    Gregori ATerafin brought his hand to his chest.
    "New here, I see," she said, giving him the thorough once over. "You must be
a real House Guard."
    "Lucille!" Carver squeaked.
    "I have that honor, ATerafin," Gregori replied.
    "Hmmph. Well, see that you mind her," Lucille said, nodding to Finch. "And
see that no harm befalls her. I promised young Jay I'd keep an eye out. And I
don't like to break my promises."
    "ATerafin."
    She snorted again. "You should have brought Arann," she told Finch.
    "He's kind of busy at home."
    "Well, maybe he is; you know best, dear. Come on; I'll see you out."
    She did. She also told the two guards at the base of the set of small stairs
that she'd box their ears—and worse—if they wagged their tongues at the wrong
people, and by that she clearly meant
anyone but me
. They smiled
genially, used to her threats, and stepped aside to allow Finch and her
companions to pass.
    "They'll be coming back this way, mind," Lucille said. "In a few hours."
    "But, ma'am," one of the