Nobody's Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

fell on Sindri, a cold blast of something I could only describe as annoyance sparking in her face. But this was Elfriede, my sweet and much-loved elder sister. She could hardly express that side of herself with witnesses.
    “Uh, see you around, Noll,” said Sindri, who had clearly picked up on something, too.
    “Sure,” I mumbled. He took off through the bushes and up the dirt path toward the quarry, jogging to join a pack of working men a few paces ahead of him.
    Bow growled. I turned back to my sister, but not before putting the chisel and the half cat down on the stool behind me. Her wary eyes, puffed and darkened lids surrounding pale hazel, hadn’t torn themselves from Sindri’s back. Golden fur covered her wrinkled dress and apron. Her skin was perhaps in need of scrubbing. She looked as if she hadn’t cared what she looked like for days at least.
    “What is it?” I snapped at last. If I waited for her to open her mouth and stop sending death wishes after a young man she hardly knew, I was bound to waste all of the morning.
    Elfriede’s gaze turned reluctantly in my direction.
    “Was that Marden’s husband?” she asked.
    “Former husband,” I pointed out.
    Now Elfriede’s icy stare shot directly into me. “It won’t do to be seen with a traitor like him.”
    “He just stopped to say hello.” I could hardly believe the young woman before me was my sister. Had she spent the past few weeks locked up in a dark and desolate dungeon? No, my frail and carefree sister had not yet had the pleasure of that experience. I was sure my stay at the castle counted as something close enough.
    “Well, don’t say anything back,” she barked.
    I scoffed. Like I cared about the who-should-blame-whom of one of her giddy friend’s couplings.
    I put my hands on my hips. “I’ll speak to whomever I like.”
    “Don’t you have enough men after you?”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Where’s Jurij?” Elfriede asked the question with such volume and tenacity, I thought she imagined him in some crystal-encased cage around the back of my moldering shack. Arrow whimpered, even as Bow growled.
    “How should I know?” I asked.
    Elfriede stood on her toes to crane around my shoulders. She really is looking for some cage!
    “He’s been gone for days,” she said, her voice cracking.
    I plopped down on the stool, shoving the fat cat and the chisel to the ground beside the gouge. I cradled my face in my hands and heard the soft patter of paws. One of the dogs’ noses brushed my knees.
    Why did she have to involve me in this? Can’t she see that I’m here to get away from all of this drama?
    “Did you try his father’s?” I mumbled through my palms.
    “Yes. And his mother’s place, too. Both were as surprised as I was that he had gone missing.”
    “His friends?”
    “He doesn’t have any friends,” she spat. “Only you.”
    I rubbed my hands over my face. Arrow sat down beside me, looking upward expectantly. Odd. He could never be bothered with anyone but Elfriede before.
    “Well, I haven’t seen him, either.” It was true. I hadn’t seen him in weeks. Not since he kissed me and told me he loved me amongst the lilies on the hills. I thought it best not to mention that to his wife—former wife—who stood before me and was no doubt just waiting for an excuse to lurch forward and strangle me.
    “Aren’t you the least bit worried?” She paced back and forth, flailing her hands up and down. Up and down. Bow’s head bobbed with her as she walked back and forth. All of the motion was making me ill.
    “Should I be?” I asked. She stopped moving and shot me a look of pure and utter annoyance. “Look, whatever happened between you, he probably just needs some time to himself. I mean, how far could he go? There aren’t a lot of places to hide.”
    “He should have told me!” she said, resuming her Bow-escorted back-and-forth trek to nowhere. “I would have let him be, but he should have told