Maxine smiled, thoroughly enjoying her older sister’s discomfort as Lou hastily left the room, quickly followed by her wife. It was undignified to rub a victory in someone’s face but she wanted to laugh at Marcella’s slight frown. “It would seem your charms are failing you, sister.”

“I hardly expected them to swoon at my feet during the first conversation. Rather than not caring for my charms, I get the feeling Lady Tome was preoccupied. Too preoccupied to even notice her friend.” She raised a brow at Maxine who smoothed her features into an even mask. “More importantly, you need to work on your letters, Maxie. You never told me she was such a treat~”

“I mentioned that she had improved her looks through magic.”

“Does a caterpillar simply improve its looks when it emerges as a butterfly? That is not an improvement. That is a metamorphosis. I could stare into those eyes many nights without getting tired. Oh, if I could have both on either side of me. A scene worthy of a master artist.”

“No artist would sink to painting such a vulgar sight.”

“There is nothing vulgar about beauty. Something you should know as a Guiness.”

“As a Guiness, you should know the opposite.”

Footsteps stopped them from continuing their soft bickering. Kierra re-entered the room. Her eyes found Maxine, who offered her a smile…then her gaze moved to her sister. “My Lou is intent on spoiling me and is getting excited over the thought of me carrying a few boxes. I thought I would take you up on your offer of conversation. It won’t be long.”

“Anytime we have together is a treasure, Miss Kierra. Please.” Marcella wore a wide grin as she led Kierra from the room. In the doorway, she threw a glance at Maxine over her shoulder. It contained two messages. A warning for her to stay out of the way and a small gloat that things were going the way Marcella wanted, as they always did.

Maxine’s fingers twitched as she watched them disappear with disbelief. More footsteps caught her attention. She straightened as Lou entered the room, wondering how to broach the subject of Kierra going off with her sister. Did Lou know? Would she care? Would she join them? Were they going to do business with her? Where would that leave Maxine?

She hoped to catch a peak at Lou’s expression, needing a sign of how to proceed. To her growing frustration, Lou never looked her way. The summoner went straight for her boxes, stacking three atop one another before exiting the storeroom at a quick pace. Never once looking at Maxine.

She stood in the silent storeroom for several moments, emotions swirling turbulently. Then, something hot broke through, flushing her. One of her hands balled into a fist and before she could think about it, she was stomping from the room and throwing open the back door. “Lou!”

Lou looked up from settling a box on the wagon. “Yeah? You needed something?”

Did she need something? Yes. She needed answers. “Did I do something wrong?” Her frustration grew as she watched the other noblewoman’s brows furrow. As if she couldn’t fathom why Maxine would ask such a question “You couldn’t even spare a greeting for me.” Despite chatting so happily with Marcella.

Her frustration grew as Lou stared at her blankly. “Kierra is having tea with my sister.” She tried not to get emotional. She was taught better. There was no place for emotion in business. But Marcella had proved that wrong, hadn’t she? Bitterness colored her tone.

“…is she really that much better than me?” A foolish question to ask Lou who had only known her sister for a day, but Maxine wasn’t really talking to Lou. The question was addressed to the specter of her father that lived in her mind and the world itself. “I thought we were friends. Friendly enough, at least. Enough that I never took your refusal to do business with my family personally. Yet in one day, Kierra is—” Her lips trembled as she fought to keep her expression neutral. “Is it—”

“Max.” Lou’s voice was full of exasperation. “I consider you a friend, I do, and I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. My mind is somewhere else.” She hopped from the wagon with an easy grace. “Good morning, Max. Hope you have a pleasant day. I need to finish this.”

Lou moved past her without looking back. Maxine knew when she was being dismissed. She saw Lou’s retreating back and thought of her grinning sister. Something snapped. “I see!” Her shout caused Lou to look over her shoulder. “I wasn’t worth the thought.”

“Hey, that’s not what I said—”

“It’s fine, Lady Tome. I shouldn’t be surprised. Your reputation precedes you. I’m not the type of woman who can catch your attention.” Inwardly, Maxine cringed but another part of her was reveling the combined relief and satisfaction of venting.

She felt vindicated when Lou frowned. “I just said I thought of you as a friend but I’m wondering if you think the same of me. You’re not using a very friendly tone, Lady Guiness. In fact, I’d say you were trying to insult me.”

“Well, there is no point in flattering you, is there? I’ve been doing that for months to no affect. I thought it was pointless, but clearly, I wasn’t doing it right.” Maxine’s breath quickened as her heart pounded. “She tried to give me some ‘advice’, pull me into her game. I told her, your usual methods won’t work. Lou and her wife will see right through you. No matter what the rumors say, she isn’t the type to lose her mind over a pretty face. Clearly, I overestimated your restraint.

“No, a pretty face isn’t required, I suppose. Alana is hardly a blossoming rose but you’ve been panting over her since spring. I suppose it’s whoever is willing. At least she has the good manners to keep her—”

Maxine knew she had gone too far mentioning Alana. Her stomach twisted as Lou’s face darkened but her mouth continued to move, like something had possessed her. She expected a reprisal but she was caught off guard as Lou moved too fast for her to follow, yelping as the front of her dress was grabbed and she was yanked forward, forced to balance on the tips of her toes.

Lou leaned forward until their noses were almost touching and whispered, “Since we’ve decided to share our hearts, I’ll tell you some truths, my friend. I was more taken with your sister in a single conversation than I’ve ever been with you. And you’re right, it’s not because of her pretty face, though it certainly helps. It’s her guts. The woman is a whore playing at being a noblewoman and damn proud of it. Charming, too. She’s right. If I had to choose to do business with someone, I would certainly choose her over a copper-pinching merchant or a girl who only cares about making daddy happy.”

Maxine’s breath caught as she was pinned by violet eyes. They were always unnatural, exotic to the point of being strange, but only now, with less than a handspan between them, could the young merchant feel the power behind them. She could feel herself getting lost in their secrets when she was shoved backwards, stumbling over her own feet but catching herself before she tripped.

But Lou wasn’t done with her. “Do you know why I haven’t shown much interest in you despite us having known each other for months? You bore me. Without the Guiness family, what are you? If your father cut your sister off, she’d be just fine. Saints, better than fine. You? I think you’d just crumble to pieces.”

“That’s not true,” she whispered.

“I thought we were being truthful with one another. Clearly, you don’t think much of yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn’t cling so tightly to your father’s coattails.”

Maxine simply stared at her with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Lou’s glare abated and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This is stupid. Look, Max, you’re a good person. Pleasant to be around. Like I said, I consider us friends. I thought I said hello and didn’t mean to slight you, truly. And being just friends is fine. I don’t only have relationships with women I’m trying to sleep with. You’re not…to my tastes, to be honest.”

Maxine looked away. She didn’t particularly want the other woman to find her attractive. Lou was assuredly one of the most attractive women Maxine had ever seen, taking in account her sister and Kierra, but she didn’t think of her in that way. Still, being rejected irked.

“If it makes you feel better, Marcella doesn’t have us fooled or whatever else you’re thinking. We still have no intention of doing business with your family. Really, you people need to suck it up and hire some suicidal idiots to storm the forest. Don’t tell me there aren’t enough of them because dozens are about to march to their deaths in the Bleak Peaks.”

“The price of hiring that many hunters and paying their death benefits is too much for my father to accept,” Maxine mumbled.

“That!” Lou snapped, making her jump. “That is why you’re not very interesting to me, both personally and professionally. I’ve spent most of my life pushed around by other people’s whims and I hated every moment of it. I could have walked away, of course. Made my own life. But I was too cowardly to make something of myself. Risk the unknown and give up my horrible but secure life. I hated that weakness. And I hate seeing it in others.

“Your sister’s methods are crude and inappropriate in the eyes of the kingdom but at least she’s got daring. She makes a mark on anyone who meets her and she’s found a way to stand out from your, what, dozen siblings?”

“Sixteen.”

“Saints bless, your father is certainly…virile.” Maxine snickered inwardly as Lou briefly frowned in distaste. The noblewoman had no tolerance for men, even in her imagination. “Well, do you think you are going to stand out from sixteen eager heirs by being proper and agreeable? If you haven’t figured it out by now, the answer is no.

“Saints’ blessed asses, Max, I want to cheer for you but you have to do something. If you want to win, stop picking bones about how and get your hands dirty. Don’t make me an offer I can’t refuse because it doesn’t exist. Make me an offer I never expected, one that makes me fall to the floor in laughter. Get clever. Get devious. Get nasty. Or do you really want to live the rest of your life under your family’s heels?”

No, she didn’t. Maxine hung her head as she contemplated the words.

“I asked Kierra to have a conversation with your sister because I do not need a woman like that plotting against me right now. I’m far too busy to deal with her myself. See, I can’t afford to ignore her. Though I felt forced to intervene before she got any ideas, I chose to talk with you when I could have just walked off. That should say something.”

“…what would you have me do?” Maxine finally asked.

“I don’t know! Do I look like a merchant? Ah, that’s not the point. I don’t have good advice for you though. Someone changed the path my life was taking and Kierra was there to walk me down it. I don’t know how people like us turn things around on their own. That’s why it’s so damn impressive when they do.” Lou scratched the back of her neck. “I, uh, apologize if I was too harsh. My temper got away from me a bit.”

“No. It’s…alright. I provoked you. Besides, you’ve given me something to think about.” A lot of things to think about. “I apologize as well. You are my friend, Lou, and I would hate to lose you because I made you a target for my frustrations.”

“Yeah. At least have the decency to be drunk first.”

“Will you give me the opportunity to buy you a drink to make up for it? To celebrate your successful summonings.”

Lou laughs. “I appreciate your confidence but I don’t have the time, swear to the saints. I’m joining the campaign to the Bleak Peaks.” Maxine sucked in a sharp breath. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ll be fine.”

Maxine calmed her instinctive panic. Yes, with Kierra beside her, Lou would make it back. She was startled to realize her first thought went to the noblewoman rather than the elf her family was interested in, which should have made Kierra her first interest. She reasoned it was because she had far less doubts about Kierra’s ability to defend herself.

“I’ve got to get back to these boxes.”

“Yes.”

“Good luck with your sister, huh? Shove her headfirst into the Abyss.”

…perhaps she might. “See you in the spring, Lou.”