Harem System novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Mourne Hall

Mourne Hall stood at the top of the guild quarter, with torches burning on every step.

Inside, the dining room held a table for forty.

Nils walked in between Ruenna and Liriel, in the one clean shirt he owned.

Every head turned.

"There they are," Ardith said, rising from the head of the table.

She wore deep green and gold, and she looked delighted.

"Mr. Halvorsen. Miss Cask. Healer Thane. Please, sit by me."

They sat.

The plates were already full, with roast bird and spiced pears and white bread.

Ruenna looked at hers and did not pick up her fork.

Nils put a slice of bread on her plate.

"Eat," he said.

She ate.

Ardith lifted her glass.

"I'll be brief," she said. "A week ago, none of us knew this man's name."

"Today there is a Ward that sleeps through the night for the first time in six years."

A murmur went around the table.

"Healer Thane tells me eleven women slept without fever because of his hands."

"Eleven," a guild woman said. "I'd have said it was nine."

"Nine, then." Ardith laughed. "To Mr. Halvorsen."

Forty glasses rose.

Nils did not lift his.

He had never been toasted in his life, and he did not trust it.

Ardith set her glass down.

"Now. Business, because I'm a practical woman." She turned her smile on Ruenna. "Miss Cask. I've watched you for years."

Ruenna chewed slowly.

"You're the best blade in the yard and you've never had a guild."

"I don't like guilds."

"You like pay."

Ardith slid a sealed paper across the table.

"A captaincy. Three companies under you, a house in the quarter, four times your best year."

The table went silent.

Ruenna did not touch the paper.

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