My Mate's Last Message Wasn't for Me novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Price of a Partner

The Greywater Hall stood on the highest ground of the plain, a long stone building with a lamp lit in every window.

A guard at the door looked at my face and then at the sealed letter in my hand.

"The heir is expecting you," he said.

"I only told him today I'd think about it."

"He's been expecting you since the morning, miss."

He took me down a hallway lined with the carved names of every Greywater Alpha and led me into a room with a fire.

Cormick stood at the mantel in his shirtsleeves, reading a paper.

He put it down the moment he saw me.

"You came," he said.

"I need to ask what you're offering."

"Sit."

I stayed standing. He seemed to notice and did not make a point of it.

"The Rite needs one partner," he said. "You'd rehearse with me five evenings a week and dance the opening on the night of the Harvest Moon. In exchange, Greywater pays your full tuition for the year and gives you a room in the guest wing."

"A room?"

"The east dorm is a long walk from the practice lawn. And," he said, and paused. "I understand your tuition was withdrawn today."

My cheeks went hot. "How do you know that?"

"The bursar's runner is my cousin's friend. News moves fast."

"So you'd buy me."

"I'd hire you," Cormick said. "A buyer expects something for himself. I'd expect you to dance."

I looked at the fire.

The part of me that had learned to be careful in my first life said that no one gives a stranger a year of tuition without wanting something.

The part of me that had watched Margot cry on cue said I had nothing left to lose.

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