Drawing herself up, Helmi glares at Arvo. “I am your mother. You wouldn’t dare.”

  Arvo snorts again. “Your freeloading, thieving days are over. Be someone else’s problem. You’re not mine any longer. If you had any care for me, you’d have behaved yourself and left in a timely fashion instead of taking advantage like this. You don’t act like a mother, so I see no need to act like a son.”

  Turning to the guards, he gives some orders. “Question her and find out which of the rest of the family is here before you toss her out. Round up the rest of them and toss them out, too. Make sure everyone knows not to let her or any of the others back in. If she’s not willing to tell you who’s here, see if the torturer can get it out of her.”

  Helmi grabs Arvo’s arm to plead with him.”You can’t possibly mean that.”

  Arvo shakes his arm free.”I mean every word of it.”

  Looking at the guards, he gestures toward his mother. “Make sure you search her thoroughly before she’s allowed to leave. All of them, in fact. Don’t let any of them go with anything of value.”

  Without waiting to see what happens, Arvo turns on his heel and leaves Helmi facing the guards.

  One of them leans on his pike and grins wickedly at her. “What do you think, Koen? Should we make her strip here or at the gate?”

  The other guard chuckles, “Why not in the dungeons? Those clearly aren’t her clothes. She must have stolen them.”

  Helmi looks between the two men, horrified as they advance toward her. “My son is the castle steward. What are you doing?”

  Koen laughs darkly. “He warned us you’d try to use his name. He was pretty specific about wanting you out of this castle and out of his hair. He told us we can do whatever it takes to get you and your lot out. You can come along, nice and peaceful, do as you're told, and walk away once we escort you to the castle gate, after a chat and a body search. Your other option is to kick up a fuss and end up in a cell waiting to chat with the torturer. Your choice. What do you think, Ulbran? A few punches to let her realize we’re serious?”

  Ulbran hands Koen his pike and flexes a mailed fist a few times before shaking out his arm.

  Helmi straightens and looks at Ulbran. “You wouldn’t hit a woman.”

  “No,” Ulbran purrs dangerously, “I don’t normally go around hitting women. Thieves, though, are another matter entirely. I’d happily wear you out as a punching bag, you old harpy.”

  Just as Ulbran pulls back to punch her, Helmi’s resistance crumbles, and she rattles off all of Arvo’s relatives who have sneaked into the palace to live there. Helmi then finds herself thoroughly searched, even in some parts of her body she’d never thought to hide things, stripped down to a linen shift, and dumped outside a rear gate.

  She’s quickly joined by the rest of Arvo’s family members, who are also down to their skivvies. One by one, Helmi tries to persuade each of them to let her come home with them. One by one, each of them refuses.

  Finally, one of them turns on her.”We’re in this mess because of you. Why would I want to bring that kind of trouble home with me?”

  “Where do I go?”Helmi pleads.

  The gate guard looks up at her and smirks.”Try the docks. Those taverns will hire older wenches like you.”

  Arvo begins cleaning up and repairing the rooms his family had “borrowed”. Initially, these were some baronet rooms with the king’s permission, since his family home had been lost in a house fire. Given some time and freedom, his family had wheedled their way into progressively nicer rooms and stolen far more than he had thought possible to sell, thereby funding their new semi-noble lifestyle. Arvo grimaces at the total. It’s far more than he could hope to cover if he sold everything he owns. Instead, he decides to retrieve some items from storage.

  The palace has several storage warehouses in the city where things deemed too valuable or too out of style are kept. A mix of old and new seems appropriate for a palace of the age of the one in Centis. Arvo decides to hire someone to oversee the redecoration of the rooms, blending the elements. Nodding to himself, Arvo heads to the Guild of Artisans to find someone to help him salvage the situation. The Guild Chairs greet him effusively and fawn over him. Arvo waves them into seats once the formalities are over. “A Royal commission?”

  Arvo looks at the gathered group and shrugs. “Perhaps not quite as regal as you might wish. The budget isn’t unlimited.”

  Gritting his teeth, Arvo states a figure for the entire project that won’t completely drain him, and the chuckling, drooling glee diminishes somewhat.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Arvo explains his visit. “This is why I’ve decided to seek your help. We have warehouses full of items that can be incorporated into the finished product, but it takes an eye to do it without making it look like a rummage sale. I’d like to see us use many of these items so the Crown doesn’t keep paying to keep them in storage. It needs to look like a royal residence, full of history but without seeming outdated and tired.”

  The Chair of Sculpture nods. “A blending of the old and new can indeed be tricky to pull off correctly. Modern and ancient don’t always align properly without the right touches.”

  The Chairs all confer quietly with each other, proposing and then discarding various candidates until only three remain.

  The Chair of Sculpture looks around the gallery at the meeting room. “Merovech, come forward.”

  A younger man, perhaps in his mid-twenties, makes his way through the crowd. With a mop of curly black hair over rich chocolate-brown eyes dancing with delight, and a slight smile on his face, Merovech bows to the Chair of Sculpture before turning to face Arvo.

  The Chair of Sculpture nods to Arvo. “Before you make your decision on which of the candidates we propose you hire, I suggest you visit Merovech’s home. He has decorated it in the very style that you describe. It has a lovely feel to it, impressive and somewhat luxurious without being stuffy or uncomfortable.”

  The Chair of Painters calls out his candidate. “Dominico, come forward.”

  Another young man, about the same age as Merovech, steps forward. Honey-blonde hair falls around an intelligent face framed by blue-green eyes and a strong jaw with a dab of paint on it.

  Dominico bows to the Chair of Painters and nudges Merovech with a friendly elbow as he turns to face Arvo. “Dominico is far from home, but his skills are already notable. There is a simplicity to his works that blends the old and the new into something timeless. Before you make your decision, I suggest you visit Tere Zandstra's home, the wine merchant. Dominico recently took on such a commission from him to redecorate the merchant’s rather grand home. Lacking such a background, Dominico was able to create it.

  The Chair of Glass smirks and calls out his candidate. “Holger, come forward.”

  An older man weaves through the crowd, dark hair with iron-grey at the temples pulled back into a ponytail. Piercing grey eyes, chiseled cheekbones, and a strong jaw complete his face. Holger bows to the Chair of Glass and turns to face Arvo with a friendly smile. The dimples that form when he smiles soften his otherwise stern expression significantly.

  “Holger is one of our best at nearly everything he attempts. Recently, he has come under my supervision because of his interest in exploring new possibilities with glass, now that he seems to have mastered painting and sculpture to his satisfaction. He was seeking new challenges and took up a glass. I’ve called Holger because I know that if I hadn’t, he’d have found his way into this project anyway. Holger uses various techniques standard among sculptors and painters in his glass work. It's unique to see and gives him a fascinating perspective when designing spaces for people. His designs are also typically very practical. They are easy to clean, maintain, and live in. To see his work, I invite you to my own home. If I may suggest, choose at least two of our candidates, if not all three, and let them collaborate on this project.

  Arvo nods uncertainly, unsure of how to proceed.”I’m aware that the commission is already smaller than you hoped. I don’t know if the available funds can support more than one of you.”

  The three men exchange glances and whisper among themselves for a moment. Holger looks up and addresses Arvo. “We’re willing to split the payment in hopes that, if the work is pleasing enough, we’ll be called back to do more of the palace. We’re confident that the three of us can create something that will make these rooms the best in the entire palace. Maybe we’ll even be asked to refurbish the royal apartments, the throne room, or the receiving hall. That would be a commission truly worthy of our combined skill.”

  Arvo considers for a moment and nods. “We also have a timeline to consider.”

  Holger shrugs and smiles at Arvo. “I am currently without a commission. What about you two?”

  Dominico grimaces slightly. “I have a large painting due to be delivered to Duke Keimpe De Boer at the end of the month. It’s nearly finished, but I don’t want the apprentices to do the finishing touches on the central figures.”

  Merovech sighs, “I have a fountain being installed in The Weaver’s Square, but I can delay the others for now.”

  Holger looks at the other two men. “I will tour these rooms, take notes, make sketches, and take measurements. We can discuss plans over dinner.”

  Arvo nods and makes arrangements for Holger to meet him at the castle early the next morning.

  Once we are all clean and have sent our clothes to the laundry, we head to the taproom to socialize and eat dinner. I learn from Inaba that the guards' quarters are much more comfortable than ours. I give Kenric a frustrated look, and he nods. Apparently, everything there is working, unlike our quarters.

  Lilli shakes her head. “I don’t know what’s been going on, but something has been happening with the palace. I swear, every time I go down a hallway, more things are missing.”

  “Maybe it’s part of the renovation?” Maria suggests. “They’re just packing things up in preparation for it so that nothing gets broken.”

  Lilli nods thoughtfully. “Perhaps, but it’s been going on much longer than this so-called renovation. They just announced the renovation, and I checked with the maids. They never heard of any renovation project until recently. A few of them have seen things leaving, though. Mostly with Arvo’s relatives. How did they get into the palace living quarters?”

  Pia snorts with laughter. “You think they came to visit him and decided to help themselves to a souvenir or two?”

  Lilli grins back at Pia. “More like twenty than two, but I think it’s quite possible. The only question is whether Arvo knows or not.”

  We sit around over dinner speculating, before agreeing that we’ll probably never know the whole story of what really happened.

  Finally, well-fed, clean, comfortable, and content, we head off to sleep. A ruckus at the gate early the next morning awakens us, and I peek out a window to see Duchess Ina’s footman arguing with Inaba, trying to be let into the inn.

  Inaba stoically refuses, much to my amusement. I run to the next room and knock. I send Pia down to let Ina in while I get dressed. When I finish dressing, I go downstairs to see what has a duchess banging on my door so early.

  Ina has seated herself comfortably and grins widely at me as I come down the stairs.”You’ve quite started something. I do believe that our castle steward is scrambling to keep himself out of hot water.”