Read Online Closer to the Heart by Mercedes Lackey - Free Book Online Page B

reward at the end of it.” Lady Dia reached up and patted her hand as the young woman continued. “Milady has assured me of a pension and a pretty little apartment of my own, but not every lady’s handmaiden is so lucky.” She patted the last strand of Dia’s hair into perfection, and handed Dia a mirror for her approval. “Given the consideration that a girl might uncover something to the undoing of the family she is in, Herald—”
    â€œI think such an assurance goes without saying,” Amily replied, sensing Rolan’s immediate assent. “Basically, what I wanted to know was, did you two think this was a good idea, and did you have any way of reaching out to such girls?”
    Dia handed the mirror back to her handmaiden and the two exchanged a long glance. “I can reach some,” Dia said. “Probably the ones Miana can’t.”
    â€œAnd I can reach a great many,” Miana replied. “There is a sort of . . . unofficial network of us. We are always looking out for a good place for those who don’t have one.” She handed Lady Dia a lambswool puff and a little pot of pink powder, and Dia lightly dusted her cheeks. “I suspect those of us who are in less than comfortable positions would be happy to join your ranks, on the assurance that they would be taken care of if the position became unendurable.” She took the lambswool and pot away, and handed Dia the exotic stuff from Kata’shin’a’in that Dia used to darken the eyelids over her melting brown eyes, turning them from lovely to seductive. “That’s our worstfear, you know, that we have no choice but to starve or continue to endure places where we are treated worse than servants, because we can’t leave.”
    Dia finished and handed the implements back to Miana, then spread her hands. “Well, there you have it. I think it is a good idea, and so does Miana. We can also ask these girls to insert one or more of my dogs into their households so you’ll have a second set of eyes and ears there.”
    â€œAt the very least they can tell you where the cats are,” Miana pointed out. “But we are practically invisible, unless our Lady is like Lady Dia. People say horrid things right in front of us, and pay us no heed, as if we were furniture. Of course, that’s if we’re plain. . . .”
    Amily seized that. “We wouldn’t ever ask anyone to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. I would
never
ask someone to go into a man’s bed just to get information.”
    â€œBut there are some that wouldn’t object to doing just that,” Miana pointed out firmly. “For a pretty one, it’s very hard to say
no
and be heeded. Almost impossible, in fact. So if being used is going to happen anyway, knowing you’ll be protected and can get away afterward—”
    â€œI would much rather get a girl out of such a position
before
anything happens,” Amily said firmly, then wavered, when both Dia and Miana looked at her steadily. “But . . .”
    â€œLet’s not create nightmares and work ourselves up over them yet,” Dia said firmly. “And let’s not make decisions for girls we have not yet recruited.” She nodded and got up, so that Miana could help her into one of her gorgeous, and terribly complicated gowns. “And it is time for you to take this idea, first to your father, and then to the King. Come back to me when you have his approval, and we three will put our heads together.”
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    Mags had given a careful report about Tuck and Linden last night to both Nikolas and the Seneschal and his Herald. All three of them had agreed whole-heartedly with his plan, and the Seneschal had given him leave to draw whatever funds he needed out of the Treasury. So the morning was spent, first in going by Aunty Minda’s and rounding up four of