Read Online Page by Tamora Pierce - Free Book Online

against it, trapping the maid between his arms. Her eyes were huge as she stared up at him. In one hand she held a brand-new weighted leather harness.
    Kel strode forward briskly. “What is your name, and what business do you have with my maid?” she demanded, sharp-voiced. “Step away from her at once.” It didn’t matter that he was a grown man. She was a noble, and she knew her rights.
    He looked at her. He was in his early twenties, with a wiry frame. His dark eyes flashed with annoyance as he drew away from Lalasa and bowed. “I am Hugo Longleigh, if it please you, my lady. We were just having a friendly chat - “
    “It didn’t look friendly to me. What palace service are you in?” Kel asked.
    He frowned, but he dared not defy a noble, even one who was only a page. “I am a clerk in Palace Stores. We have an understanding, Lalasa and me - “
    “My lady, I swear, I was just getting the harness, and he approached me.” Lalasa’s eyes were frantic. “I wasn’t idling and we don’t have an understanding!”
    Kel felt very cold inside. How dare he frighten Lalasa! “If you are in Palace Stores, Hugo Longleigh, then no doubt they miss your work,” she said, her hands on her hips. “If you bother Lalasa again, I’ll report you. Be about your business.” She met his eyes squarely, letting him know he didn’t frighten her in the least. He looked like the sort who enjoyed other people’s fear.
    The man hesitated, then bowed grudgingly and left. Only when he was gone from view did Lalasa say, “My lady, please, I didn’t want him and I wasn’t lazing about - “
    Kel fished out her key and put it in the lock. “I know you weren’t.” She unlocked the door and went to her desk. “It’s plain as the nose on my face that you wanted him a thousand leagues away.” She found the shaman bag and tucked it into her belt-purse. “As for idling, you really don’t have to stay here all the time. Don’t you have friends to visit or errands to run?”
    Lalasa tugged at the straps of the harness. “I like to stay here. Nobody bothers me but the dog and the birds, and I like them.”
    “Well, think about it,” Kel said. “Honestly, I’m not your jailer. And if that Longleigh comes near you again, tell me, understand? I mean it.”
    Lalasa nodded, but Kel wasn’t convinced. There was no time to argue, though - she’d already taken longer on her errand than she should. She ran back to class, thinking every step of the way.
    That night, when she went to her rooms after supper, she brought Neal and left the door open. “I don’t care if you don’t like it,” Kel told Lalasa sternly. “We’re going to show you holds that will help you, um, discourage someone from bothering you.” Lalasa stared at Neal, who rubbed the delighted Jump on his belly, as if he were an ogre. “At the very least you’ll convince them that you meant no when you said no. Page Nealan?” she asked, prodding her friend with her foot.
    Neal looked at her, eyes filled with mischief. Something - something odd - filled Kel’s chest for a moment. Why did she feel giddy?
    “If this isn’t friendship, what is?” he asked cheerfully. “After people abuse my poor body all morning in the courts, I’m going to let you bruise me some more.” He offered Kel a large, bony hand. It felt uncommonly warm in hers as she pulled him to his feet. Once he was up, she dropped his hand as if it were a hot brick.
    “I won’t bruise you much. Quit complaining,” she ordered. “Lalasa, stand close so you can see what I do.” Lalasa circled Neal as if she thought he was a hot brick, until she stood behind Kel. “You won’t see a thing if you look at the floor,” Kel chided her. “Neal, grab my arm and get ready for pain.”
    When he obeyed, Kel showed Lalasa several ways to get free. She bent Neal’s finger back, dug her nail into the crescent at the base of one of his fingernails, pinched the web between his thumb and forefinger with her