Read Online The August 5 by Jenna Helland - Free Book Online Page B

farewell party the night before, but Tommy had declined to join them. It seemed disrespectful to celebrate with the cottager violence so fresh in people’s minds. Mrs. Trueblood and the other servants were still talking about arrests and death tolls. Tommy waited patiently until the man secured the plank to the pillar and tipped his cap.
    â€œThis all your gear, sir?” he asked Tommy in the lilting accent common among Aeren’s cottagers.
    â€œYes,” Tommy said, handing the man a coin as Bern brushed past them and stomped up the plank in search of a coffee.
    Bern went into the lounge, but Tommy opted for a secluded bench near the boat’s stern where he could avoid other travelers. He was too nervous about Seminary to try to carry on small talk with strangers. Of the four main islands, Aeren and Sevenna Island were closest to each other so it should be less than an hour’s run to the capital. If everything ran smoothly, Tommy would have time to eat potato pancakes at his favorite restaurant near Seminary Square before signing in with the head porter and seeing his new room. Though technically he could choose one of two specialties—jurisprudence or engineering—his father had made it clear ages ago that both boys were going to study engineering, even though neither had a natural aptitude for mathematics.
    As he watched the green shores of Aeren fade in the distance, Tommy remembered a beautiful tune that Mrs. Trueblood had taught him when he was a boy.
    â€œAlas, the emerald land of our fathers gone / Forlorn the empty hallowed home / King of Grief with golden crown / By the fields of Aeren, I am struck down,” Tommy sang to himself.
    A shadow fell across the deck and Bern stood next to him holding a copy of the Chronicle .
    â€œAre you singing a cottager tune?” Bern asked. “I’d be careful with that if I were you. In fact, I’d forget everything Mrs. Trueblood ever taught you.”
    Tommy scanned the deck, but no one was near enough to hear what he’d said. Bern was right. He’d have to watch what he said now that he’d be living in the capital. On Aeren, he spent more time around cottagers than with other sons of the Zunft. That wouldn’t be true anymore.
    â€œWhat does the paper say?” Tommy asked.
    â€œFather got the Ancestral Homes Act passed,” Bern said. His brother sat down beside him to read the paper. He had to fold the pages in half to keep them from blowing in the wind.
    â€œI heard Mrs. Trueblood talking about that,” Tommy said. “They have to carry identification now, right?”
    â€œYes, but that’s not really the point,” Bern said. “He wants the cottagers to go back to working the estates. If an Aeren cottager is caught in Sevenna, he’ll be sent home. I guess we won’t have so many empty cottages along Miller’s Road. Oh, and Hywel is still missing.”
    â€œThere’s no sign of him at all?” Tommy asked.
    â€œI can’t believe that he didn’t go back to Sevenna for the Chamber session,” Bern said. “How could someone neglect his duties in a time of crisis?”
    â€œMaybe he got hurt,” Tommy said.
    Bern rolled his eyes. “Then why didn’t he send a messenger to say so?”
    â€œCan I see the paper?” Tommy asked.
    Bern handed Tommy the Chronicle , and Tommy glanced at the headlines—“Trials Set for the Rebel Leaders!” “More Arrests Expected!” “The Grand Customs House to Reopen!” He handed the paper back to Bern.
    â€œDid you hear that they let girls into the Seminary?” Bern asked. “They’re supposedly math geniuses, and some professor wanted them in the engineering program. They had to close off an entire floor of one of the residence halls to accommodate three girls. It’s a travesty.”
    â€œIt says that in the Chronicle ?” Tommy asked. He never read the society