Read Online Work Experience (Schooled in Magic Book 4) by Christopher Nuttall - Free Book Online Page A

girls in the class and all of them were worked to the bone. The sergeants didn’t hold back for them.
    “Stupid,” she said, finally.
    “Very stupid,” Lady Barb agreed. “After I graduated from Whitehall, I was apprenticed to a sorcerer, learned the ropes and gained my mastery. And then I met Void.”
    Emily nodded, remembering what she’d been told.
    “Master Grey doesn’t seem to like me,” she said, changing the subject hastily. “What did I do to him?”
    “Distracted Jade, I imagine,” Lady Barb said. “It isn’t customary for apprentices to maintain relationships outside of the apprenticeship. Most apprentices cut themselves off from everyone else during their training. Master Grey is enough of a traditionalist to be irked at you distracting his student.”
    Emily flushed. “I didn’t mean to distract his student!”
    Lady Barb laughed, not unkindly. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” she advised. “Here, in the Faire, there will be time for you and Jade to talk properly, without interruption.”
    “Thank you,” Emily said. “Can I ask a question?”
    “You just did,” Lady Barb pointed out. She smirked, then grinned at Emily. “Go ahead.”
    Emily braced herself. “Are you married?”
    Lady Barb lifted her eyebrows. “Tell me,” she said, “do you see a husband around here?”
    Emily felt her cheeks heat, but she pressed on. “It’s just...you’re...your family will want you to get married, won’t it?”
    “I never found the right person,” Lady Barb said, taking pity on her. “There was a Combat Sorcerer I met once, but he died in battle against the necromancers. Since then, no one has really managed to impress me. And my family knows better than to try to push me into anything.”
    “That’s good,” Emily said. “Where are they?”
    “My father died a long time ago,” Lady Barb admitted. There was a bitterness in her tone that made Emily sit up and take notice. “My mother...I haven’t seen her in years. She might well be dead by now too. I inherited the house and little else. My uncles sometimes try to talk me into spending more time with the family, but I don’t listen to them very often. They weren’t always kind to my father.”
    She shrugged. “We may meet some of them over the coming week,” she added. “It would probably be best to make sure they don’t know who you are, Millie.”
    Emily nodded. She couldn’t help wondering if Lady Barb had an ulterior motive for chatting about her past, although Emily had been curious. Lady Barb was an intensely private person in many ways, rarely telling anyone much about herself. For her to open up so much...either she wanted Emily to know or she had something else in mind.
    “I have something to teach you,” Lady Barb said, standing up. “But I think we should eat lunch first. You will need energy for this.”
    Emily stood and followed her into the kitchen. Lady Barb opened a set of cabinets, canceled a series of stasis spells and produced bread, cheese and ham, which she placed on the table. Emily started to carve up the bread to make sandwiches, while Lady Barb boiled soup. It was a simple meal, certainly compared to the aristocratic feasts, but Emily didn’t mind. Besides, the aristocracy often seemed to be competing to win a prize for worst table manners in the world.
    “Good work,” Lady Barb said, as she placed a bowl of chicken soup in front of Emily. “The last person I brought here didn’t know how to help at all.”
    Emily felt an odd flicker of jealousy. “Who was he?”
    “He suffered a nasty accident and I found myself detailed to look after him for a few months,” Lady Barb said. “If you’re cooped up with someone, you either get very close or you wind up hating each other. I definitely ended up hating him, even though it wasn’t entirely fair.”
    She shrugged. “Eat up,” she ordered. “You are going to need your strength.”
    Emily nodded and tucked into the food. The prospect of learning