This would have been the last Colplatschki book. I do not anticipate releasing it in the foreseeable future, so I will run it here. The next Colplatschki book out will be #8, Fountains of Mercy, about the Great Fires.
Chapter One: The Long Grey Sea
The little girl cleared her throat. “Most honored Mama—”
“Oh, go away, girl.”
Kiara Sonja Basilia drooped, holding her stuffed lagom by the one remaining front leg. She wanted to protest, to ask her mother to help her, but she knew better. Instead she tip-toed out of the room, looked left and right for M’dame Lorana, and hurried down the hallway. If she could get to the place where the hired maid was mending things, maybe Francie could show her how to mend her lagom’s leg. Kiara hadn’t meant to tear it, she just wanted to pull the lagom out of the big chest where M’dame Lorana had stuffed it, but the lid of the chest was heavy and had fallen down just as Kiara pulled Sweetie free.
The cold air seeping into the hall from the high windows encouraged Kiara to hurry and she did her best to stay close to the wall so no pit-a-pat of her slippers on stone would give her away. M’dame Lorana slept, Mama did not want to be bothered, but if Kiara hurried . . . She trotted down the back stairs, the servant stairs, dodged two soldiers carrying messages for her father, and raced to the mending room. She had a stitch in her side and she panted, quietly, then snuck into the warm, well-lit room.
Francie must have heard her despite Kiara’s attempts to be quiet. “Yes?” She looked over the top of her nose lenses.
“M’dame Francie,” Kiara bobbed a curtsey. You didn’t have to curtsy to servants, but Francis wasn’t a servant, not to Kiara. “Might you have a moment to show me how to render a slight repair?”
The old woman sighed. “Plain speech for a plain woman, Miss Castello, please.” Continue reading
