Raising a Hero

Chapter 75

The thing about work is that it makes time go by fast.

Two months later came the first fruits of spring. Snow only remained in the corners left by shadows, the trees were in buds or bloom, and daffodils played their silent trumpets at every turn of the grounds next to a rainbow of tulips.

The training uniform for Gus came as a simple off white tunic with a dark blue vest that would be used for formal occasions. He'd managed to break his new boots in quite well and had finally lost the knobbly frown, which would forever be my mark of whether he was too skinny. I'd cut his hair to a length that just brushed the top of his ears. Very swishy. We like the swish. Especially when one had metallic silver hair that glinted in the light.

"I won't bring lunch for the first few days," I said as I tugged the bottom of his tunic for the third time. "So you have time to settle in."

He smacked my hands aside. "Stop fussing. If you're worried about how I look, check my eyes."

"I redid them last night, they're as brown as dirt."

"Then I'm fine. Honestly, you're acting more nervous than I am."

"And why the heck is that? How does that make sense?"

He gave me a crooked grin. "Easy. The barrack bullies can't be any worse than the slums. The later would kill you if they could. The first would get into trouble for that."

I was not comforted.

"If any kid gives you problems, you better tell me."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

I wanted to smack that smart aleck grin. Stupid kid thinking my dragon side was cute.

"No."

"Ugh, Gus!"

"Sorry, no. There's nothing attractive about your girl fighting your fights for you."

"I am not your girl," I said flatly.

"And I'm not your baby." Then he had the gall to duck forward, fast as blink, and land a quick kiss on my mouth.

I slapped his shoulder--hard. "Damascus!"

But he just laughed, so I smacked his shoulder again.

"That's sexual harassment!"

"Than you harass me all the time. When have you ever asked if you could kiss me?"

"That was on your forehead or your cheek!"

"Kids kiss their moms on the mouth all the time."

"You just said you weren't my kid!"

"Yep." He opened the door.

"Don't you dare! Either apologize or I'm walking you there!"

"No you're not." The door snapped closed.

I yanked at the doorknob, but he was already jogging down the hall.

"I know where you sleep, Damascus!"

Oh, I'd be putting gloop of something in his hair tonight. Cheeky little brat. It was like he only had two modes: grumpy as hell or smart aleck. Poster child teenager, right there, and he thought he could convince me he was a man.

But, I guessed it would be embarrassing for him to be walked to the barracks by his guardian, mom or not. Kids could be mean little buggers, and I didn't want to give them anything to work with. Gus had suffered enough as it was. I was supposed to be a source of fortune to balance out all the misfortune, not cause more of it.

I pointedly ignored how my lips still tingled as I finished getting myself ready for the day. Mary came in only minutes later to get my hair ready.

"Was the little man excited for his first day?" she asked as I got seated.

"Enough to be a brat, ugh. What would be the worst thing to find in your hair when you woke up?"

"Uh, feces?"

"Ew, no, I am not touching that."

"Oh, you want to put this in his hair." Her fingers combed through my unbraided hair, nose wrinkled. "Lil', you have the strangest ways of discipline."

"Have you ever had a teenager as tall as you?"

"No."

"Don't question it. How about whey?"

She sighed, though I could tell she was inwardly laughing. "I actually like the smell of whey."

"Then how about texture? Honey?"

"Honey is easy to wash out and even used as a beauty product. I would suggest molasses."

"I don't want to tear out his hair, I love it. And I don't want the kids to laugh at him."

As we brainstormed, gray Ulyssia came in holding a duster.

"Miss, the duke is calling for you. I came in early to pass on the message."

"Where is he?"

"In his office."

"He has a huge mansion and only uses, like, three of the rooms, what's up with that?"

"That is not for us, the common folk, to understand," said Mary in mock solemnity, even going as far as to raise the hair brush to her heart.

"That was pretty good, right there. All you need is a nice bristling mustache to complete it." I wiggled my nose in the mirror.

She giggled. Ulyssia popped into the mirror to say hi before turning her duster to the window sills.

"Oh, I've been meaning to tell you. Liz got a boyfriend!" said Mary.

"No way. Who?" If he had been one of the guys who tried hitting on me, we'd off him right away. Mary and I already had plans.

"He's apprentice to the horse master. Takes charge of the breeding and such. Good enough looking fellow, though kind of gangly. Kind of makes me think of a scarecrow."

"Name, Mary."

"Oh, Jonathan."

"Ugh, blegh, can you get anymore bland?"

"Well?"

"Nope. Never got a Jonathan or a John or a scarcrow. He's good."

"Excellent! This spring is starting out good!"

"Now we just need to get you one, yeah?"

Mary put the tail end of my hair to her mouth in a gasp. "No!"

"Quite so, quite so."

We giggled together until we said good-bye at my door, a big, bright blue ribbon twined through my hair.

Love was definitely in the air. Last time I'd seen Milly she'd even whispered to me about one of the temporary knights staying in the city having dropped by a few times to talk to her, which had to mean something as the barracks for the knights was quite a ways from the Red Swallow Inn.

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And this here is the last chapter I'm posting up here on Wattpad. If you want to read the rest of it, you can buy the complete monster on Kindle for $10 or go to Dreame, Webnovel, or iReader to pay by the chapter. Bonus, you get to feel like a good Samaritan for giving evidence to this poor author that her writing isn't a complete waste of her time. And if you leave a good review, that raises the chances that said pathetic author might make enough royalties to buy a jug of milk! Woot! Milk! Staple crop of my household, right there.

Chow.