Chapter Thirty-Seven

Harmony woke up on the day of her auction, her bed as cold as ice. Nothing was under her control. Ambrosia dashing out for the band after every shift hasn’t helped. Someone was buying her, and her best friend was out with her new friends rather than hanging out with her for the last few days they had left. The rest of the staff only made skills-supported comments, but it felt like all the eyes were on her. That pressure made her soul feel tender.

“This is not what I need today.” The necromancer groaned from her bed.

“Cheer up. You’ve heard the boys. The semi-finals are happening today. That’ll be the week’s talk and not some maid who stood up a duke.” Fel noted from her bed with a glance up from her romance novel.

“Aren’t you going to miss me?”

Goosebumps formed on Harmony’s arms as she blurted out the question she’d wanted to ask but managed to keep the cold contained as [Cold Touch] acted up.

“Oh, we like you, Harm. There’ll be many toasts during today’s golden moment. Having a necromancer on staff was an adjustment. You worked hard and took the jobs we didn’t want. But it’s a job. The staff turns over or evolves. Jessica is on her way out. Bates kept her on for so long, hoping she’d evolve and he’d not need to break the contract and buy her out. Not all of us are as invested as Ambrosia. Most of us are burning with jealousy. Miss you? Yes, I’ll miss you, frog master.”

Hyacinth huffed at being called a frog from his spot by her bed.

The mention of the beast tamer’s name caused Harmony to look for her.

“She left. I wouldn’t worry about not seeing her before your auction.” Fel added with a little smile.

[High Kick] reared its ugly head with a desire to kick the redhead until she elaborated further. To rise up at something as silly as a goodbye surprise. Never had Harmony felt this out of control. It had to be anxiety. A skill doctor that wasn’t a phony could cost three weeks’ wages if she needed one for this.

“I hope you enjoy the manor to yourselves while my future is being bandied about.”

All the lords and their guests staying in the manor would be gone. Off to the semi-finals or to sit in the guild’s room at the Colosseum for the auction. The staff will get an extended golden moment out of all this drama. Harmony knew that if Fel was getting sold, she’d be enjoying that time, so she couldn’t really blame the staff that had to stay behind.

The schedule had them leaving after breakfast, so Harmony rolled out of bed to start the day by heading to the kitchen early for a bite. Something light that might settle her stomach. Once there, she couldn’t resist the chef’s warm bread from the oven and the taste of cheese. Everyone was busy going about their day, but it felt like they were staring at her. When someone did give her a serious gaze and said her name, she flinched.

It was bates. “Harmony, please meet me in my office.”

Quickly stuffing what was left of her bread and cheese into her mouth, squirreling it a little, she followed the head butler. Hyacinth hopped along with her.

The unsettling feeling inside was building, and Harmony couldn’t tell why. Letting the distance and control of emotion from [Cold Touch] seep into her showed it made no sense. This was an auction. Sure, it was stressful, but she’d been in worse. She pushed the skills’ influence away. The icy detachment was a tool, not who she was, an overused survival tool she’d control. She swallowed the last bit of food when they reached Bate’s office.

She closed the door to the tiny room behind her. The paperwork and objects on the man’s desk seemed to have doubled since she was last here a few days earlier. She noticed a stack of resumes and suspected one would be her replacement. That hit like a punch to her gut.

“Sir?” She inquired as he took a seat behind his desk.

“Today will be a trying day. As you know, the young lord may have been a bit eager in his attempt to create a fashion-forward staff. Rarely are those in our professions ever made such the singular focus of attention. Because of the broad attendance, we have acquired a more traditional uniform for you today.”

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He pulled out a dress box from underneath his desk, not unlike the ones she had carried away from Lace and Ladies. The necromancer opened it to peek. She couldn’t help herself, and there wasn’t much time left before she’d have to change into it and head for the arena anyway. Inside was a perfectly standard, possibly slightly modest maid’s uniform. The fabric was a touch higher quality than one would wear to do the dirty tasks of scrubbing floors or hauling dirty linens. Still, she sighed lustfully at the practicality of it.

“Thank you.” She said, not even needing to rely on any skills to sound sincere.

“Well, we don’t have much time. Get changed. The lady wants to see you at the main entrance soon.”

Giddy, Harmony went to change again. Savoring the emotion.

Harmony ran her hand up the long sleeves to the collar at her neck. Modesty at last, well, relatively. It had a corseted waist, so it showed off feminine curves even if the dress went nearly down to her knees. White thigh-high socks that had come with the uniform hugged her legs. If she had more time to admire how covered she was, she’d have spent half the day enjoying the novelty of it.

Quickly, she went to the manor entrance to wait with her familiar. Most of the lords, ladies, and guests were already at the Colosseum, having failed to negotiate for one of the slots available in the guild’s viewing room for the auction. Tyler came first, looking more put together than she’d last seen him. His cousin, Sir Maxwell, was by his side and only stiffened briefly in Harmony’s presence. The necromancer could feel the oath he made to her but didn’t want to focus or tweak it this time. With how off she felt, such an act could cause disaster. Appropriate clothes could only do so much to settle her.

Lady Coodly and her personal maid Astel came down next. The matriarch didn’t look too pleased this morning. Astel, however, shot the maid-for-auction a slight smile.

“Harmony, I had such glorious plans to introduce your work to the capitol. I still hope to introduce you there, but abnormal forces are at play. Either way, may today’s events work out for you.” The matriarch’s somber tone gave away her lack of confidence in retaining the maid.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Harmony responded as calm outside as she felt turmoil inside.

“Let’s get this business done with.” The lady of the manor announced and led them out to the waiting carriages.

The carriages rolled towards the Colosseum, and the crowds thickened, congesting the streets. A slow procession filled with energy and excitement, not too dissimilar from Prince Adric’s funeral. But this time, for the sport of fantastical beasts fighting. The semi-finals winner in Hazeldown would head to the capital to face their division champion.

It was precisely the kind of atmosphere that would make last week’s new obsession a thing of the past. As that obsession, Harmony White knew she would have been excited about that fact if only it wasn’t inexorably linked to her current anxiety.

Harmony did her best to remain still and calm. Astel, Lordy Tyler, and Lady Coodly had taken the lead carriage, leaving her stuck with Sir Maxwell, her sworn knight.

“Hey, Harmony. Everything is going to be alright. Tyler plans to save you if your contact gets snatched by some villain like the duke. It’s a stupid plan, and I certainly wouldn’t take the deal.” The knight’s eyes widened as his mouth ran off that last bit of commentary. “Twice buried oath. It’s leveling nicely, at least.” The man let out a grunt of frustration.

That bait was too much for the maid to ignore. “What’s his stupid plan?”

“He’d offer to marry you. It most likely wouldn’t change your class or profession to royal. But like the duke, it would create a legal status negating your employment contract.”

The temperature in the carriage dropped a few degrees.

“What!?”

“See, stupid. Gran would disown him over this, not that the old lady doesn’t like you, but it’s not like it would improve your situation. The kingdom would move him into one of those group hopes for nobles with no property.”

Did the man think that she was being sent to a death sentence rather than merely a different job? No, the idea of being an impoverished noble was not more appealing than doing whatever difficult task was assigned to her. Nor did she want to be Tyler’s pity wife or wife at all. It wasn’t like she took the easy jobs at the manor. Managing dangerous spiders and other nasty vermin was a hazardous job. Between her and Hyacinth, they’d learned to do it well.

The shadow toad’s lack of laughter at this farce made her check on him through [Familiar Bond]. The toad signaled that her internal discomfort was bothering him and provided two weak mental laughs to show it was amusing even as he sat silently beside her. What was that amphibian hiding? Harmony didn’t have time to pull it out of him.

“I’m sure it won’t need to come to lord Tyler needing to lower himself for me.”

“You’d be lowering yourself for him. Now if you wanted a nice strong knight like me.” Sir Maxwell slapped his hands over his mouth, sealing it shut.

That, thankfully, left the ride forcibly quiet for the rest of the trip. The carriage rolled to a stop at the private entrance to the commission’s Hazeldown Colosseum.

Harmony steeled herself before she exited. After a few rounds of fighting, they’ll be the mid-tourney break, and she would be done with this cursed auction business and feeling much better, she hoped.