The Last Stand (The Eleven Years War: Book One)
Chapter Thirty-Four

“I don’t trust him,” Olrick saidsimply.

Elise,Olrick, and Eza were in a small, private dining room off of the great hall asElise mopped the floor in preparation for the private dinner between GeneralPolain, General Raul, and Marion. The three of them were now off touring thecity, leaving the staff and many of Raul’s men to their own devices. Finn wasoff preparing for their evening together, while she cleaned the dining room toperfection, with the volunteered help of Olrick and Eza. Silas was at theintelligence headquarters, rounding up some volunteers to gather intelligencein the places they thought the Giskens had taken over in the north and theeast.

“Whynot?” Elise asked as she dipped her mop into a bucket of soapy water andcontinued to clean the dining hall. “Finn’s a good man. He’s the one Gisken whoseems to have a soul.”

“He’sstill a Gisken soldier,” Olrick said.

“AGisken officer,” Eza corrected. “Meaning that he probably believes in the causemore than he lets on; Raul doesn’t promote men based on merit.” Elise lookedover at Eza, exasperated.

“You,too?” she asked. Eza held her hands up in mock surrender, but didn’t sayanything.

“Listen,Elise,” Olrick said. “We know that you really like this guy, and he seemspretty smitten with you, too; we just don’t want to see you get hurt, is all.”Eza nodded in agreement.

“Finnisn’t going to hurt me,” Elise said. Her own confidence surprised herself.

“Andyou’re probably right,” Olrick said. “I’m just worried about why he’s choosingnow, of all times, to do this. I think Raul might be having him spy on us thesame way you’re spying on us; he may just be looking for an in to getinformation.”

Elisecould feel a pit beginning to form in her stomach. As much as she didn’t wantto admit it, that made sense. What if that was all Finn wanted, and he didn’treally like her? What if the feelings that had been developing for him duringthe past few weeks were built on a lie? She’d been dwelling on the fact thathe’d been involved in the Kurzhian invasion in an effort to try and accept it,but the possibility that he was doing this so he could get some information…well, that was a tough thing to swallow.

“It’llprobably be just fine,” Eza said. “Just be careful. Avoid any questions thathave to do with the war, your involvement with any of us, or anything else thatcould clue him into what you – or anyone else around here – is doing, alright?

That had been a fewhours, ago. Later on that day, after discovering that all the staff who wereserving General Raul had the night off (he would be having dinner with Polainand Marion, so the kitchen staff would be responsible for him), Elise foundherself looking into the small, dirty mirror on her vanity, preparing for herevening with Finn. She was wearing one of the dresses she’d bought on her firstday in Semata: a green one, with a gold sash around her hip. Her long, blondehair flowed down her back as it usually did, but she’d clipped a few chunks ofher hair back with a small, simple barrette she’d bought a few days before,when she’d had a few hours of leave to buy things with the money she’d earnedthat week. No, she wasn’t looking fancy, but she doubted that Finn would care;each time she’d seen him in the past few weeks, it had been in a plain,servant’s shift. This would be an improvement to that.

Whenshe met Finn in the beautiful, colorful gardens of Castle Matisse, she saw thathe wasn’t very dressed up, either. He was wearing a long, black jacket thatwent to his knees, a white shirt that was tucked into dark trousers, andleather riding boots. The only thing that seemed truly different was the factthat his jacket was missing its armband, something that she didn’t even seeGeneral Raul without. Without it, he looked like any other man.

Hestood up from the stone bench he’d been sitting on and shoved his hands intohis pockets. “You look great.”

Elisefound herself blushing. “You, too.” When she got to Finn, the two of them satdown on the stone bench, among colorful flowers and a water fountain. She couldsee that Finn had a basket with him, covered with a white table linen.

“Whatare we going to do, tonight?” Elise asked. In all honesty, she didn’t know whatmen did while they were trying to court a woman; Milo had never tried to courtany of the girls in Thaos, and Bram was the only man who’d ever tried to courther.

“Well,I was thinking of a quiet dinner,” he sad as he set the basket between them.When he pulled off the table linen, she saw that the basket was filled withfood items: white rolls, two bundles with a filled bowl in each of them, somefruits, two plates; it all looked like it came from the castle’s kitchens.

He began to rub theback of his neck. “I’m sorry if this isn’t how all this is supposed to work;one of my friends told me that this is how a real man calls on a woman, but I’mstarting to think that he was pulling on my leg.”

“It’salright,” Elise said. “I don’t know how this is supposed to work, either.” Finnseemed to relax as he handed her one of the bundles. When she opened it, shesaw a freshly cooked shepherd’s pie in it

“Wheredid you get all this?” she asked. White bread was a luxury only the morefortunate could afford, as well as fresh fruit. She certainly hoped that hehadn’t spent all of his money trying to impress her. “Please tell me that youdidn’t spend all your money on this.”

“Igot it from the kitchens,” he said. “The staff there are quite nice; I have todo some pot scrubbing, after this, though.” Elise took a bite of her shepherd’spie to discover that it was fit for a noble; she’d never had food so rich,before.

“Isit alright?” Finn asked. Elise nodded.

“It’sthe best food I’ve ever had,” she said. He relaxed even more as he, too, beganto eat. “They’re only making you do the dishes to pay for this?”

Finnbegan to rub the back of his neck. “Well, that, and I have to pay a fewsilvers.”

Elise’seyes grew wide with shock. A few silvers?He made it sound like that wasn’t a big deal.

“Don’tworry; I can pay for it,” Finn promised when he saw the look on her face. “It’sjust a week of officer’s pay in the army.” Elise still didn’t like how muchhe’d spent on the dinner, but she didn’t mention it, again; instead, shemarveled at how much money he was willing to spend on her to make her happy.

“So,you’ve really never been call on, before?” Finn asked. Elise shook her head.

“Notproperly,” she said, looking down at her shepherd’s pie. “The closest thingI’ve had to a suitor was Bram.” Finn nearly choked on his roll when he heardthat.

“Bram?”He coughed. “I didn’t know he was capable of that; the closest I’ve ever seehim come to it more resembled sadism.”

Elisebegan to gently rub her forearm. “Believe me, what he felt for me wasn’t love,either.”

Finnbegan to get really red in the face. “Gods, Elise, I’m sorry; I never shouldhave mentioned that.”

“It’salright,” she said, looking back up at Finn. He really looked sorry; the look on his face reminded her of a dog who’d beenkicked on the street. “That’s in the past, now.”

Atleast, that’s what Elise hoped. She hadn’t seen or heard from the psychopathicturncoat since she and Olrick had escaped Thaos nearly a month ago. As far asshe knew, he’d been killed in battle, or had been transferred to Kurzh in orderto put down the growing resistance Eza and Silas spoke about with hushedvoices; then again, he might also be down the road from the stone walls ofSemata, bringing the pain and devastation of war to the heart of the countryhe’d betrayed.

Shetried to get the thought of Bram out of her head. For years, he’d made her lifea living nightmare; she wasn’t going to let him ruin her chance to be trulyhappy.

“Youknow, we’ve known each other or a month now, and I hardly know a thing aboutyou,” Elise said as she took a green apple from the basket. When she bit intoit with a crunch, she found her mouth being filed with a sweet, tart juice.

Finnlooked at her, confused. “What do you want to know? I haven’t exactly had thatexciting of a life.”

“So,the life of a soldier isn’t that exciting?” Elise asked. Finn looked back downat his own shepherd’s pie.

“Notreally,” he said. “I’ve spent most of my time as a soldier running numbers inKurzh; this is only my second time helping with an invasion.

“You’rereally good at math, then?” She asked. Back when her mother was alive andteaching her how to heal, she’d tried to teach Elise how to use math to decidehow much cocca leaf and other herbs to give to patients to help with pain;however, since her mother hadn’t been all that good at math, either, shecouldn’t really do it. It seemed that Gishk had enough resources that theycould train their men in a skill that only high nobles had the privilege oflearning in Caitha.

“Theyhad me do it because I volunteered to do it,” Finn said. “I didn’t want to beinvolved in any more death or pain, and I knew I wouldn’t have to if I was shutup in an office all day.”

Elisefound herself relaxing a little. Ever since he told her that he’d been involvedwith the invasion of Kurzh, she’d been worried that the kind, caring man she’dgrown to like over the past few weeks was some sort of monster; it wascomforting to know that he’d tried to avoid being part of the pain andsuffering the Giskens had caused there as much as he could.

“Didany of your family fight in Kurzh?” Finn asked. Elise shook her head.

“Mybrother was five when the war started, and Papa was too old for the army,” shesaid. “I guess my mother could have gone as a nurse, but she was the only doctorin the village.”

“Yourmother?” he asked. “I never saw her in Thaos; were she and your fatherseparated?” Elise frowned.

“Separated?”she asked. Finn seemed to shrink back a little, then began to rub the back ofhis neck as he looked down at his food.

“Sorry,”he said. “I forgot that that’s a Gisken thing.” He looked back up at her. “Aseparation is when two married people grow apart enough that they move awayfrom each other and act like they were never married in the first place. I hada few friends whose parents had left each other.”

“No,that’s not what happened,” Elise said. Before she could respond, she could hearsomeone laughing. When she looked to the side, she saw that there were some Giskensoldiers, watching them as they had their dinner.

Finn’sface turned bright red as he stuttered something in Gisken. One of themresponded and made Finn’s face turn pale, again.

“Whatis it?” Elise asked, growing nervous. For a brief second, she began to wonderif this sudden request had anything to do with her, but she quickly dismissedthe thought. Finn was a captain inthe army; it probably had something do with troop movements or some otherboring business that went right over her head.

“Itseems that General Raul wants to see me,” he said, confused. He stood up,leaving his shepherd’s pie on the stone bench. “I’m sorry that we have to cutthis short; we’ll have to continue with this, later.” Elise nodded as she, too,stood up.

“That’salright,” she said. “I understand.”

“Willyou at least let me walk you back?” Finn asked. She nodded, and after they’dpacked up the basket, he took her by the hand and walked her back to thecastle, ending one of the best nights of her life. She was so happy… she neverwanted it to end, and in her love struck mind, she didn’t think it could.

Shenever thought that it would end the way it did.