The Confectioner's Guild (The Confectioner Chronicles, #1)

by Claire Luana

The customer was a stranger, but the cupcake in his hand was not. It was one of Wren’s. Only she could pipe the frosting just right, each petal like a rosy-hued sunset.

Oh dear

“I know.” He sighed. “You’re the best apprentice I’ve ever had, woman or no.” She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard such antiquated views from Oldrick. She found it best to ignore them. “I’ll stand by your work,” he continued. “Now don’t keep the man waiting.”

Oo

It was clear he didn’t intend to let her escape. Wren’s stomach flipped. What was there to escape from?

Oo

So he was someone important. And, Wren decided, he was most definitely an ass.

Oo

Where were they going? She could ask Callidus, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that his silent treatment was flustering her. He probably wouldn’t tell her, anyway.

True

Your master will be hearing from me.” “Thank you, guildmaster,” she said, keeping the vindicated smile from her face. She knew Master Oldrick had been lying about her not being ready for a promotion within the Guild, she just hadn’t figured out what to do about it. Oldrick wasn’t a bad man—only greedy. And promoting her meant paying her higher wages.

><

“You’ve sampled your confections, haven’t you?” She shook her head. “Master Oldrick forbids it.” More for the customers. And the cash register. Guildmaster Kasper sputtered, slapping his hand on the desk. “This Oldrick fellow, I like him less and less! How do you make chocolate if you don’t taste it?” “I follow the recipe. And get it right the first time.”

><

It was insanity. Magic. True, there were tales of magic. Witches and sorcerers and genies in bottles. But they were children’s tales. There was no true magic in the world. Just the grim reality of working hard until your body broke down and they laid you in the ground.

Oo

Though she didn’t generally trust people, she had found over the last few years that she had a knack for reading them. Despite Kasper’s seemingly calm exterior, lines around his kind eyes betrayed his tension. “I don’t have a choice in this, do I?” she asked, realizing the true nature of this summons.

><

She took a nervous sip of the wine, letting the effervescent flavors of peach and grass swirl across her tongue.

Ewwww

“Our Guild isn’t the only guild with true magic. Vintner’s Guild,” he said, holding the decanter up to the light. “The magic of truth and lies. Secrets and whispers. Very helpful stuff. In the right hands.”

Oo

Kasper said she would be safe here. Dare she believe him? She had learned through trial and painful error what it took to be safe in this world. Blend in. Work hard and don’t cause trouble.

:(

Wren was no stranger to being alone. She preferred solitude. No one to stab you in the back or rob you if there was no one there.

Oo

“Ock!” Olivia tsked, towing Wren towards the far end of the room. “That man! Can’t gain respect, so he has to rule by fear. Now Guildmaster Kasper, he’s so very different. You’ve met him, have you?”

:(

“He filled me in on his conspiracy theory. Not his best work. But the fact that Callidus seeks to pin poor Kasper’s murder on you is reason enough for me to take up your cause.”

Yay!

You’ll be of no use to our cause if the inquisitor gets his hands on you and tortures you into a quivering mess.” Wren paled, gripping the countertop to steady herself. “Make no mistake. We cannot let it come to pass, or you are lost to me.

><

This room wasn’t safe, no matter how tasteful the furnishings. She had no compunctions about thinking so. She felt a sting of resentment towards her Gift. It felt more like a curse,

True

“Callidus will become guildmaster?” Wren had asked, horrified to think of the sour man taking charge of their lives and futures. In particular, her life. In Maradis, all unmarried women had an appointed male guardian. Whether father or brother or sponsor or husband, Alesian women were beholden to men in almost every aspect of life.

Oh ffs ><

Wren had always felt a bit sorry for those types of people, as in her estimate, such optimism could only be a byproduct of naïveté about the cruel nature of the world.

:(

“Your former master never gave you a wage? All of them are supposed to, even if it’s small. How did you buy clothes? Pay if you went out to eat?” “I didn’t do any of those things,”

Oh that bastard

She wasn’t sure how to categorize him. The man unapologetically took up the space of two people in the world. While she took up less than one.

:(

Wren wrinkled her nose, shuddering slightly. In her experience, those who deserved punishment didn’t often get it. Perhaps justice had been done, after a fashion, on this occasion.

Oo

“I’ve been to coffee shops before—to drop off confections, mostly. Hardly ever as a patron. Do none of these people work for a living?” she whispered. Wren could hardly remember a day that wasn’t filled with eye-twisting work.

:(

“I don’t know what you did to get Grandmaster Callidus and Steward Willings so out of sorts, but I couldn’t stand by while you were blamed for something you didn’t do. It would be a miscarriage of justice.” Wren didn’t think much of Alesian justice, but she supposed Lucas must believe in the concept to have entered the field he had.

>< neither do i if it's THAT easy to send an innocent to torture and death

“A sparrow?” She found a smile forming and struggled to restrain it. “Five points for not saying a wren, but minus three for sticking in the small bird category. Lacking in creativity.”

;)

Affection was a distraction she could ill afford. She did better alone. It had always seen her through.

:(

Wolf or falcon, it didn’t matter. Either could take down a wren.

:( but true

But that’s not the most interesting thing. Gemini is effective because it’s a two-part poison. One part can be hidden in something like your cupcake, while the other part is hidden in another edible.

Like wine?

His loyalties lie with the crown. He will seek to secure their best interest, not ours.” “I don’t understand,” Wren said. “The king and the guilds tolerate each other, but each fear the other growing too powerful. Power can’t coexist with power. Not peacefully. Not for long.” Wren shook her head. “I thought the guilds worked for the king?” “We work for ourselves,” Hale said. “We do favors for the king because it suits us.”

Oo

Wren rubbed her temples. “So we can’t trust the crown. We can’t trust the other guilds. And we can’t trust those within our Guild who may be loyal to Callidus. Who can we trust?”

The tribe?

Wren chewed the inside of her cheek in thought. Hale’s words were a good reminder. Distrust everyone. This had been the unofficial motto she’d lived by, after she had learned the hard way that humanity’s capacity for cruelty was only surpassed by the ease of its betrayal.

:(

So she would trust nobody but Sable and Hale. She looked at Hale, leaning against the countertop with an easy arrogance. Her new “family” could have ulterior motives for helping her as well. She would trust nobody, she amended.

><

“Why don’t the guilds work together? Share information to become more powerful?” “There’s a history of distrust between us, which Sable suspects the king encourages. And revealing you are Gifted makes you a target. Kidnapping, murder, extortion.

Oo effective tactic

“The Temple of the Sower?” She blanched. She had sworn she would never reenter a temple, never trust the Sower or its priests. Not… Not after what had happened.

Seriously the temples are just as bad as the courts? Well it's been that way in reality too i guess

She had been standing still for far too long, unwilling to leave the safe monotony of life as an apprentice. She had told herself she was being cautious, biding her time, but the truth whispered in the corners of her soul. She’d been afraid. Afraid to reopen old wounds, unwilling to risk

:(

“But, Guildmistress—” Marina said, her green eyes wide and wounded behind her thick frames. “Don’t you ‘but, Guildmistress’ me,” Greer said. “I see you. This isn’t the schoolyard anymore. This is your Guild, your place of business, and Wren is your business partner. Act like it, or your father will hear of it. And I suspect, he won’t be as forgiving as I.” A grim smile grew on Wren’s face as Marina blanched

Yes! Take the mean girl down!

Wren exchanged a look with Marigold, who hovered awkwardly by the door. Marigold’s look seemed to say, there’s no resisting, so you better get on with it.

Oo

“If there are two constants in this life, it’s men and their power. If they don’t have it, they want it; if they have it, they want more of it. Like roosters in the henyard. I didn’t think it was safe to trust anyone.

:(

“Thank you for your assistance with my dress. And Marina,” she added. “It was my pleasure. The girl’s only here because Grandmaster Beckett is her father. She misses no chance to make Olivia’s life miserable, so I don’t miss an opportunity to return the favor.” Greer grinned a wolfish smile, and Wren found herself smiling back.

:)

The man was incorrigible. He was flirting with her just because he could. Because he enjoyed the effect he had on women. “Are we going to cook today, or are you going to waste the whole morning with sad attempts to stroke your male ego?”

:)

Wren’s mouth dropped open as her mind reeled. “So… if I’ve been infusing things without knowing it, I’ve been wasting my luck?” “Wasting it, gifting it, it’s a matter of interpretation. Who’s to say if it’s a waste?” “I am! Trust me, whoever ate those confections, I needed that luck more than they did.” The tenor of her life came into sudden focus.

Oo that sucks. So the healers end up making themselves sickly?

Hale tried to hide the smile creeping onto his face. “You think this is funny?” Wren said. “My whole life has been a nightmare because I’ve been giving away my luck to gods-know-who!” Hale shook his head. “Best we can tell, the Gifting starts in puberty. Whatever woes you suffered before then, you can blame on the gods. Or your parents. Or whomever.”

Hmm

“So we’re supposed to hand all this power over to the king? Trust he’ll use it wisely, for the good of Alesia?” “Yes.” Hale shrugged. “Isn’t that what being governed is? Giving power and trusting that it will be used for the good of the people?” Wren crossed her arms. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Oo

We had to pay for everything on credit and every month we sank deeper into debt. My father. My brother… It was slavery. It was worse than slavery. At least as a slave, you don’t pay to work.

Company towns ><

Her days at the Guildhall had thus far been filled with people, navigating the treacherous water of human interaction. It was a far cry from her days with Master Oldrick, where the only conversation she might have had in a day had been with an unruly batch of nougat.

:)

“She’s more the ‘sweep in, make a broad pronouncement, sweep out’ type of person. Light on the explanation.”

Oo

She had only known him for an hour—less in fact. But somehow she felt she had seen inside him, and what she had seen was good. Most men she had known were rotten at the core, if you peeled the layers far enough, you got to some hard pit filled with hubris and self-loathing, violence and desire, all grown together in a tight little ball. But not Kasper.

:(

“We didn’t get out much,” Wren said. Too busy working and making Master Oldrick money, she thought. “How did they manage to pick a name that sounds so grand and boring in one breath?”

;)

The idea is that the voting requirement ensures that the next level of guild leadership will take the diverse interests of the guild into account.” Wren considered this. “In other words, it becomes a campaign of favors, deals, and political machinations?”

><

We need willingness to sacrifice, to make difficult decisions, to protect the safety and security of our guild from any threat, even a threat from the inside.” Callidus looked directly at Wren; his powerful gaze pinning her to her seat like an arrow.

Hmmm i almost accepted his rhetoric (divorced from his unpleasant personality until that point) put together he's a scaremongering fuhrer to be