Lily Sweetie's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

The bookshop corner smelled of caramel and old paper. Lily set down a fresh tray. Customers crowded the aisles, coins ready. Then the door banged open, and the warmth went out of the room. Aldric Goldwheat filled the doorway, gold gleaming on his wide chest. He was the guild warden who ran the market stalls, and he had tried twice to squeeze her dry. The customers went quiet and stepped back. He looked at the crowd, then at her table. "Selling here." He said it flat. "This corner isn't licensed for it. You need a separate permit. Don't have one." He picked up a pastry, sniffed it, set it down. "I can shut this down today." Lily's stomach dropped. Her shop across the square wasn't ready. This corner was all she had. She looked at the waiting customers, then back at Aldric. An idea landed hard. "Wait," she said. "Give me an hour. Then decide." She untied her apron and ran for the door. She baked fast at her big stove. She poured caramel into a heart mold, swirled it deep, and let it set glossy and amber. She made a dozen. She wrapped them warm and carried the tray back, calling out as she came. "Free hearts! One each, today only!" Word moved faster than her feet. People pressed in from every stall. Children tugged their parents. The molten caramel hearts vanished, and the crowd doubled, then tripled, spilling out the bookshop door into the square. Aldric could not reach the table. He could not reach her. But a hush moved through the crowd, and it parted. A stern old man in a red-and-gold coat walked through, a guild medallion at his throat. Lily didn't know him. The warden did. Aldric straightened and lost his color. "Chief Sweetholm," Aldric said. So this was the head of the whole guild, the man above the warden. He took a caramel heart from a child's hand, studied it, and ate it slow. His hard face softened for one moment. "Warden." His voice was quiet. "You came to close this." "She has no corner permit," Aldric said. Sweetholm looked at the crowd, at the empty tray, at the coins overflowing Lily's jar. "Half the square is buying here. That's trade. Trade is what we protect." He turned to Lily. "My father ran a stall thirty years. Never cheated a soul. You bake honest. I taste it." He faced Aldric again. "She sells here until her shop opens. No permit needed. My word." Aldric's jaw worked. He said nothing. He turned and pushed out through the crowd. Sweetholm set down his last bite. "When your shop opens, I'll come." He said it plainly, and left. Lily gripped the table. She had won the corner. But the chief's words rang in her ears. He would come when the shop opened. Now she had to finish it, and it had to be perfect.