Abashed, the countess met her maid’s eyes in the mirror and admitted, “I havenot.”
While Hevva was helped into a day dress, a soft green gown that pleated across her bosom, making her look better endowed than she was, her maid repeated all that she’d said. Kas went into town with the Gulan family for the day, as planned at the breakfast Hevva slept through. They’d be looking after her brother so she might rest and recuperate from the nightmare at the Elk & Heron.
Hevva nodded mutely, drawn back into the oppressive heat and flames from the night before. Her pulse beat in her fingertips, and she shook out her hands in an attempt to relieve the crawling anxiety.
“The solar, my lady. I think you will quite enjoy it. Or the library perhaps? Best to keep yourself busy today if sleep isn’t on your mind.”
It wasn’t in the least. Sure, she was tired from draining her well of power the night before, but she needed to move, to distract herself from the near catastrophe. Her beloved maid tidied up a few things, winked at her, and slipped out of the room. Then Hevva headed off in search of the indoor gardens.
The multi-storied solarium off the rear of Hewran Hall was beautiful. And so,sowell designed. Merely standing at the enormous glass entryway gave Hevva ideas of her own. She hoped there would be enough inspiration in this place to keep her mind busy all day with thoughts of future improvements to Kabuvirib and Stormhill. She dreamed big, because why dream at all, if not to make things extravagant? Her thoughts wandered to imagined solars off the back of her own homes, or even public buildings, or indoor gardens in the towns themselves.Wouldn’t that be a treat for the people?She imagined the villagers gallivanting around a space half as lovely as this. It would be wildly popular during the winter months.
Stepping into the balmy room, the countess closed the doors behind herself before beginning explorations. It was like standing in a jungle. Clearly the king, or perhaps a duke before him, had spared no expense on importing the most exotic plants from Domos, Gramenia, and even Karova from the look of the place. They sang to her, each fiber threaded with pulsing life that begged her magic to engage, to play. Aylin was right, the solarium was a fantastic decision.
She danced over to a tree—some sort of palm with a long narrow trunkthat stretched to the ceiling. Up there, pressing against the panes, sprawled a mass of green fronds. With a flick of her finger, Hevva set them swaying, swishing rhythmically against the glass. Beside the tree, a huge plant with veiny heart-shaped leaves in all shades of green, white, and even pink, ballooned out from its enormous pot. She willed a few of the vibrant ones out of hiding, coaxing the rosy leaves onto full display. Hevva breathed deeply and beamed. Hewran Hall was perfect and would surely provide enough distractions to help her pass the day of rest.
She traveled the edges of the solarium before venturing deeper into its core. Whoever planned the space made sure it felt like an outdoor landscape dropped inside. From the stone paths to the way much of the foliage grew from spacious recessed planters that had been built into the floor itself, the effect was charming. Hevva picked her way through the center of the room, which housed a unique mix of indoor and outdoor furniture. A metal bench in one alcove sat surrounded by fragrant shrubs. A set of club chairs awaited beneath a flowering magnolia, and she couldn’t help but bend a branch down for a closer look and a deep whiff. She passed a wooden table with matching seats before following a winding path through a gathering of roses that gave way to impossibly tall decorative grasses. Hevva half expected some sort of wild cat to jump out at her, but she pressed through.
Using her magic to part the fanning grasses, she came upon a cozy sitting area plopped down in the center of an artful ode to the savanna. A long sofa stretched out ahead, greeting her with its high back as it faced two matching tan upholstered wingback chairs.
Approaching the seating, Lady Hevva looked up at the stunning ceiling and rested her hands upon the sofa back. It was getting unbearably hot in the solarium as the summer sun rose higher into the sky—a bit too similar to the Elk & Heron ablaze. But she’d come back in the evening to explore further.
A whisper of movement down and to her left drew Hevva’s attention. What she’d thought was an intricate sand-colored carving on one of the sofa’s arms shifted an inch, and she screamed.
Firm hands grasped her forearms and yanked her forward. She wasbent forcibly over the back of the sofa, knocking the wind from her with an “Oomph!” She catapulted over the seat. Fabric tore. Her bottom and legs rushed up into the air and her head came down onto something firm.
“Oh! Ah! Oh!” a low voice, a man, intoned.
She shrieked as her legs completed their rotation, and she found herself upright again. This time she was sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the sofa from where she’d been a moment before. One huge hairy arm braced across her chest and another grasped onto her shoulder. “Unhand me!” Hevva tore at the strange grip and wriggled away. Her dress had been hiked up and tangled around her legs as she scooted across the floor.
“Unhand you? Don’t sneak up on a man while he’s sleeping,” the voice behind her rumbled, familiar.
With a little burst of magic, she lifted her feet and spun her bottom on the stone, or spun the stone under her bottom. Either way, her dress was already dirty from the fall.
Her mouth parted into a little O as she came face to face with the king himself.
He moved into a sitting position as Hevva straightened her skirts and pushed herself to stand. She rejected the king’s offered hand. “I am perfectly capable, thank you very much.”
His mouth pressed into a thin line. “Really? Even after last night?”
She humphed and smoothed her dress.
“Are you all right?” He gestured with one of his enormous hands at the general area in which he’d flipped her over the sofa.
“Quite.”A nice common man. No nobles.
“Have a seat.” He nodded to the two chairs behind her.
Gingerly, she backed up a few paces and plopped down into a chair. It was fine, really, she’d come down slightly hard on her tailbone, and it just throbbed a bit. “I’m surpris—”
The king whipped out a small bell from thin air and gave it a loud jingle before it vanished with apop. “Sorry, hungry. Did you make it to breakfast?”
“I did not.” She narrowed her eyes before continuing, “I’m surprised to find you home when all of your other guests have gone down to thesymposium.”
“Ah.” He leaned back before languidly stretching out one muscular arm along the ridge of the sofa back as he crossed his legs at the knee. Dressed casually, he wore a loose linen shirt, no cravat, and finely made, though simple, suede trousers. There wasn’t a pair of shoes or boots in sight, and the strange monarch had his sleeves rolled up above the elbows, looking more like a fieldworker than a king.
For some unsettling reason she imagined snuggling in beside him, there, beneath his big arm, nestled against his chest. Snorting, she shoved away the image.
“I, too, was under the impression thatallof my unexpected guests had returned to the city.”
