Alanna nods quietly, watching me with small concern. “I know.”
I sigh and look down to the plate in front of me and take a bite, letting the cool Discerni watch over me until I finish the remainder of her dinner.
“Alanna…” I turn to her.
Her cool grey eyes meet mine as I consider my next words.
“I don’t know if Cal has told you yet, but we plan on traveling to Woodlands after we finish our meetings in Bardot…”
Alanna narrows her gaze as I continue, “have you thought more on the idea of traveling with us? Will you join?”
Her eyes dart across my face before she gives a hard nod.
“I will, Alexis.”
The rest of the night continued in typical Warrior fashion. The barrels of toddy and ale were rolled into the room and the settees were spaced around them to create the centralized hub. Everyone became more and more raucous as the night went on, the copious amounts of drink and smoke bringing on a boisterous atmosphere that was just down-right infectious.
After making a few rounds around the room with Cal, Holis and Mana, I found myself seated in a thick haze of smoke with a number of ladies of the court. We’ve been passing the shisha around for some time, the lot of us keeping the conversation friendly and light as we enjoy the rabble of the room around us.
“Gail?” a beautiful Discerni woman asks me, repeating the young girl’s name to memory.
“Gail,” I nod with a broad smile, “her workshop is somewhere in the same hall as the kitchens. I’m still not used to the layout of this castle, but I do know that she’s on the same level as the chef.”
“I know of the room,” another Discerni nods to me, “her workshop’s much smaller than Kemari’s down on Fire Front.”
“Fire Front?” I exhale in curiosity.
The woman smiles, “a thread road in the main city. All of our most experienced seamstresses set up shop there.”
“And the boots?” another asks, eying the soft suede that juts up my thigh.
“Gail as well,” I smile, passing the shisha in her direction.
The ladies all look at eachother in consideration. I know full well that each of them will be knocking at Gail’s door tomorrow morning and smile at the thought.
“Are any of you familiar with her?” I ask in more curiosity, “how she came to have her own set up here in the castle?”
The beautiful Discerni woman sitting next to me nods over her ale, “her mother was a human seamstress in Gaumond who passed three years ago. I think that would have made the girl around twelve or thirteen when it happened. It’s a terrible story with a happy ending...”
“How so?” I ask.
“Didn’t Kemari and a few other of the women help settle her in the castle?” another woman inquires.
The Discerni at my side nods, “yes. The girl was too young to take over her mother’s business and had no inkling on the bills that were needed for their home. Kemari and Anna helped her sell both places for a reasonable sum, then petitioned His Highness for a room and work here. She’s safe and well cared for, and by the looks of it, flourishing in her mother’s footsteps.”
I turn towards the barrels for the first time tonight, my gaze landing directly on the Prince. It’s been a tortuous evening being in the same room as him and trying to avoid his gaze, and it’s taken everything in my power to evade the sheer presence he commands. But I let myself take him in now, feeling a deep appreciation for whatever role he played in young Gail’s life.
Of course he extended his generosity to an orphaned human girl. I have no doubt about it as I stare at the tall and strong man who stands so proudly in the middle of the crowd, completely in his element.
“Do you have any suitors at home, Lady Alexis?” a cool human woman asks from across our group.
I peel my eyes away from Keane, catching her narrowed gaze on mine. Her hair is as black as the night sky above us, her dark eyes staring straight into mine as she raises a brow.
“I travel too much to have a suitor,” I reply with a shrug.
“On behalf of the King?” she inquires.
I nod, not offering any other explanation as I take a drink of ale.
