The second day, as we traveled, the lands grew hilly and at some of the higher peaks, I could start to see the distant strip of glistening blue: the ocean, specifically Dyrens Bay. We reached Grovner’s Green just after noon and had a meal there, before continuing to Hedgewild Manor, arriving late in the afternoon.
It was… stunningly beautiful. We came down a hill giving us a good view of the estate. The road would come to a wide circular drive around a central fountain. There was no covered carriage porch, but wide steps led up to a massive double door at the far end of the circle. Two long wings came out from the main building, flanking the drive-yard. At the front of each was a tower, several levels higher than the — what looked like — three stories of the regular building. It looked like the back ends of those same two wings — stretching out behind the building — also had towers of the same height. At the center, right at and above the entranceway, stood a fifth tower, taller than all the others, with a dome of glass atop it. I couldn’t quite tell, but I believed there would be a similar yard in the back like the drive in the front. Dozens of evenly spaced, dark windows peered out from walls of grey stone, which were almost completely covered in climbing vines.
Yet, as we pulled into the yard and around the circular drive, I could see what Lady Crane had meant by “disrepair.” The fountain at the center of the front yard wasn’t working, it was dry and missing bits of the stonework. The house itself — though the ivy hid many faults — seemed to be crumbling; this was evidenced mostly by the small piles of stone and mortar in places at the base of the walls. As the carriage came to a stop, I could see the wide steps up to the door were missing small chunks here and there, and the double doors seemed to be mismatched, a much older door beside a much newer one, perhaps of a different type of wood, or just not as aged.
I stepped out and was surprised to see a large, strapping man approaching the carriage. I hadn’t noticed him as we’d come around the drive. I’d thought the yard empty. I was fairly certain he hadn’t come out from the door, so he gave me a bit of a fright, especially given his size. He was well over six feet tall and if I’d thought Maverick was muscular, this man made him seem scrawny. Yet he had a twinkle in his clear dark-brown eyes and a friendly smile on his lips. He was also shirtless, showing off his dark skin and that massive expanse of chest, not to mention the chiseled muscles down his stomach, which were… distracting.
He greeted us with: “Hello Ladies, I’ll grab your things, you go on in.” He reached the back of the carriage in two long strides and unstrapped our trunks. He curled my and Silence’s trunks easily under one arm and Lady Cranes larger trunk under the other, like they were nothing!
“Lord Ant!” Crane said, scolding. “We have staff for that! And put a shirt on!”
Lord…?
Ant…?
For some reason, I’d pictured Lord Ant as being small and skittish.
Ant laughed, a full and easy sound. “Why make them do it when it’s so easy for me?” Another laugh. “And if you think my bare chest is bad, Jack’s in one of his moods.”
I didn’t understand that last bit, but it made Lady Crane pale. She bristled, and the pallor disappeared. She turned to Silence and me, only slightly shaken. “This way,” she said and hurried us inside.
Silence opened the door for the two of us women, the vision of a gentleman. Inside the double doors was a long hallway, left to right, and another set of double doors across the hall from where we entered. Unlike the outside, this hall was immaculately clean and well preserved. I guessed this was Lady Crane’s work; as the main entrance hall would need to make a good impression. She might not be able to patch every crumbling stone outside, but she could make this look good. Smooth tiles covered the floor in a patterned mosaic, and half-column stands held vases and other small items of note in even intervals down both sides of the hall. But that… was not what caught our attention as we entered.
“Hello ladies,” said the fit and lean man who passed us in the hall. And I could tell he was fit and lean, with lithe, long muscles on that tall, slender frame… because he was stark naked. He winked one dark-brown eye at me, his hair the perfect fall of wavy, raven locks. To me he whispered, “Come see me later, and I’ll give you a tour you’ll not soon forget.” Then his suave smile grew as he looked over at Crane. “And if you ever want to… unwind and let loose, I’ll always be available,LadyCrane.” The way he saidLadymade it both an insult and a sexual invitation.
We all stood there blinking as he continued away from us down the long hall.
“That…” Lady Crane said, voice trembling with barely restrained rage. “Was Lord Jack.”
I tore my gaze away from his tanned and perfect skin, blushing deeply as I turned back to the others.
“Let me guess,” Silence said wryly. “His avatar is a jackass?”
Lady Crane made a noise I would have never thought to hear from her, a sort of half-snorting-half-choking sound. I think it was a restrained laugh. She regained herself a moment later.
“His avatar is a jackrabbit actually, but… you aren’t far off otherwise.” She drew in a long breath. “He is impossible to work with, and I have no clue why Lord Maverick chose him.” Another steadying breath. “Now, if you’ll follow me.”
We crossed to the other set of double doors. When she opened them, a large hall spread before us, longer left to right than across, but… the view across was stunning, many windows let in the light from the south and gave a view of the garden courtyard beyond. “This is the great hall where you’ll take your meals. Breakfast service starts promptly at seven.”
After that, we were given a quick tour of the estate. It was H-shaped with the great hall and entrance corridor forming the middle, connecting piece. Down the long wings were many other rooms of various sizes. I quickly lost count and forgot the specific names for most. Then we came to the library at Hedgewild, which occupied three stories at the south end of the west wing. So many shelves and so many books. I’d seen more in the Library at Miraline… but no other place. This was the second largest collection of books, tomes, and scrolls I’d ever seen.
Then we were shown to our rooms. Our trunks were already waiting for us, brought by Lord Ant, no doubt.
“Dinner service will be in one hour at six sharp.” Crane left us with that and marched away.
And that was it.
We’d arrived at our new home.
Chapter 17
Silence and I,dressed in our finest, arrived for dinner at six and ate with Lady Crane, but none of the others in the House showed up. Lady Crane ate with a rigid silence that we didn’t want to break, so we returned to our rooms after that. Well, Silence came to my room and we sat together on a long couch and talked.
“What do you think of all this?” he motioned to everything around us. My room, like his, was large. A massive four-poster bed dominated one side of the room, with a small sitting area on the other. Closets lined the inside wall and a bank of windows stretched all along the opposite side of the room. It was a lot like our suites at The Golden Rose, only a bit smaller and without the bathing area, though there was still a small water-closet and privy. I couldn’t believe this was mine now… all mine. I said as much to Silence.
He laughed. “Yeah, I’m just a little bit overwhelmed. I went from a run-down shack to… this. I think I’ll get used to it though.” He sighed. “Mostly I’m just glad to have you here with me.” He put a hand on my thigh and I liked the warmth and feel of it. I could feel his trepidation. I couldn’t imagine what his life had been like before all this, nor how much of a change this must be for him.
I leaned over and kissed him lightly. “I’m happy I can be here for you. Just let me know if there is ever anything you need.”
