I grin. “Yes. That’s part of my plan too.”
She eyes me. “Please tell me it’s not for my king’s head.”
I blink and then throw my head back and laugh. I wipe my eyes a few moments later. “Oh, that was good. Thank you. And while the idea does sound appealing,” her eyes narrow before I continue. “I won’t be using the axe on Rauk.” I start gathering the fabrics I bought today.
“What are those for?” She reaches out and fingers the first fabric, the one with small yellow flowers on it. “It’s beautiful.”
“These are to create tapestries to hang around this place. This place is like a tomb. It’s dark, quiet, and depressing. We’re going to brighten it up.”
I expect her to argue, not to give me a wide smile. “That is a wonderful plan. How can I help?”
Elowen turns out to be a much better seamstress than I am,shocker. But I’m able to hold my own. Eliza would be so proud of me. If only she could see me now. We make more progress than I thought we would before we both head to bed.
The next morning, I’m out of bed early. I get some time in on the tapestries before Auri wakes up. I also manage to fit in some time to work on getting myself back in shape and work with my weapons. After breakfast, we work outside with the knives again. Auri gets a little better, and I praise her for her progress. Redara shows up again and spends time with us. After a rest time in the afternoon for Auri, we eat an early dinner and head up to our special spot to watch the spirit dragons. Elowen and I finish off the night working on our tapestries. I get to bed late,but it feels really good. The next few days pass in like manner. I go to bed each night completely worn out, but it’s a good feeling. The best day, though, is going to be today. I throw back the covers and quickly pull a fur around me. I don’t even bother dressing before heading out of my room. I take in the huge room as I walk towards the kitchen and can’t help my grin. “Is she awake?” I ask as I burst into the kitchen.
“Merciful heavens,” Elowen says, putting a hand to her chest.
“Sorry.”
She shakes her head but smiles. “She’s not up yet, but you can do the honors if you’d like.”
“Perfect.” I start out of the kitchen but turn back at the door. “What are we having?”
“Sweet biscuits,” she says with a smile.
Auri's favorite.I head to her room, ready to get this day started. I knock when I get to her room but know she’s probably not awake. I open the door, not even bothering to be quiet…I pull her covers off her. “Hey, Sleepyhead.” When that does nothing, I go to stage two. I put my hands under her shoulders and lift her into a sitting position; it’s literally the only way to get her up. She blinks sleep-heavy eyes at me. “Morning, Princess. Time to wakey, wakey.” She groans and tries to lay back down. “Nah, ah, ah. Besides, you don’t want to go back to sleep. Elowen made sweet biscuits.”
She eyes me suspiciously, but she’s more alert now. “Are you just saying that to get me out of bed?”
I shrug. “Guess you’ll have to find out, won’t you?”
She sighs dramatically, and I bite my lip to hide my smile. “All right. Fine.”
I climb off the bed. “What do you want to wear today?”
“Whatever.”
It’s always the same; she never cares what she wears. I’m hoping to eventually change that, but I’m just taking it one day at a time. Someday, I’ll get her all kinds of fun, bright colors to wear. It takes a little while to get her dressed and back in her chair. I take out her wet braid from her bath last night. Elowen took care of that. I offered to help, but Auri hadn’t gone for it. I felt bad leaving Elowen to do it by herself, but she assured me she was used to it. I brushed her hair and left it down. “All right, Pretty Girl. Let's get you some sweet biscuits.”
“Yes!”
She wheels along, and I walk beside her. I’m anxious to see her expression when she sees what Elowen and I did last night. Her reaction doesn’t disappoint. When we get into the main room, she stops completely. I look around the room with her, taking it in from her point of view. Elowen and I took down all the dark curtains, leaving the huge floor-to-ceiling windows bare. Sunlight pours in from every angle, lighting up the once-dark and dingy room. Then there are the bright-colored tapestries hanging on nearly every available wall space. Each tapestry is different. Some contain small flowers; others have birds. Some are just bright swatches of color, and others are scenes in nature. Not only do they add color and texture to this room, they’re also beautiful to just study and notice the details. “What do you think?” I finally ask.
“Harper. This is...amazing.”
A warmth fills my chest, and all the hard work and late nights suddenly feel so worth it. “Well, I can’t take credit for all of it; Elowen was a huge help.”
“This is perfect,” she says simply.
Chapter 19
We walk into the kitchen, and Elowen looks up and stops what she’s doing. “Well?”
I look down at Auri. “It’s pretty good,” she admits.
I meet Elowen’s gaze, and we share a smile. “All right. Who’s hungry?” she asks.
“I am,” I tell her. “I have to do something; I’ll be right back.” I leave and am back less than five minutes later, dressed and ready.
