I feel the flush of my cheeks and wonder if he told her exactly how hehadmanaged to get me to bed.
“Please don’t be sorry,” I say, “I had a wonderful time. Thank you for sharing your drawings with me and for answering my questions about the fea. I still have hundreds, and I fear many of your answers will only lead to more.”
“Well, I hoped to tempt you into helping me with my preparations for the masquerade. If you are willing, it would certainly give you plenty of time to ask those questions.” She smiles coyly.
“It would be my pleasure,” I tell her, even as I realize that Leanna’s efforts in my tutelage may have fallen flat when it comes to event planning.
It certainly isn’t a request typically made of a Drakai. But I have little doubt that my efforts on this front will surely gain me an audience with the king upon his return.
“Wonderful. I will be in touch.” She kisses me on the cheek and her brother helps me into the carriage. Kishek stands at his side, his hands clasped behind his back, brow drawn into a thoughtful dip.
Even the general comes out to see me away and as the carriage lurches down the road I wonder if his glower will lift the moment I am out of sight. Not that I care.
“Oh, dear girl. I’m so glad you’ve returned,” Felias fawns, as if he hasn’t seen me for months, pulling me into a warm embrace in the middle of his courtyard.
The servants don’t stop to stare, but I’m not fool enough to think they aren’t paying close attention as they dart around the grounds, busily performing their tasks.
“I’m sure you’ll want to freshen up. Have you eaten? No matter, I’ll have an early lunch prepared for us. I want to know absolutely everything about your night away.”
The man is too convincing for his own good. If I have to put up with another month of this, evenIam going to start believing we are related. He shoos me up the staircase toward my room. The moment I close the door to my suite I loose a breath that’s been trapped in my chest since I walked into the cottage hallway this morning.
I open the window overlooking the garden and inhale the gentle breeze that stirs the hairs framing my face. Lilac. Today the air is laden with lilac and lilies. I sigh, as the delicate bouquet permeates my lungs.
As I roll my head from side to side, the wind caresses my cheeks, spooling at the base of my neck and stealing away some of the worry that plagues me. Voices flit across my ears and I lean over the windowsill casting my eyes across the expansive grounds below. My brow pinches curiously when I find only birds flying between the trees and a small rabbit with a bushy tail eating a small patch of clover.
Strange.
The giant tub in the washroom calls to me, promising to ease some tension and soothe the knots in my shoulders. I flip the lever above the tub and strip down as thick steam wafts into the air, fogging the mirrors and the tall glass windows that line the walls of the room. I settle into the water inch by inch, sucking air into my lungs between pursed lips. The water is near scalding, perfect in fact, and I ride that fine line between pain and pleasureas I slowly submerge my body up to my chin.
Most of the baths I’ve had throughout my life have been taken in the rivers and streams surrounding the keep. They’d been painfully cold in winter and early spring. I always enjoyed the temperate summer swims that served to wash the filth from my body after my early morning training sessions.
I had, on rare occasions, managed to sneak a bucket of warm water into my room and reveled in the luxury of washing with a rag, but Leanna made it clear it was an unnecessary indulgence and would only serve to make me soft. Though her warning, at times, went unheeded, I have no doubt the woman would have flayed me alive if she’d ever known.
So, I let the heat from the water sink into my bones, willing to take this moment and enjoy the pretense of the lady I claim to be. I may not care for the dresses, the parties, or the antics of social climbing. However, I will take whatever time I can secret away for myself, wholly aware that even upon returning as a hero to my people, I will once again be placed back into a humble life.
Thoughts I’ve managed to push aside since the morning settle into my mind as the water begins to cool. I wonder why they hadn’t seemed suspicious about my eavesdropping, but I expect they would have been speaking somewhere more discreet if they had concerns about being overheard.
They hadn’t said anything I couldn’t repeat to the crown in A’kori. No secrets of state were whispered. No dark plots against my king. Still, my mind churns.
“Vatruke.” I test the word on my tongue.
Perhaps Felias will know what it means. How they can possibly think the La’tari would work with the feyn is beyond my scope of imagination. I have never been taught much about the A’kori perspective as it pertains to … well, anything. I have no doubt it is by design that I was never taught these things. Though, what benefit my ignorance is to my mission I cannot fathom. But soldiers don’t ask questions, we simply do as we are told.
I reluctantly pull myself from the tub when a chill sets into the water. Drying off with an absurdly soft towel, I wrap myself in the silk dressing robehanging on the wall. As I lean down to pull the drain at the base of the tub, my attention snags on a flicker of movement at the corner of my eye.
My head whips toward the large double doors leading to my bedroom and my breath catches in my chest. Two slight fea creatures stand in the doorway. Well, one stands in the doorway, the other peeks out from behind the wall, pulling on her companion’s arm as if to tug her out of my line of sight.
I should be afraid. I know enough about the creatures to know that many are gifted, just like the feyn. I’d grown up with tales of the vicious monsters that tore children apart with their bare hands and devoured them with their sharp fangs. As a child I was relieved to learn they no longer lived in our veil. Every fea that fled in the sundering was one less beast to haunt my dreams.
But the faces I see before me are not those I’d conjured in my mind when I was young, these two are feminine and soft. Thanks to Awri’s detailed drawings they are also easy enough to recognize.
“You’re a wood sprite,” I say, curious if they will even understand me.
The sprite in the middle of the doorway cracks a toothy grin, points to her chest and nods eagerly.
Stars her teeth are sharp.
I should definitely be nervous, they managed to sneak into my room while I remained unaware, but their posture isn’t threatening. If anything, they seem as curious about me as I am about them.
