I nodded silently, overcome by his courtly manners.
“May I call you that?” he continued.
“Of—of course,” I stammered.
He patted my hand and looked at me fondly. “Excellent. We’re so happy you’re here, my dear. Including my partner there, even if he doesn’t seem it in this moment.”
“Isn’t anyone going to let me meet my granddaughter?” Zachariah fumed.
“Because you did such a good job of it last time?” Andrei said with a smile lightening his words.
Zachariah leveled a glare at him, but Andrei paid him no mind.
Griff and Finn were still guarding my back. As Zachariah approached me, I stepped back, and Griff grasped my elbow. “Easy there,” he murmured, just for me.
“Welcome back,” Zachariah started bitterly, before turning his glare on the twins. “I’ll deal with you two and your antics later.”
I searched his face for anything my grandmother would have been drawn to, any warmth, humor, love. I found nothing. Unlike the inner sense that had greeted Griff and Finn with such warmth, it now suggested caution toward this man. I had no idea why, but I also had nothing else I could do besides listen to it.
“You were married to Rose Andrever?” I asked, finding my backbone and stepping forward, Griff moving along with me.
“I was.”
“Father to Thomrin and Violet?”
His eyes went wide, and he attempted to control a shudder. “She taught you their names?”
“Their names, my mother Mireya, called Mira, but the name she didn’t teach me was yours. And before I come into that castle with you, I want to know why.”
Andrei’s lips twitched as if he was holding in a smile. As Zachariah bristled, Andrei lost the battle and grinned. “I see a lot of Thom in you—your coloring, your eyes. But that spirit? That’s Mira speaking right now. You clearly are their daughter.” As I turned to him, his smile broadened. “Yes, I knew them well. And I would be happy to tell you about them, and anything else you’d like to know while my partner there decides whether or not to get his head out of his ass and treat you like family, rather than a subject.”
Zachariah gaped at him. “She must be made aware of her duties. There is no time to waste?—”
“You can do that just as easily in the morning as tonight,” Andrei countered. “It appears Lexa has had a long day.”
That was an understatement. I brushed mud-encrusted hair out of my face. Gross.
“Let her settle in tonight and then tomorrow you can inform her.” Andrei looked at the brothers behind me. “You can stop hovering, lads. She’s going to be just fine.”
With that dismissal, he held out his arm to me and I took it. Turning, he led me through the gates and into the castle as we left my grandfather and the brothers behind.
My first thought was that it was huge and I was going to get lost instantly. My second was that it wascold. We were well into autumn, but at home, autumn had a gentle crisp to the air. This drafty fortress was a temperature I more associated with Ignistar, the winter solstice, than Gaelthine. Just one more mark against this place’s favor.
We entered through what I assumed were the main doors, imposing structures taller than three men. Inside was a gigantic entrance; it could have fit the entire Fairhaven main square. The lighting from that magical source was harsh and cold, so different from the warm torches and candles I’d grown up with. I looked up at the twin staircases, spiraling in and out of each other, losing track of how many stories they climbed.
Between the staircases were massive doors that Andrei informed me led to the Great Hall, whatever that was. A few people scuttered about, mostly in uniforms denoting them as staff, but it was eerily quiet for what I assumed was the seat of government, especially considering the crowd earlier. Maybe they were behind those massive doors, waiting to pop out at me when I least expected it.
We climbed up several flights of stairs, before entering a brightly lit corridor. My boots slipped on the polished stone, skidding slightly before I righted myself. Along the way, Andrei made pleasant conversation with me; I think I replied. As we passed many doors, I became hopelessly confused as we forked this way and that. I had realized this fortress was a monstrosity in size when I looked at it from the outside, but nothing would have prepared me for the windowlesslabyrinth it was inside. At least the shields that Finn had helped me hastily erect were holding. My thoughts were solely my own.
What would it have been like to grow up here? Running and screaming through the quiet halls. Skipping in stocking feet over the polished floors. Sliding down those massive banisters, shrieking as I slid faster and faster before landing in a heap at the base of the stairs. Running into room after room, surprising the residents before barreling into the next. I had only met him a few moments ago, but I could already tell Zachariah would have hated it. Andrei, on the other hand, I think he would have appreciated childish laughter ringing through the halls. And I knew from firsthand experience that Nana would have indulged, even encouraged, it. Presumably, my father at least had grown up here. What had that been like?
Andrei flagged a servant in the hall, and although his conversation was quiet, I thought I heard something regarding a bath, which sounded like heaven right at this moment. The color of Andrei’s sleeve caught my attention as he reached past me to open a door, holding it as I passed through.
“Are you a healer?”
“I am. The head healer here, in fact.”
I motioned to his robes. “Healers back home wear the same color.”
