We hurry into the heart of the manor, looking for the stairs. Lord Eorl won’t be found in the kitchens and pantries. If he’s not in the great hall, then he has to be in one of the drawing and smoking rooms upstairs.
Spotting the grand staircase leading up, we grin at each other like conspirators and start climbing. More servants pass us by, casting us curious looks.
Keeping my head down, I force myself to climb faster. My legs are tired and heavy, my feet ache from all the endless walking. Valen is ahead of me, but stops and glances back, waiting for me to catch up.
Together we reach the second floor and walk down a great hallway, looking into every room. We startle a number of people—a lady lounging in an armchair by a fire with a glass of wine, a lord perusing a book by a window, a maid dusting a table, a couple kissing passionately. The lady screams when she notices us.
We flee to the next floor, like two children caught in a prank. He grabs my hand and helps me up to the top of the stairs, his smile bright. I laugh breathlessly. I feel… happy. Exhausted, afraid, unsure, but being with him makes me smile.
We move along yet another great hallway, checking every room, surprising a few more people.
I’m starting to think Lord Eorl isn’t here. With my luck, he probably went out hunting today, or is journeying to the capital to see the Queen. I have no way of knowing his plans. I only know I was supposed to be arriving right about this time, and he was supposed to expect me.
Of course, there is a fallacy in my thinking. He would have been notified by my family about my journey… only I have no way of knowing what my family has sent notice about, if they sent anything at all.
Valen grabs my wrist, and we stop in the middle of the hallway. “He isn’t here.”
“I know.”
“Maybe it’s a sign from the Gods.”
“A sign?” I repeat.
“To forget about him and come with me. Come with me, little mouse.”
“What? No, Valen…” I gaze up at his familiar, beautiful face, the silver hair and that white strand falling in his golden eyes, and I want… I want to say yes, but that would be madness. “I can’t.”
The light in his eyes gutters out. “Just?—”
A maid appears in front of us, cutting the moment short. “What’s going on?” she demands, hands on her hips. “What are you doing? Who are you?”
“We’re looking for Lord Eorl,” I say, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand, like Valen often does, and instantly realizing it’s not a proper gesture when her eyes narrow. “We have a… a message for him.”
She looks at me for long moments, a question in her dark eyes, but for some reason, she nods and says, “Follow me.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
ROSAMUND
With the maid hurrying ahead of us, I don’t have much time to think about Valen’s words, his unexpected suggestion.
He can’t have meant it. He’s so impulsive.
Unlike you. Only you grew freer with him, and now you think you’re like him. You’re not.
My thoughts are a thorny tangle as the maid leads us back down to the first floor and opens a set of double doors with a flourish.
The parlor where we surprised that couple kissing.
There is only a man inside, leaning against the mantlepiece over the fireplace. I frown. Wasn’t he the one kissing that girl earlier?
“Much Honored Lord Eorl,” the maid says with a deep curtsy. “I’ve taken the liberty to guide these people here, as they say they have an important message for you.”
He frowns at us. He’s holding a crystal goblet in his hand, filled with amber liquid that reminds me of Valen’s eyes. “Indeed? They look like vagrants. And one, if I’m not mistaken, is a fae.”
I stare at him. No, I must be wrong. It must have been another fair-haired man I’d seen earlier. But he also doesn’t lookmuch like his portrait, I think, the miniature I’ve been carrying in my locket all this time. In the portrait, he was smiling. Maybe that’s why. The frown is casting deep shadows over his thin mouth and bony face.
He looks older. Much older. And annoyed.
