“It’s all right, Sabi, we are not going to ask you to serve them. Besides, they will likely be settled in the west wing, closer to our king,” I assured her. She thanked me with a tight hug.
“Just wait here, all of you!” Farah ordered, commanding everyone’s attention as she strode out of the kitchen, gesturing with both hands.
After what seemed like forever, Farah returned, failing at hiding her concern.
“All right, everyone. So, the Lord of the Vanguard of Ice is here, Lord Aegir Hailin. With six others.”
“Lord Aegir Hailin? You mean Prince Hailin? The king’s brother is here?” Ralfe blurted, his gaze pinned on Farah.
“Do not interrupt me! He’s here with six others, the rest of his vanguard will be arriving later on. We don’t know exactly when. Now there are no more guest rooms available in the west wing, so the males were asked to stay in the east. I had to give each of them one of the smaller rooms on the first floor, but for the Lord of the Vanguard, I assigned him Prince Semuel’s rooms, on the second floor.”
“You did what!?” My fists clenched at my sides. “He might decide to come back, you know?” My voice was far too high for my ranking.
“I’ll deal with that later if it comes to it, but you and I both know that Prince Semuel won’t be returning anytime soon. I’m sorry, Delia, but all the other guest rooms are covered in paint that has not yet dried. We weren’t expecting them so soon, and I wasn’t going to ask Prince Hailin to share a room with one of his men.”
“You could have put two of his men in one room and th—”
“Enough!” Farah snapped, her face reddened. “They are already settling in their rooms as I explained, and that’s the end of this conversation. Nadya, go wake Tomas up and tell him to come here immediately. Clara didn’t seem like herself today. Let that one rest.”
Nadya scrunched her nose as she exited and returned with a sigh, Tomas trailing behind her.
“What in Amfir’s name is going on? Am I not even allowed to sleep now?” half-asleep Tomas grumbled, rubbing his face.
“The Lord of the Vanguard of Ice is here with six of his men. Each one of you will be waiting on two of his men, while one of you will personally,and professionally, wait on Lord Hailin himself.” Her voice was edged with command.
“What? No way, I’m not serving some Fae lord brute,” Tomas argued. “Are those biscuits?”
“Then you’re to wait on the first two rooms. Now go fetch them towels and refreshments, then come back to prepare their trays for their midnight supper.”
“I will attend to the next two rooms,” Nadya said politely.
“Smart girl,” Farah said.
“I’m not serving the brute prince, all right. Delia, you go serve him.” Ralfe’s voice was a width of a hair away from forcing me to do something I might later regret.
“I don’t think so. Today is my day off, soIdon’t count,” I countered, shrugging my shoulders and crossing my arms.
“Nice try, Delia. It’s past midnight, you count,” Farah said, her tone flat. “Now if you two are going to act like little whining children, then I shall treat you as such.” She returned with two used candles clenched in her hand. “Whoever picks the longest candle chooses who to serve. Delia, you pick.”
“Why does she have to pick?” Ralfe complained.
“Because I said so.”
I extended my hand and touched the candle closest to me.
The day went from splendid to complete shit when I saw her open palm. I made an effort not to wipe away Ralfe’s grin with a slap across his face.
CHAPTER 3
Climbing the all-too-familiar steps, taking those very same turns, brought with it a nostalgic sandstorm. Before entering, I stood in front of the lofty double door and repeated the same two sentences in my head.
Do not look at him. Do not talk to him.
Easy.
I knocked, gently, my knuckles carefully hitting the wood, before making my way in. “Hello?” I called, my voice—which I deemed appropriately loud enough for Fae ears—close to a whisper.
I placed the jar of water on the side table, noticing leather bags piled beneath it and metallic twin axes on its surface. The iron handles felt cool against my fingertips, despite the air around me feeling rather stuffy. I felt stupid now to have given in to the myth that iron hurts Fae, and damn me if I didn’t slip on an iron band around my index finger. Stupid. Especially since I had watched Faern, also a Demi-Fae, often touching things made of iron without ever flinching.
