“I know,” she said. “Who are the others?”
“All part of the Lord’s household, before the castle was closed,” he said as he followed her out the door and back across the courtyard. “The tall faelle is Janella, the Castle Chamberlain, and Ersal was the Master Clerk,” he reached out to put a hand on her arm just as they reached the door of the barracks. “The thick man, with the beard is Roath, the Master Gardener. Warna, what will you tell them?”
She looked up at him and huffed out a nervous breath. “The truth, of course.”
Priest Dominic wasspeaking as she opened the door, and his voice cut her like a knife.
“Why would he listen to her? She’s a human woman,” he said scathingly. “Who’d want to have anything to do with one of them?”
Warna stood in the doorway, frozen for a long moment, staring right at Dominic in the silence of the room. ‘Lady of Laughter, make him regret those words someday,’ she thought, then dismissed it as she faced them all down, stepping forward to let the constable close the door.
“I am Warna of Farentell.” She walked through the seated group, then took a chair facing them. “Let me explain how I came to be here.”
She kept it short, talking of her ‘rescue’, and Lord Verice’s extension of protection. “I want to work, is what I told him.” She looked down at her hands, folded carefully in her lap. “I need to lose myself in a task, and while he’s not given me permission, he’s not prevented me, either.”
The constable had moved behind her, to stand at her shoulder. She felt his quiet support, but so far, he’d remained silent.
“So, what is your intent, Warna?” Ersal spoke first.
“I’ve cleaned the Healing Hall, and this building,” Warna said promptly. “I’ll start on the Third Barracks next. By then, I’ll find a need to restart the kitchens and the laundry.”
“And everything else will flow therefrom,” Janella said. “And the keep?”
“No,” Warna said. “I made him a promise, that I would not touch it. I must keep my promise.”
Janella nodded slowly. “It will work,” she said looking at some of the others.
“This is ridiculous,” Dominic stood, imposing in his fine robes of white and gold. His long black hair shimmered in the light, a stark contrast to the pale points of his ears.
‘Every inch an elf,’Warna thought.
“If,” Dominic emphasized the word. “If it’s as you say, then all we need do is go to Lord Verice and ask to be allowed to return.”
“No,” Warna looked up at him. “Do that, and you’ll ruin any chance. The castle must come slowly alive around its Lord, and—”
“Lord Verice will come alive with it,” Ersal said with a spark in his eye.
“Nonsense,” Dominic scoffed. “We’ve only to ask—”
“We’ve asked over and over for the last few months,” Janella pointed out. “We even had Lord Mayor Penard to ask on our behalf. Much good it’s done us.”
“Then we ask again,” Dominic said. “He’s clearly changed his mind. I’ll—”
“You’ll do no such thing,” the constable said, startling all of them by breaking his silence.
“I’ll not let you put him at risk,” Warna added.
Dominic looked at her with narrowed eyes, then arched an eyebrow. “And for you, Lady? Perhaps you plan to warm his bed?” His lip curled. “Bring him back alive, so to say?”
“Dominic!” Janella gasped.
“Not that it’s likely, given your blood,” Dominic continued.
The constable growled.
“Constable,” Warna said sharply.
He stopped, glaring at Dominic.
