“Please,” Wolfe rolled his eyes. “I don’t have to be a Seer to see, Verice.”
“You are not my master in this,” Verice said sharply.
“As if I am going to give you advice about women,” Wolfe barked out a sharp laugh. “But it’s best for all concerned if you face the truth of it now. Before it goes much further.”
Kalynn found Warnainside, on her hands and knees, scrubbing at one of the hearths. “Warna,” she started, regretting her outburst. “I’m so sorry.”
“Did you apologize to Verice?” Warna asked tiredly without looking up from her task.
“I did,” Kalynn glanced around, but none of the other women were in earshot.
Warna sat back on her heels, and stared up at her, eyes filled with pain and questions. “Why would you even think that of him?”
Kalynn knelt down to look her in the eye. “I am sorry. I have never had reason to think that Verice holds humans in contempt, or treats them as slaves. I saw you at work, and it brought back—” she cut off her words as sorrow rose up in her chest.
Warna waited.
“Memories,” Kalynn forced out. “Of a time long past.” She swallowed hard.
“And how does Verice normally treat humans?” Warna asked, her brown eyes intent and serious.
“Like delicate flowers,” Kalynn said, forcing a smile. “That bloom and fade, and bloom again, if tended well.”
Warna looked at her hands, at the rags and the soap and the floor. She snorted out a weak laugh. “Little he knows,” she said.
“He’s never been around them enough to know better.” Kalynn rose. “I regret this, Warna. We’ve a journey to make, and I’d only wished to say goodbye. Wolfe and I will be away for some time. I do not wish to be parted from you on this note.”
“As if I’ve never regretted a hasty action or a harsh word.” Warna stood, dried her hands on her skirt, and pulled Kalynn into a hug. “Safe travels, Kalynn. May the Lord of Light and the Lady of Laughter both be with you.”
Kalynn hugged Warna back. “And the skies be with you, Warna.”
Warna watched Kalynngo and returned to her scrubbing. As much as she’d like to see Wolfe and Kalynn take wing on the backs of their airons, she’d no wish to speak to Verice just yet.
She had some thinking to do.
The chatter and clatter of the other women was both familiar and strange. How many months had it been since she’d worked with her mother, talking as they’d sorted silks and spices? The familiarity of it made her heart ache for her family and home. The strangeness reminded her that there was a world outside the walls of the castle. A normal world, filled with regular truths. Where something so extraordinary as an elven Lord High Baron caring for a simple human woman was not to be considered. Not even to be contemplated.
“Warna, get thehumansinto the—”
She paused in her scrubbing, listening to his words in her head. He hadn’t said ‘get them to safety’ or ‘get the women to safety’…
“…get thehumans…”
Warna knelt back on her heels, staring at the stain without seeing it.
Verice had stirred when she’d left the bed, as she’d slipped out from under the blankets. He’d reached out, searching, turning his head toward her. She’d whispered reassurances, and he’d settled back to sleep, never fully waking.
Her lips tingled at the memory of his kiss.
But that was part of the illusion he’d wrought, wasn’t it? Verice had isolated the castle from the world, cutting himself off from friend and foe alike in the guise of safety. Cutting her off from what was normal, sane, and true.
The irony being, of course, that she’d set herself the task of pulling him back, of setting the castle to rights. And now it felt like the mundane, the normal routine was returning, only to expose the nature of her folly.
“It’s as clean as it’s likely to get, to my way of thinking.” One of the older women was peering over her shoulder at the stain.
“I’m thinking you’re right,” Warna sighed.
“They’ve brought round soup, and kav, and sticky buns for the little ones,” the woman said. “The work will wait.”
