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“This was such a beautiful day.” She tells me and when I look down at her, her eyes are shining with happiness.
“I just want you to be happy.” I blurt out, and her eyes widen with shock.
“I am.” She confesses after a while and I smile, knowing that I have achieved what I set out to do today.
“I am happy.”
8
ALTHIA
Valkus is painting all day in his studio above his bedroom, and I know he cannot be disturbed.
So I spend most of the day alone, only leaving his wing of the house for breakfast and lunch.
Valkus’s parents are nowhere to be seen for both meals, and I cannot help but feel relieved.
They seem to have given up on terrorizing me into leaving, but they are still quite hostile towards me.
I’ve had several long conversations with Valkus’s father about politics and art, using the information I gathered from books in the large houses I have cleaned in the past.
I think that both his parents were quite surprised that I could hold my own during the conversation, but they haven’t done anything more to make me feel welcome, even though Valkus has made it clear that I am here to stay.
How did I get here? How is this my life now?
Sometimes it is disconcerting, waking up in this massive mansion after having spent the majority of my life living in what was little more than a hovel.
But I also know that now that I have gotten used to living here, I’ll never be able to go back to another kind of life.
I have gained a lot of healthy weight, and my body is filling out the clothes that Valkus bought me well. The calluses on my hands have disappeared with help from the lotions and salves provided by the healer that Valkus took me to see.
I also sleep soundly every night, now that I do not have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from.
I am walking back up to his wing of the house when I see him coming downstairs. His clothes are covered in paint and his hair is disheveled, but his eyes brighten when he sees me.
Valkus hops the rest of the way down the stairs and comes at me quickly. He takes me by the waist and lifts me into the air, swinging me around.
I shriek with surprise before bursting into a fit of giggles.
I think I’m falling in love with him.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he tells me breathlessly as he puts me down on the floor with ease. “We’re going out for dinner tonight. Get ready.”
And with a swift kiss on my cheek, he disappears down one of the many hallways of the house.
* * *
I have never been particularly fond of getting dressed. Maybe because I have never had any beautiful clothes to wear.
So for the first time tonight, I am excited about getting ready for my dinner with Valkus.
I still have piles and piles of brand-new, tailored clothing to go through. But for the night, I find a pale blue blouse and a long white skirt with a slightly frilled hem.
I get dressed after I bathe and do my hair. After I am dressed, I put on some of the jewelry that Valkus has bought me.
The necklace and earrings that I am wearing are delicate and are made from hidium. Emerald zanthenite stones hang from both the necklace and earrings.
I look at myself in the tiny mirror in the bathroom, and I realize that, for the first time, I look perfectly happy.
