47. Forty-Seven - An Unwanted Guest
Forty-Seven - An Unwanted Guest
Ana
It’s mid morning when I slip out of Viggo’s room, tucking Penny’s robe around myself and hurry down the stairs.
If I had woken them, I’d still be in bed and all three of us would ignore the growling of my stomach.
Murdoch will have something ready for me, waiting, like she always does. I just have to make it to the kitchen before either of them come after me and distract me.
But when I turn the corner, the elf I run into isn’t Penny or one of the others who live here.
I recoil, clutching the robe more tightly to me and consider running right back upstairs as the man’s golden lips sneer.
“You’re a ripe little thing, aren’t you,” the older elf says, looking me over in a way that makes my skin crawl. “What’s your rate?”
Before I can tell him he’s mistaken, he says, “Or has my son given you a position in the house?”
“If you are looking for a companion,” I say, “you’ll find them at the inn.”
I wrap my arms around myself and step to the side.
He does too.
“Excuse me.” I say, but he doesn’t budge.
“That robe isn’t yours. Take it off.”
I don’t need to eat if it means putting up with this. But when I turn to hurry back up the stairs, he grabs my arm.
I wrench it away immediately.
There’s a flurry behind me, but I don’t look. Something tells me not to take my eyes off this man.
Blicks steps between us. “I do not care who you are. You will not touch the mistress if she does not wish it.”
Brows high, Penny’s father looks at me with a sudden disgust. “The mistress of the house. Stick to your sword fighting, Blicks. A comedian, you are not.”
Blicks angles himself so that I can get past.
“Thank you,” I say, and flee before anything else can be said.
I don’t want to hear it.
The carpets are soft under my feet, but still, I wish I’d worn slippers. A creeping sensation at the back of my neck makes me wish I had the option of finding a door out into the forest and running away.
But the kitchen is warm and cozy and when I breathe in the heady scent of the day’s menu, some of the tension in my shoulders eases.
Murdoch shuffles around the kitchen muttering curses and whisking something while her wings twitch in irritation. Poor Deanna rushes around behind her, catching dislodged feathers before they can float into one of the lidless bowls or dishes.
“I gather Blicks and I are not the only people in the household who do not particularly enjoy the presence of Edric’s father?”
Murdock turns to me and snaps her beak before pointing at me with the whisk. “You stay away from him.”
“After our accidental meeting, I plan to avoid him whenever I am able.”
“Good. That man is rotten!”
Deanna has to duck when Murdoch’s wings splay out at the exclamation and she smiles at me apologetically before diving for another feather.
“I like elves,” Murdoch says with a huff. “Wouldn’t work in this house if I didn’t. But that man is a snake... A basilisk in an elf’s clothing!”
She crows for a moment and I let her, sitting at the table and listening to her peck the man’s character apart.
I don’t have to ask her for food. She sets a basket of fresh rolls in front of me. A pot of apricot jam and a dish of deliciously herbed butter follow after.
She tells me to tell Leaf not to let him hire any of the people who work for her as she places a bowl of bacon gems in front of me.
“Moia was right to leave him. She was young when they met, a lapse of judgment can be excused, but she left ages ago and has he found anyone else since?” She looks at me like I should have an answer to the question that feels like a statement.
“No?” I guess.
“No!” She sets down her bowl and the stiff meringue inside it barely budges. “If he stays in this house, I will be visiting my sister until he leaves.”
“Blicks won’t let that happen.” Deanna says softly as she pets the feathers she’s bunched into a small bouquet in her hand.
Harumphing, Murdoch turns to me.
“Rotten,” she says, meeting my eyes with a gaze that brooks no argument. “Anything good in him went into our Edric and nothing remained.”
Even Loric passes through muttering about the man traveling without his own valet. I hear him tell Blicks he isn’t going to jump just because he’s been called a frog.
But Loric has a familiar shirt over his arm, which tells me that Penny is up, whether he wants to be or not and even though Murdoch tells me I should stay, I creep back upstairs.
Penny has already joined his father in the drawing room and I pause at the door, left slightly ajar.
“What are you doing here?”
“You haven’t answered my letter.”
Penny sighs, silently... but I know that particular movement of his shoulders. “I have. Your impatience is the only reason you were not home to receive it.”
I watch from the hall, teeth grit.
“Perhaps the reason for your mismanagement of the Queen’s Forest is about this tall with a mess of orange hair.” He holds his hand out to a height that is nearly a foot shorter than I am.
“If you had waited to read my reply, you would know that there is no mismanagement, just a covetous old man who thinks he has some right to this forest, which as we all know, the only right is that of the Queen.” Penny holds out his hand toward the door, but thankfully his father doesn’t look this way. “Now, let me have Dorrian take you back home. I’m sure you already miss the city.”
“No.”
“It was not a request.”
“Until I am certain you are not going to embarrass me or sully the name we share, I will not be leaving.”
“You won’t be staying here.”
His father ignores him. “There was a chain around her neck. I hope you’re not foolish enough to give her family heirlooms.”
“You may rest assured, nothing I would give her would come from your side of the family.”
“Good. A strumpet isn’t worthy of—”
“Do not insult Ana.”
“Is that her name?” His father laughs, coldly. “She’s running around your house without clothes on, what else would she be but your fuckpet?”
“Even if that was all she was, you will treat the people in my home with the respect they deserve.”
His father mutters something ugly beneath his breath and a floorboard creaks beside me.
Viggo.
“Go get dressed, Ana.” He kisses my temple. “If you’d rather leave than deal with him, we’ll both understand.”