Chapter 3
It’s Not Like That With Us
Raewyn
Several days passed, and Pharis did not return to my room.
The older woman—a healer based on her interactions with me—visited regularly and administered treatments that felt strange but diminished my pain and the marks on my body bit by bit.
I still couldn’t walk, but the young maid helped me traverse short distances, from the bed to the bathing room and back and occasionally over to the window where I was able to sit in the window seat and look outside at the lawn and gardens.
It was my only entertainment other than the revolving selection of books that appeared during the night while I was asleep.
Conversation was not an option as neither of the women spoke to me or answered any of my questions. Either the owner of this castle employed only the most introverted of servants or Pharis had forbidden them to communicate with me.
My bet was on the latter.
Their goodwill was apparent though in their expressions and kind actions. I particularly liked the younger Elven woman.
Today, she hummed as she moved about the room, changing my bedsheets as I sat in the windowseat, reading and enjoying the light breeze coming through the open windows.
“Beautiful Autumn day,” I said to her, and she nodded and smiled.
“I’d love to go outside and see the ocean. I’m assuming it’s visible from the other side of the castle?” I asked.
“Oh yes, it’s beautiful,” she said and then sucked in a breath and held her fingertips to her lips.
“It’s all right to talk to me, you know,” I said. “I won’t tell him.”
The girl shook her head rapidly. “I shouldn’t. He’ll be angry.”
And then she said, “Oh no, I did it again.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “As I said, I won’t tell him. It’s nice to hear another voice. I’m starting to feel like I’ll go mad if all I have for company is the character voices in my head from these books. Thank you for providing them, by the way.”
“Oh I’m not the one who brings them,” the girl said then added quickly, “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
The stricken look on her face made me want to hug her.
“We can go back to silence if you wish. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble. I know what a brute Pharis is,” I said.
After a few more minutes of working in silence, she darted a glance over at me. “He’s not really. A brute, I mean. He’s so much kinder than the lord I served before.”
So she worked for Pharis then.
Which meant this must have been his castle, the one he’d mentioned when my family was traveling with him. Storm-something, I couldn’t quite remember the name.
“Well I wouldn’t want to meet your former lord then,” I said.
She grinned. “No. You wouldn’t.”
Lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “So you seem to be feeling much better.”
“I am. Still weak as a kitten, but the pain from movement is mostly gone.”
“Good. I’ve never seen injuries like yours,” she said. “I’m actually surprised you survived them.”
Though I couldn’t clearly remember sustaining the injuries, I’d obviously seen the multitude of bruises and marks on my torso as well as on my legs. Little by little they were growing lighter and disappearing.
“Your healer must be very talented,” I said.
“Oh she is,” my new friend said enthusiastically. “She used to serve the King.”
Her eyes got rounder. “I probably shouldn’t have said that either. You swear you won’t tell the Prince I’ve spoken to you?”
“I swear. It’s nice to meet you,” I added.
She bobbed in a quick curtsy. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’ve never met a half-Elf. And Prince Pharis has never brought any woman here before.”
The look on her face made me rush to clarify, waving my hands in front of my chest. “Oh, it’s not like that with us.”
The young woman gave me a quizzical glance but said nothing more about it.
“Would you like me to help you back to the bed before I go?” she asked once the bed was made.
I nodded, and she did, helping me to slide in between the luxurious fresh sheets and adjusting the down pillows behind me so I could sit up in bed comfortably.
She went to the door and turned back just before opening it. “I’ll tell him how much better you’re doing. Maybe soon you’ll be able to go outside and see the ocean.”
“Thank you. And thank you for all you’ve done for me,” I said. “You never told me your name.”
“It’s Kem. But don’t tell him you know that.”
Bringing my forefinger up against my mouth, I grinned and shook my head. “I won’t.”
“I’ll see you at supper,” Kem said and left.
When she returned that evening, she wasn’t carrying a tray of food but a beautiful gown in her arms. It was coral-colored with a tight strapless bodice and voluminous skirts.
“What’s this?” I asked.
Once she’d closed the door behind her, she answered.
“You’re to go downstairs tonight for your evening meal.”
She beamed. “The chef is very excited. So is the rest of the staff. Elanor and I are the only ones who’ve seen you besides the guards who brought you inside the night you arrived.”
“But they all know I’m here?” I asked, a bit surprised.
This was quite a different situation from my incarceration in Stellon’s suite at Seaspire. He’d kept me a secret from everyone, even his trusted sister and brother, in an effort to keep me safe from his father the King.
Kem nodded and gave me a sheepish grin. “The rumors about servants gossiping are quite true, I’m afraid. Everyone is very eager to meet you.”
“I’m eager to meet them as well,” I said honestly.
I was even more excited to leave this room and get a look at the rest of the castle. Kem helped me put on the dress and fastened it for me.
Like the nightgown, it was soft and light, in spite of all the decorative detail.
“I am feeling much stronger, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to walk down the stairs. Does this castle have a mechanical lift?” I asked.
“No, but you won’t need one,” Kem said. “I’m an Evanescer.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh. I forgot you didn’t grow up around Fae. It’s my glamour. Evanescing is a form of travel. It comes in very handy with all the flights of stairs in this place.”
She laughed. “I can bring along a passenger if the distance isn’t very far.”
“So you’re going to… carry me downstairs?” I asked in a dubious tone.
Kem was an Elf but a small one. She didn’t look strong enough to pick me up.
“Sort of. You’ll see. Are you ready?”
I nodded, and she stepped close, wrapping her arms around my shoulders in a light embrace.
“Here we go,” she said.
There was a sudden rush of air and a sensation I could only describe as dizziness, though that wasn’t quite accurate. The room around us seemed to dissolve, and the next thing I knew, we were in a completely different room.
When it came into focus, I looked around, taking in a long, rectangular carved oak table, surrounded by at least twenty chairs.
Beyond it at one end of the large room, there was a fireplace large enough for a man to stand inside, its impressive mantel carved of what appeared to be gray marble. The firelight glinted off the hearth’s back wall panel which looked like it was coated in pure silver.
Elegant sideboards stood against each wall of the cavernous room, and two huge sparkling crystal chandeliers blazed with candlelight overhead.
The high walls were covered with rich red fabric bearing a subtle embossed pattern and studded with framed paintings.
The vaulted ceiling soared two stories high, supported by twelve massive columns of red alabaster that surrounded the room.
A beautiful ceiling mural was framed by an elaborately carved and gilded cornice. The painting within its borders was breathtaking, a depiction of some Fae goddess greeting the morning sun—I wasn’t sure which one she was. Smaller murals anchored each corner.
Returning my gaze to the long table, I noticed it was set on one end with fine china and silverware of the same sort I’d seen the night of the ball at Seaspire.
The rest of it was covered with food.
Lots and lots of food. Platters and bowls of it.
“Is there to be a dinner party then?” I asked, surprised.
“Oh no,” Kem giggled. “We don’t have those here. This is for you.”
I looked at the endless bowls and platters stretching down the long table.
“For me? All of it? I couldn’t begin to eat even a fraction of this,” I told her.
“I know. Chef didn’t know your food preferences, and he wanted to make sure there was something you liked.”
The excess of it all shocked me. The amount of food displayed here could probably feed my village for an entire week. I wished Kem could use her Evanescing glamour to transport it all to them.
“Can you stand for a moment while I pull out your chair?” she asked. “They’re very heavy.”
“Yes, I think so,” I said and braced my hands against the tabletop as she let me go and went to drag one of the chairs back for me.
As soon as I was seated, she leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Enjoy,” and then several people entered the room.
One of them, a footman I thought, picked up a plate from one of the sideboards and began moving down the table, taking slices from the various meat platters and adding them. When it was piled high, he brought it to me and replaced the empty plate in front of me with the full one.
The savory fragrances rising from it made my mouth water, though I’d eaten plenty for breakfast and luncheon.
“Thank you,” I said and received a nod in return.
A different server repeated the process with vegetables and salads, moving down the table and spooning out a portion from each serving dish then delivering the overflowing plate to me and setting it to the side of the one in front of me.
“Thank you so much. I couldn’t possibly eat any more than this,” I said, but another footman was already at work filling a soup bowl from the tureen at the table’s center and loading a bread plate with several different kinds of rolls and bread slices.
The abundance surrounding me was astounding, and the choices were almost paralyzing.
So was the prospect of eating while being watched so carefully.
Each of the servants went to stand in a spot along the wall, but they kept their eyes on me, seeming poised and ready to meet any need that might arise.
“You can go now,” I said awkwardly. “Thank you, but I won’t be needing anything else. I doubt if I’ll ever need to eat again after this meal.”
None of them moved. Each man held his position, staying silent.
That was until the heavy double doors at the far end of the dining room opened, and Pharis stepped inside.