Chapter 14
I watch as he pushes his chair back. “Thank you for breakfast, Elowen.”
“You’re welcome.”
He drops off his plate and then kisses her on the cheek. Without even a glance in my direction, he leaves the kitchen. And just like that, I’m on my feet, following. I push past the door. “I’m going with.” He doesn’t turn around.
“No, you’re not.”
He's out the door a moment later. I walk back into the kitchen with a smile on my face. “You just played that man,” Elowen says, shaking her head. Since she has a small smile on her face, I don’t let her words bother me.
I shrug. “I didn’t want him to get suspicious.”
She laughs lightly. “Rauk was born suspicious.”
“That I believe. Now, let’s get to it. I have big plans for today. I’m assuming you take breakfast to her every morning?”
Elowen nods. “Since you arrived, yes.”
“Not today.”
“Not today, what?” she asks in confusion.
“Today is the day Auri comes to the kitchen to eat with us.”
Elowen smiles. “She’ll like that.”
“Good. I’ll go get her.” Before I leave the kitchen, I ask her what I’ve been meaning to. “So, that night when I heard the screaming,” I pause and wait for her to look at me. “It was Auri, wasn’t it?”
Elowen nods. “Yes. Sometimes, she wakes up with severe leg cramps.”
“Is there any way to make them go away?”
“I don’t know,” she says sadly.
I leave her then, and my mind whirls a mile a minute.
When I get to the door that leads to the other rooms, I’m annoyed to see that it’s locked again.
I use my knives once again and finally get the lock.
“Well, at least I did it faster this time.” I make my way down the hallway to Auri’s room. “Knock, knock.”
“Come in.”
I open the door and find Auri already dressed and in her chair for the day. I absently wonder who helps her do all that. “Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“For breakfast. We’re going to eat in the kitchen today.”
She gives me a look. “That’s not that big a deal. I’ve eaten in the kitchen before.”
I ignore her attitude. “Come on; it smells really good.”
I start to move towards the back of her chair, but she puts a hand up to stop me.
“I don’t need help.” I take a step back and watch her wheel away.
She’s short today, much more so than yesterday.
I can’t help but wonder if there’s something causing it, but since we barely know each other, I don’t press her.
It doesn’t take too long to get to the kitchen. “We’re here,” I call out.
Elowen turns towards the two of us with a wide smile. “I see that.”
“I don’t know why everybody’s making a big deal; it’s not like this is the first time I’ve come in here,” Auri grumbles. “I’m not very hungry anyway.”
I watch Elowen’s eyes soften. “I know it was a long night. Why don’t you eat something, and then I’ll help you back to bed.”
I know she’s trying to help, but I’m not sure that’s the best way. Of course, I’ve been living here all of five minutes; so what do I know? But when it gets progressively worse, I finally decide I’ve had enough. I shove my chair back. “Auri, let’s go.”
She turns dark eyes on me that are unnerving in how much they look like her big brother’s. “Back to my room? That’s what I’ve been asking for.”
“Nope. We’re going somewhere else.”
“Back outside? That’s a terrible idea. My face is still burned from yesterday.”
It’s really not, but I don’t tell her that. “Where does your brother keep his weapons?”
Wide eyes meet mine. “What?”
“He has to have a stash of weapons around here somewhere. Where are they?”
“Uh, Harper,” Elowen starts. “What are you doing?”
“Yeah.” Auri’s eyes are narrowed on me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not going to do anything. You are.” I meet Auri’s eyes. “We’re going to burn through that frustration and bad attitude.” I walk over to the kitchen door.
“I don’t have a bad attitude,” she calls out behind me.
“Sure you don’t.” I push through the door and make my way over to the hallway that will lead to Rauk’s room, as well as the other rooms. When I get to the door and find it’s locked, I let my frustration be known. “Seriously?”
“You just have to push the button,” Elowen says from behind me. She walks to where I’m standing. “Right here.” I follow her gaze and see the small black button, just like the one that unlocks the front door.
“Well, that would have been good to know,” I mutter.
“How have you been getting in?” she asks in confusion.
“With my knives,” I tell her with a wide grin as I open the door.
“Oh. Where are you going?”
I start down the hallway. “Looking for weapons.” When I open the door to Rauk’s room, I hear Elowen’s soft gasp.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” I argue. I walk over to his wardrobe and open it and frown when I don’t find any weapons.
Next, I check the small table next to his bed.
Nothing. I check under his bed and then climb onto his massive bed and check under his pillows.
When I still don’t see anything, I frown.
Rauk is not the kind of guy to not have access to weapons at the drop of a hat; I know that for sure.
I scan the room again. When my eyes light on a small part of the wall that seems to stick out more than the rest of the wall, I jump off the bed.
I feel the wall. There’s definitely something amiss with this wall.
I look for a knob, a handle...anything; but I find nothing.
And then I push on the one side of the wall.
Nothing. But when I push the other side, it pops open. “Found it,” I call out with a grin.
“Harper, I don’t think you should be in there,” she calls from the hallway. Then I think I hear a whispered, urgent, Harper. But I ignore it.
“Oh...” That’s all I can say as I walk into his weapons room that’s as large as a bedroom and boasts of every kind of weapon known to man.
“I think I’m in love,” I whisper as I run my hands over the weapons.
There are weapons I’ve never even seen before, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve seen Rysden’s armory.
I slowly walk along the wall, taking it all in.
There’s such a wide assortment of daggers, swords, and knives.
..standard stuff. But there are many more brutish weapons—axes, maces, clubs, spears, and more that I don’t have a clue as to their names or uses.
One such weapon sits in the corner. I pick it up and stagger under its weight for a moment.
It’s huge and heavy, but fascinating. It’s long with a spear tip on the end.
On one side is an axe head, and on the other is a hook that kind of worries me about what it’s intended use is.
I try to lift it like I would to wield it, but I can’t. It’s way too heavy for me.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The raspy, angry words come from behind me, and I whirl around to see Rauk standing in the doorway. He does not look happy. I panic for a moment and wonder if he saw Auri or found out what we’re doing. I force my voice to be steady. “Looking for a weapon.”
“This is my weapons stash.”
“Yes, I can clearly see that.” The weight in my hand tugs me down, and I look down at it. “Oh. What is this?”
“Can you not impale me or yourself, please? Either give it to me or put it down.” His voice is full of barely-restrained anger.
“Sure.” He reaches for it, but I pull it away from his outstretched hand.
“Right after you tell me what it is.” He eyes the weapon and then me, and I think he’s nervous.
That kind of cracks me up. “I think it’s funny that you think I could hurt you with this thing.
I can’t even lift it. Now, what is it?” I take a step towards him, and he watches me with narrowed eyes.
“If I tell you what it is, will you get out of my weapons room?” His words are low.
“Tell me what it is, and I’ll consider it.” I really don’t want to be in here any longer than necessary, but I’m hoping Elowen is using this opportunity to get Auri back to her room.
“It’s a Halberd.”
“What’s the hook for?”
He gives me a dark look. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“It hooks inside a person’s body and—”
I put a hand up, cutting off his words. “You know what? I changed my mind.” I really don’t want to have to live with the image of whatever he was going to say in my mind tonight when I’m trying to sleep.
“Do you use it?” I ask. The question is more out of curiosity than trying to kill time.
“It’s my weapon of choice.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Bloodthirsty much?”
He doesn’t blink. “Put the weapon down before you hurt yourself and get out of my room. Now.”
I roll my eyes. “Would it kill you to say please?”
“Why would I say please when you’re the one trespassing in my private room?” he asks. “Now, get out.”
I shake my head and put the halberd back in its upright position. “That thing is so heavy. Can you even lift it?”
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
He stares at me. “I’m not going to prove it. It’s my battle weapon.”
“If you say so.” I let the sarcasm of my remark ring out. I march past him and towards the door that will take me to the hallway.
“How did you get in here anyway?”
I don’t want to tattle on Elowen. “Oh, I used my knives. It's a pretty easy lock to pick. If you have the same one on the front of the house, you might want to change it. Of course, I don’t know who locks doors to entire sections in their castle...unless they have something to hide, that is.” I stride past him without another word and escape into the long hallway.
“It’s not a castle,” he mutters as I walk past him.
I laugh. “Sure, it’s not.” I keep walking all the way to the kitchen where I pop my head in briefly, giving Elowen a questioning glance.
She gives me a thumbs-up, and I nod in response.
Since I don’t want to have another run-in with Rauk, I head to my room.
I’m not sure what he’s doing here right now, but hopefully he won’t be here long.
He usually doesn’t come back to the castle until evening.
It only takes a few minutes for me to get bored in my room. I pace the room for a little while and then finally crack my door open and listen. When I don’t hear anything, I cautiously make my way to the kitchen. I’m relieved to see he’s not in there. “Hey, how did everything go?”
Elowen gives me a look that tells me she’s not exactly pleased with me. “The next time you post a lookout person, maybe listen to them. I kept calling your name, and you didn’t answer.”
“I thought you were still just trying to get me to come out.”
“I was,” she says in exasperation.
“Sorry. How did you get Auri to her room in time?”
“While he was in the room with you, over by the weapons room, we snuck her back into her room.”
“Good. Do you think Rauk had any idea?”
“No. Because if he did, we would know. Rauk is very protective of his younger sister.”
I watch her and take in her words. “What happened to her?”
She looks sad at that. “It’s not my story to tell.”