Lair of Beasts [Book I in the Curse Of Blood Saga]

Chapter XXVI - Door in the Wall

The fire crepitated lustily within the ingle as Anne squinted over her needlework and Godwin hand-fed his peregrine falcon with scraps of rabbit from the kitchen, her silver chain tinkling delicately as she shifted on her perch. We three sat in amicable silence, Lucian, Caine, Warwick and Carac having since departed. We had all dined privately in the solar dining chamber earlier (the smallest and most private of all the three dining halls) for the last meal of the day. Thankfully, Fendrel and his kin had elected to dine in the great hall. Sated, but troubled by the recent developments, I plucked distractedly at my harp and wondered at the whereabouts of the three younger Greybacks. I daresay they had hied off to the dungeon, thence to see Thomas who had been placed there the day before.

Henry, the master's steward, had dispatched himself home to his own humble manor, about ten miles south, there to await further news of his dishonored son, ostensibly ashamed and unwilling to reside a moment longer within Nørrdragor knowing that Thomas lay incarcerated in one of its cells.

"Father?" Godwin and Anne both looked toward me as I spoke.

"Aye, child," said he.

"Might I go down to..." I bit my lip and cast my eyes to my lap as his left eyebrow raised up a reproving notch; he had guessed accurately where the rest of my request would lead. He knew me well, 'twould seem. "I would like to see Thomas," I finished timidly.

"I doubt it not, yet my answer must be no."

I snapped my eyes back up. He had answered so indifferently, but the peremptory turn of his countenance left me in no doubt of where I stood. No remonstrance would I attempt in the face of his assumed nonchalance — no one ever dared dispute the master's wishes. I slumped my shoulders.

I was well aware that I was not a woman of any import for I was neither landed nor titled; on the contrary, I had been, for all intents and purposes, practically an orphan when first I arrived. Having admitted this much to myself long ago, I was not of the same mind as my adoptive family — that a man should die to assuage another's pride on the grounds that he had dared to touch another's property. Was that not what I was? Merely chattel sold by one man to another. But I was being harsh in my assessment, as they were in their judgement of Thomas. I uttered a troubled sigh.

Let them think that, if they wished — that I was resigned to their ruling. I was, on the contrary, quite determined to set things aright, by any means necessary. The notion of my being reconciled to the imminent death of a friend, by virtue of the fact that he had loved the wrong woman overmuch, was inconceivable; and I would be damned if I allow myself to turn craven now. Listening with half an ear, I contemplated all that happened, and everything that would likely eventuate, as the conversation between Godwin and Anne waxed around me, but when all became silent of a sudden, I looked up, the sound of silence deafening for the abruptness of its arrival. My guardians were both looking at me askance, my preoccupation duly noted.

"I beg your pardon. I was too much in my own thoughts," I apologized sheepishly and blushed as I set my neglected harp onto the floor at my feet.

"Perhaps we may aid you in finding a new direction for those troubled thoughts." Anne smiled kindly at me and then transferred it cheerfully to Godwin as he moved towards a small chest, of exquisite woodwork, that had earlier been placed onto the mantlepiece. I had been wondering all evening as to its mysterious contents.

"Do you know wherefore Carac and I have been abroad these last weeks?" Godwin inquired. I shook my head in the negative.

I had of late come to realize that by peppering the Greybacks with queries, I was less likely to receive a satisfactory answer. I had also learned that the answers invariably came to me in time and therefore I kept my own council and endeavored to be patient: a quality I possessed a great dearth of and a talent I was not exceptionally good at.