Daughter of Winter

Chapter 6

The light was bright, way too bright. I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face into the pillow. I was almost drifting off to sleep when I heard a feminine voice ask,

"Which robes would you like?" Her voice grated on my ears and I covered them with the pillow.

"The red ones," a deep, rumbling voice replied. It was much nicer to listen to. I wondered who it belonged to.

Wait.

I pulled my face out of the pillow and looked around the room to see a few female servants walking from place to place, packing clothes into suitcases. Lord Kendryek was standing off to the side, observing the process. He wore a light red silk tunic and brown pants. The sleeves were short enough to show off the bulky muscles I hadn't fully appreciated last night. His fiery red hair was combed into a homogenous wave and he wore two small gold studs in each ear. His freckles were almost glowing. He was stunning.

I snatched at the covers and pulled them over the exposed parts of my body. The sounds of my scramble alerted Lord Kendryek to me.

"Good morning Allyn," he said. "I decided to let you sleep in, you had a busy day yesterday and I thought you deserve the rest." It felt like my head was imploding. I pinched my leg to make sure I wasn't in some kind of absurd dream. "I regret to inform you that I must visit The Forest House to celebrate his two thousand and thirty second birthday. I would spend more time with you today, but it is too late to work you into the plans for the visit and this cannot be rescheduled. I will be back by no later than tomorrow night."

It took me a few moments to get any words out.

"Th-that's okay." That was perfectly okay. That was completely and one hundred percent okay.

"Vivianne will assess your fighting skills at twelve today, but other than that you are free to do whatever you please." He waved his hand at Tonilia. "If you need anything, feel free to ask the servants to get it for you." Tonilia gave me a little knowing smile, like she'd seen this coming a mile away, and nodded.

"Thank you," I said.

"We already have plans to visit the Winter Court in order to deliver Kalista's Tear to her." Lysander ran off with it at some point yesterday. "It will not be difficult to add you to the plans that we already have in place, assuming you would like to go."

"I would, thank you," I said. I could have thanked him a hundred times.

He got up from his chair and walked to the door. The two other servants held it open for him.

"I'm afraid it is time for us to leave now. Tonilia will fill you in on the details surrounding your assessment. I will see you again in just a few days. Goodbye Allyn," he said.

"Goodbye Lord Kendryek," I replied. He smiled warmly.

"Just call me Ken," he told me before leaving.

As soon as he was gone, Tonilia turned to me, grinning from ear to ear.

"How was it?" So much for never having to see her again.

"What?"

"Spending the night with Lord Kendryek?" I reddened.

"That's private," I said. I didn't even want to think about that beautiful disaster. She waved her hand dismissively.

"We're two girls, you can go ahead and tell me." I started to get the idea that even though she was easily a few hundred years old, she never matured past the age of twenty. I shook my head. "Fine. You'll be meeting with Vivianne in the training yard at three. I'll start getting you ready, starting with helping you bathe. I'm sure you got very ick-" I really did not want to hear the end of this sentence.