NOVEMBERLAND: the little shieldmaiden

28

The next few days consisted of meetings with noble Cals and just spending time in Calibur. I spent a lot of time with Gryffin, which was not a bad thing. But it was not like before, and I could not put my finger on what was different. After the first night, we had sneaked into each others rooms in the evenings. Gryffin was usually there in all my meetings, but I was not in his. He rarely spoke about the ones that I did not join, which made me concerned. 

"Stop looking at me," I said as I hid slightly under the thin summer cover. 

"Don't worry, I was just looking at your messy hair," he said and smirked.

"Oh shut up," I said and turned around to look at his tall ceiling. It made me think about stuff, how everything was. It was completely off to think about what we were doing. For Cals people were not intimate until their wedding night, but it was not the same for Lynrikans. And Gryffin was not my first. I looked over at Gryffin, and he was looking at the ceiling too, and he had his thinking face on. 

"What are you thinking about?" I asked and he continued looking at the ceiling.

"I'm just thinking about the meeting yesterday," he said and put his hand behind his head. 

"Oh, about the routes in between Lynrike and Calibur?" I asked as it had appeared a little conflict of what we felt were right. 

"No, you were not in it," he said and sighed. It made me wonder because he looked a little upset.

"Who is it that you have a meeting with every day that I do not get to know about?" I asked and turned towards him. 

"Nobody," he said and refused to look at me. 

I felt my insecurity spreading through my body when he said that. I had forgotten about having not to trust many at this moment. "Tell me Gryffin," I said with a determined voice which made him look over at me. 

"You won't like it," he said as he sighed and looked at me with a given up look. 

"I don't care, I want to know," I said as I looked at him wanting to know who it was. 

"It is a Muriellan nobleman who is one of Richards advisors sometimes," he said and I felt my heart drop. He was doing business with the Muriellans. But all I could think about at this moment was if he knew anything about Mother and my siblings.

"I need to speak to him," I said and Gryffin's face totally changed. This was not the reaction he expected. 

"Saga, he's not a supporter of Richard," he said and frowned his brows to make his point. 

"Even better," I said and turned around to get out of the huge bed. 

I managed to get back to my own bedroom in the time that Eleanor used to arrive. My room was closer to Gryffin's now so it was easier to sneak around. She did not care to be honest that is why she came a few hours later than she should have. Gryffin was to arrange a meeting for me and the Muriellan to meet. It was good being with Eleanor, she was just like Helka only calmer and younger. The other maids acted so weirdly compared to her, Eleanor was full of light. 

I had received a few letters from Esca, and Viorica was writing of my arrival. She was excited as it was very rare for a foreign royal to visit Esca. To be honest, I was quite excited although I had settled in a way in Calibur. I was to stay here for a few more weeks until my voyage to Esca. Although me and Gryffin had our ups and downs I still cared for him. The dark-haired seventeen-year-old with the hard shell and the everchanging heart.