Below the Peak (Sola)(70)
Chapter Thirty-one
It started to rain during midnight and went on until the morning. Unable to go outside, Nara occupied herself that morning with unpacking and arranging her clothes in the closet and tidying her room. It has been three days in this house, she might as well try to settle in. Nara felt it deep within her gut she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, no matter how against she felt of being there. In the entire afternoon, she spent idly in the living room, staring and at books and flipping pages written in elvish. Glancing out the window, the rain wasn’t letting up, it looked it would be pouring the entire day. Izza served her lunch and went back in the kitchen. She hadn’t seen nor heard Calemir again. Finished eating, Nara climbed upstairs and into her room. Lying on the bed, she listened to the rain drops drum against the window.
***
It poured the next two days again, pissing her off for ruining her plans. She had planned to go for a ride, explore the land after being scooped up in the house for too long. As she laid on the bed idly, she wondered where he was. She hadn’t seen the prince the last five days nor did Izza, or the stable elf said a word about him. Where is he?
Jumping from the bed and out of the room, she stalked to the kitchen, finding Izza working on the counter. The servant paused and greeted then continued slicing the meat.
“Does it always rain like this here?” Nara asked, staring at the grayness outside caused by the dense clouds.
“Oh yes, this is common, though this will probably stop early by tomorrow” Izza replied perceptively. Izza had started getting comfortable around her as she has been of the elf.
“This one is very light. It usually rains a lot harder” the elf remarked.
Say what?
The pot on the stove started to bubble loudly, and the soup inside it leaked from the corner of the top lid and slid into the fire, making a hissing noise.
“I got it,” said, Nara, as she looked around for a cloth to use to carry the hot pot.
“I’ll handle it” Izza offered kindly as they both reached for the same piece of cloth hanging on the wooden rack.
“Let me do it” Nara insisted and tugged at the cloth.
“No” Izza quickly interjected, pulling back. “Your highness it is my duty I cannot let you do this work.”
“Fine” Nara snapped, letting go. She instantly felt guilty when Izza stumbled back, looking stunned and frightened yet she really didn’t care.
“Sorry” she mumbled and stormed out the kitchen ignoring the servant apologizing as if it were her fault.
She skipped the stairs two at a time to the second floor. She slammed the door to her room. She huffed, finding the calming method useless as she counted randomly…useless as she has become. What was she trying to do back there? Lessons to be a perfect house wife? She snorted unpleasantly. She was wasting here, nothing to do, her help not needed since the servants took care of everything. If she were back in Vessener with her mates, things would have been different and not have to stoop so low into trying to do mundane things. She knew her duties in the Elite, what to do and how to do them, she wouldn’t have been pacing the room helplessly as she was doing now.
Dread washed over her as the days ahead of her looked bleak.
She dragged the chair and sat, her back folding forward. She hunched, resting her elbows on her thighs and palmed her face.
Izza avoided her the following day, not lingering in her presence unnecessary. She served her breakfast, dinner and lunch. Once she was done, she bid her good evening and left.
She was beginning to be concerned of the prince. It was the sixth day, and he was still absent. Was something wrong or has anything happened to him? A deep rumbling that seems to shake the house followed by a white crackling flash that briefly lit the whole room had her heart jumping and her fingers gripping the table. The winds flap widely as the rain descended strongly from the dark skies.
The flame of the oil lamp sitting on the dining table flickered.
Nara stilled, ears picking a creaking noise. The silent shut of a door followed. Alert, she got to her feet and silently drew closer to the exist of the dining hall. Nara cocked her head and watched down the hallway and kept her eyes on the front entrance door of the house. A figure stood by the door. She couldn’t make out the face of the person because of the darkness. Her fingers reached to the back of her waist and rested on the tilt of the dagger tugged inside her trousers as the tall form of a man started walking forward in long strides. Calemir? She wasn’t too sure until she caught the unshaded blond flash of hair and the angular side of his face she knew it was him. She unclenched her fingers from the dagger but left her hand folded behind her back.
Her pupils enlarged at his state when he got closer to the light. He was soaked from head to toe. His hair wetly slicked down to his shoulder, his tunic cling on his flat torso like a second skin, as did his trousers around the muscle of his thighs down to the inside of his muddy boots.
Nara was startled when he bent his hand past his shoulder and dragged his tunic over his head. He bunched the fabric in one fist. Fair damp skin glowed over broad shoulders and lean muscle which worked, clenching and unclenching as he started to walk again.
He hadn’t noticed her…yet…
His head snapped. Dark green eyes glowed at her. The hair on her nape stood at the end, as the air in the manor changed to more haunting than it was before, darkening like the thunder growling and echoing within the walls when he started toward her. Nara straightened and stilled when he halted in front of her.