Dragon Rose(55)

“Very well,” I said. “May I come to you at dinnertime?”

“Of course.”

At least he hadn’t hesitated. That was something.

“Until then,” I told him, as I took care to keep my tone light. Then I hurried away from him and up the stairs, for truly, my feet felt as if they were still standing in the snow, so soaked had my boots and stockings become.





Through great good luck Sar was nowhere to be seen when I regained my chambers, and so I was able to slip off my sodden footwear and set it before the fire. After that I drew on fresh hose and my good indoor shoes, as I had only the one pair of boots.

Some hours remained, of course, until I could go up to Theran’s suite, and oddly enough I had no great inclination to pick up my paintbrush. Perhaps it was only that memories from a dream could not match the reality of the Dragon Lord’s arms around me, the heat of his body against mine. The stranger’s portrait would have to wait.

Restless, I moved from room to room, stopping now and then to gaze out the windows. The storm had struck in earnest, and I could see nothing but a wall of whirling grey-white. Even down in Lirinsholme people must be sheltering indoors, waiting for the blizzard to pass. Oh, we were used to storms here in the north, but this one was fierce, especially for so early in the year.

Something else killed them, Rhianne, and you need to find out what it was.

“Easier said than done,” I remarked irritably to the air. “I am somewhat limited in my resources, you know.”

A knock came at the door then, and Melynne stepped in with my lunch tray. I thanked her absently, and was about to sit down and begin eating when a thought struck me. “Melynne.”

She paused, one hand resting on the door latch. “My lady?”

I regarded her carefully, considering. True, she was young, around my age, and so couldn’t have been in service when the previous Bride lived here. The servant girl had to have heard something from the more senior retainers in the castle, though. Back in Lirinsholme, my family kept only the one servant, but even she gossiped with the other scullery maids and pot boys up and down our street whenever she had the opportunity.

“The other Brides,” I began, feeling my way toward the question. “Did they all live in these chambers? Or are there other places in the castle where they had their rooms?”

Melynne’s eyebrows lifted. “Are the rooms not to your liking, my lady? Perhaps Sar—”

“No—no. My rooms are fine. I was just curious.”

“I wasn’t here for any of them, my lady.”

“No, Melynne, I know that. But perhaps one of the other servants has mentioned something?”

Her hesitation was obvious, but I guessed that Melynne did not have the strength of will to avoid answering a direct question put to her by the lady of the castle. My guess was borne out when she replied, “I—I’ve heard that there were two other suites used by the Brides. One was in the same tower as his lordship’s suite, only two floors below. And the other is in the east tower, at the very top. No one’s stayed there for years, though, my lady.”

“I expect it’s because these rooms are so much more comfortable,” I suggested with a smile. No need for her to start wondering why I should be inquiring after such things. “Thank you, Melynne.”

She accepted the dismissal gratefully and made her escape. I sat down in front of the fire with the cold meat pie she’d brought and began pondering my options. Attempting to inspect the rooms in Theran’s tower would be difficult, since I had no idea how often he came and went from his own suite, or whether he roamed that part of the castle when he was not reading or working on his little devices. It seemed the rooms in the east tower were the place for me to look first.

“Look for what, precisely?” I asked myself, in scornful tones that would have done my sister Therella proud. Surely the place had to have been cleaned out and swept from top to bottom before it was closed up. At least, that is what my mother would have done if she had the largesse to lock up an entire suite of rooms because they were no longer needed.

Still, better to start there, on the opposite side of the castle from Theran’s chambers. Luckily, I was not much disturbed during the hours between luncheon and supper, as Sar tended to assume—correctly, most of the time—that I was busy painting.

The paints would have to wait today, although I did stop in the alcove and take a quick peek down at the painting in its corner hiding place. The stranger’s aquamarine gaze seemed almost disappointed this time, as if he very much wanted me to make just a little more progress today.

Tomorrow, I promised him, and then shook my head at myself. What on earth difference did it make to the painting whether it was finished at the end of this week or two months hence?

Because two months hence you might not be here to complete it, said that spiteful voice in my head, the one that sounded a little too much like my sister.

“All the more reason to do some investigating,” I told the room, as I wrapped a woolen scarf around my throat as some protection from the chill I knew I would encounter in the corridors. Questions might be asked if I went forth in my cloak, but no one would question the scarf.

As I left I set the tray with its dirty dishes on the floor outside the door. I had done that in the past when I was working and did not want to be disturbed. It seemed the safest way to keep either Sar or Melynne from entering my rooms while I was gone.