by T. J. Quinn
“Of course, you aren’t. I’ll make sure of that.” She helped the other girl to take off her brown dress, hating the coarse fabric it was made of, but going downstairs with her own clothes would attract unwanted attention.
She knew for a fact; people never looked twice to a servant. She gathered her long golden hair with a couple of pins and put in Millicent's coif, making sure she had covered all of her hair. She was the only person in the whole village with blond hair, and if it showed, they would know it was her.
“Please, milady, don’t do this. You’ll get us both in trouble.” Her maid begged, but she didn’t listen.
Instead, she grabbed a long strip of white linen she used to tie her big breasts when she trained with her swords, and with a wicked grin, she tied the girl's hands to her bed post and covered her mouth. "Like this, you won't be accused of helping me." Kaylein said, with a naughty grin, before she turned around and disappeared out of the room.
Carefully, Kaylein went downstairs, avoiding being seen by anyone, as she headed straight to the kitchen. Like Millicent had said, she would be able to have a good view of the main table from there.
In the kitchens, there was so much hustle, no one paid attention to her, so she carefully sneaked to the door and looked out.
Cuyler and the others arrived at the castle's main room, just as everybody was taking a seat around the tables that had been installed in the room. Apparently, most of Lord Arryn's men and family ate at the same time. He invited Cuyler and his men to take a seat at his table, and he did so.
Soon the food was served, but they waited for Lord Arryn to start eating before they did. They hadn't seen many people eating on the images recollected by the bird cams, and they didn't want to make any mistakes that could cause them problems. He could feel the wary look of the man identified as Father Francis on him and his men.
Lord Arryn started eating, and they followed the example. The food was a bit different from what they were used to but was palatable.
It was a great feast, and Cuyler was sure that was in their honor. Lord Arryn wanted to impress them.
They were still eating when he caught her scent. He had been looking for her the whole time but hadn't even been able to perceive her scent. But now, his nostrils flared, and his heart stopped for a moment just to start beating faster. His eyes were drawn to her immediately, and her beauty, even hidden underneath what he had concluded to be the servants' uniform, was overwhelming.
She realized the minute he saw her. Their eyes locked together and he froze.
Kaylein stared at the table for a moment before her eyes were drawn to one of them in particular. He saw her too, and when their eyes locked together, her heart seemed to miss a beat, before it started roaring in her chest.
Taller than all the rest of the men, even the ones with him, he was impressive. His platinum hair fell to his shoulders, and his gray eyes had a metallic shine she had never seen before. But it was the ridges on his forehead and temples that surprised her the most. They looked like a perfect lineup of small round beads that left his forehead and temples and disappeared into his hair. There were four of them, two on his forehead and one in each temple. Strangely, instead of making him look scary or unattractive, she decided they made him look more handsome. But, now, she could understand why Father Francis had described them as demons.
“What are you doing here, girl? Why aren’t you working?” the housekeeper’s voice sounded next to her, startling her and the spell was broken.
With her head down, to avoid being recognized, Kaylein muttered, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Smith.”
“Take this to the main table. Those men eat as if there was no tomorrow,” she grumbled, putting a tray with vegetables in her hands.
“Yes, Mrs. Smith.” She nodded, trying to think of a way to evade such a task.
“Take it to the strangers’ leader. He seems to be hungry, judging by the way he’s looking over here,” the woman ordered, returning to the kitchen.
Kaylein closed her eyes desperate as she realized the woman was referring to the man she had been looking at.
This time, her father was going to kill her.
Taking a deep breath, she kept her face down, as she crossed the room with the tray in her shaky hands, praying no one would notice her.
She could do this, right? All she had to do was put the tray on the table and disappear back to her room before anyone noticed what she was doing.
With no further delay, she took the tray and put it on the table, right in front of the man.
Chapter Six
Cuyler watched her talking with another woman that came out of the kitchen and handed her a tray. There was a whispered exchange of words and the older woman returned to the kitchen, handing her the tray. With pleasure, he watched her crossing the room in his direction. Her scent intoxicated him like nothing before in his whole life.
She left the tray on the table, and he could see she was trembling as if his presence made her feel nervous.
He wanted to grab her and stop her from leaving, but he was sure that would be seen as improper, so he had to watch her disappear through the kitchen door again. But now that he knew she was there, he would not leave the place without taking her with him, even if it meant he had to take down the castle, stone by stone.
Kaylein almost ran out of the main room, straight to her bedroom. Fortunately, no one stopped her, and she was able to get there and free Millicent from her ties unnoticed.
“I hope you’re happy now, milady,” the girl grumbled, as she put back on her clothes and helped Kaylein do the same.
“Yes, Millicent, thank you.” She let out a deep breath, still feeling her heart beat frantically.
“Don’t they look like demons?” the girl asked, trembling.
“I guess… but at least one of them looks amazing.” She said, realizing she hadn't paid much attention to the rest of the men with him. She’d only had eyes for him, for no one else in the room.
“I’m sure you’re talking about their leader. The man with the platinum hair,” Millicent said, with a naughty smile.
“Yes… that’s him. I had never seen a man like him before,” she said, chuckling, as she took a seat at the table to enjoy her cold meal.
“Of course not, I seriously doubt anyone has,” the maid said, sighing. “I better get going, or Mrs. Smith will scold me.”
Kaylein chuckled. “Tell her I kept you here, asking you a thousand questions.”
“Oh, I will… after all, telling her the truth is out of the question.” The girl sighed and left the room winking an eye to her.
Kaylein laughed out loud. She had no idea how her life would have been if it hadn't been for Millicent. The girl's company, friendship, and complicity had made her life so much easier, over the years.
Cuyler let out a sigh of relief when the meal finally ended, and they could get up.
“How was your walk through the village?” Lord Arryn asked him, with a faint smile.
“It was fine, thank you.”
“Do you think you’ll find what you are looking for here?” the man asked, clearly very interested.
“Yes, I’m sure of it. But we’ll talk more when I have all the information I need,” Cuyler said, with a polite smile. “Either way, I’m aware that feeding ten more men, can be a burden for a house this big, so I would like to advance you some payment for our stay.” He offered, pulling a small bag with gold pieces, he had prepared with Igor.
“That’s not necessary.” Lord Arryn protested.
“I’m sure of it, but I insist. Otherwise, I would feel we’re abusing your hospitality, and we would have to leave earlier,” he said, handing the bag, towards the man.
This time he grabbed it and put it away in his pocket, after weighing it discreetly. "Do you have plans for this afternoon?" Lord Arryn asked.
“No, not yet.”
“Perhaps, you would like to join me and some of my men hunting, he suggested, with a hesitant smile.
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br /> "That sounds interesting." And it did. He wanted to know all he could about these people and the way they lived. Hunting was probably a way to put meat on the table.
Like before, Cuyler left some of his men back at the castle and left with Igor and Lord Arryn’s retinue.
They were offered horses, and after watching the other men riding them, Cuyler and his men should have been able to mimic their acts. But the minute they approached the animals, they started acting strangely.
Cuyler realized the animals were sensing the drogons in them. Their instincts warned them of the presence of a predator, and the horses would never allow them to ride them.
He turned to look at Lord Arryn. “I’m afraid my people are people from the sea. We don’t ride horses,” he said, hoping the explanation was sufficient to the other man.
“Well… the wild boars have been spotted near the village, so I guess we could walk.” The man agreed, and they all dismounted the animals. “James, bring your horse, in case we’re lucky and need to carry the prey back to the castle,” Lord Arryn ordered, calling out the hounds before they left the village, into the forest nearby.
Cuyler had warned his men not to interfere with the hunting. For them, with their acute hearing and hunting prowess, it would be a kid's game to find the prey. But he wanted to see more of these people and learn about their skills.
“What’s the matter with the dogs today?” Lord Arryn grumbled. “They seem disoriented.”
Cuyler realized that like the horses, the dogs sense the animal inside them and weren’t sure if they were in the presence of friends or enemies.
Though they didn’t have dogs on their planet, Cuyler figured that the best way to calm the beasts was to let them know him and his men, establishing they weren’t enemies.
“I guess sometimes it happens,” he told Lord Arryn, kneeling next to a dog, and discreetly letting the animal to sniff him, as he appeased it. “You have some fine creatures here,” he added, complimenting Lord Arryn.
“Yes… they are excellent hounds, most of the time.”
After one of the animals accepted Cuyler, the others followed his example, and they seemed to return to their accustomed ways. They started to sniff around the area, looking for the scent of the animal they were hunting, and soon they were on their way.
It took them the whole afternoon to find it and hunt it down, but they finally returned to the village with their prey. They had used a bow and arrows to hunt the boar and Cuyler was invited to take a shot at the animal. Though he could have killed the beast quite easily, he left the honor to Lord Arryn. Proving to be better than his host didn’t seem a good strategy for the moment.
When they arrived at the castle, they were offered water for a bath, but when Cuyler saw the bathtub, he almost rejected the offer.
“We must follow their ways, remember?” Igor teased him for a moment.
“Very funny,” he scolded his friend as he took off his clothes and entered the tiny tub, certainly not made for a man of his size. He got up immediately. “This is absurd. There’s a river nearby, right? I’ll use it to take a bath.” He decided, putting his clothes back on.
“The water is very cold,” Igor warned him.
“I don’t care.” He grumbled.
He grabbed the soap, a towel, and clean clothes and walked out of his room.
"Mr. Cuyler, I thought you were taking a bath," Lord Arryn told him when he was about to leave the castle.
"Yes, I was. But as you can see, I'm a very tall man. Your tubs aren't made for a man of my size," he explained, in an amused tone. "I'll use the river I saw nearby if that's alright with you," he added.
“Yes, of course, but the water is very cold this time of the year,” he warned him.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Enjoy your bath then.” the man nodded, and Cuyler was finally able to leave the castle.
It didn't take him much to find the river and walking along its shores; he soon found a suitable place to take his bath.
He took off all his clothes and allowed himself to submerge in the cold water.
It was really cold, but being a man of fire, he could warm his body on his own. It consumed a lot of his energy, but he preferred it to bathing in that tiny tub.
Kaylein escaped the castle like she did every day at dusk. Unless the weather was too cold for it, she would go down to the river to take her bath. Of course, only Millicent knew about her escapades, but she knew she could trust her friend with her life. There was nothing like bathing in the flowing water of the river, letting it wash away all the dust and sweat from her body. It also seemed to appease the soreness of her body each time she took it to its limit training with her father’s men.
She was walking along the river banks to reach her favorite spot to bathe when she heard noises coming from the water.
Carefully, she approached the river, and what she saw there startled her so much, she almost let out a small cry.
He was bathing in the river, completely naked, as far as she could see, since he wasn’t facing her.
Feeling the heat coloring her cheeks, she stepped back to walk away, when he sank his body in the water and turned to look at her.
“Did I scare you?” he asked her, with a mocking tone.
Again, her scent was the first thing that alerted Cuyler of her presence. His whole body tensed and his cock throbbed between his legs, with sheer need.
Straightening up, Kaylein looked at him and pursed her lips for a moment, ignoring the thunderous beating of her heart.
“Of course not. I just wasn’t expecting to find anyone here, that’s all,” she said, in a cold tone. “Please, enjoy your bath, Sir.”
“My name is Cuyler.” He introduced himself, not willing to let her walk away without finding out more about her.
She nodded, but still took a step back.
"Please, don't leave or I'll be forced to leave the water and follow you,” he warned her, with a wicked grin.
“You cannot do that,” she said, almost shouting, scandalized, feeling her heart thunder inside her chest to the simple idea of having him coming after her in all his glory.
“Who’s going to stop me?” he asked, widening the smile on his face.
“Why would you want me to stay?” she babbled, flustered.
“Because I want to know more about you, starting with your name,” he replied, still smiling, loving the look on her face, as he watched the struggle between her wish to stay and the urging of her common sense to leave.
"You'll freeze to death if you stay much longer in the water,” she warned him, delaying her answer, unable to look away from his face. It really fascinated her, especially the ridges on his forehead. They made her wish to run her fingers over it.
“I don’t care,” he assured her, looking at her as he waited for her to answer. He needed to know who she was.
“I’m Millicent…” she finally said, lying blatantly. She couldn’t risk having him asking her father about her.
"Millicent… it's a lovely name," he said, though it sounded wrong as if it didn't match her vibrant personality.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go back to the castle, or I’ll get in trouble,” she said, determined to escape, her heart beating too hard, awakening feelings inside her she wasn’t able to identify and even less understand.
“Very well, Millicent, I’ll allow you to escape this time,” he acquiesced, smiling as she turned around and ran away, heading back to the castle.
It was a good thing he was already sunk in very cold water. He would need it to at least, have some control over the fire she ignited in him, each time he saw her.
That day, she had been wearing a dark blue dress, with long, tight sleeves, and though the long, flared skirt didn't allow imagining the shape of her legs, the top of the dress clung beautifully to every curve of her body, making him desire her even more.
Controlling his fiery desire to go after her and make her his, he threw
himself into the cold waters and swam for a while, until he was calmer.
Finishing his bath, he walked out of the river and dried himself before he put on the clean clothes he had brought with him.
He was sure she had come to the river to take a bath as well, and his presence had taken her mind off it so he would come looking for her another day.
Chapter Seven
Kaylein returned to her room, still breathing hard and with her heart drumming in her chest. Without a word, she took off her clothes and used the cooled water Millicent had put in her bathtub.
“What happened? I thought you had gone to the river,” Millicent said, with a frown, as she jumped up from the chair she had been sitting on, while she waited for her lady to return.
“Let’s say the river was occupied, and leave it at that,” Kaylein muttered, quickly bathing.
Millicent opened her mouth wide, astounded, but one look at Kaylein’s face told her all she had to know, and she didn’t insist on the subject.
“Will we be allowed downstairs for dinner?” she asked, as she finished washing with Millicent’s help.
“I’m afraid not, milady. Your mother told me to warn you not to go anywhere near the visitors,” The maid reminded her.
Kaylein snorted and got out of the water. “I really don’t understand why all of the mystery around those men,” She protested.
“I have no idea, milady, but for your sake and mine, please, stay in your room,” Millicent begged.
Kaylein scowled but nodded. “I’ll die of boredom here,” she said, furious.
“I’m sure you could work on that tapestry you’re supposed to finish before Christmas,” Millicent suggested, already knowing her reaction.
“Are you mocking me, Millicent? I rather throw myself out the window she said, in a dramatic tone.
“The window is too small for you, milady,” Millicent replied, dodging the pillow her lady threw at her as they laughed.
“I’m sure they won’t stay here much longer.”