Page 18 of Tarnished Crown
Taras cleared his throat pointedly, pulling my attention away from the Bear Lord. He led me up a massive staircase and through a wide, arched hall with pristine gray stone. Black banners cascaded to the floor, each with the white bear symbol stitched into the center.
The dark colors lent the imposing hall an even eerier feel, matching just about everything else in this castle thus far.
It wasn’t until we climbed yet another set of stairs that the decor went from being militant to something resembling a home. Portraits lined the walls, along with paintings of landscapes or flowers, interspersed with artful sconces.
I tried to focus on those little details instead of the anxiety building inside me, the questions I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to. There was one thing I did want to know, though.
“Is Lady Mairi thesheyou were referring to when you spoke to Evander in the stables?”
He shot me a cool glare from the corner of his eye. “Surely even Lochlann teaches that eavesdropping is rude.”
“Is that a yes?”
He ignored me, but his features gave him away. After another few minutes of terse silence, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“You aren’t terribly fond of me, are you?”
His eyebrow lifted, barely, the only flicker in his expression, but he didn’t bother to deny it.
“Is it the hair? The lineage?” I needed the man to speak, to distract me from my spiraling thoughts.
Taras let out a sigh, his measured footsteps the only other sound in the spacious, winding hallway. He didn’t respond until we reached an intricately carved wooden door.
“It is the chaos you bring,” he said simply, opening the door to the rooms. “The maids will be up shortly.”
He turned to leave without giving me a chance to respond, or even to ask what in the stars he had meant by that.
The room was, predictably, done entirely in black and white, though there was something decidedly feminine about this decor. It was in the damask pattern covering the walls, the black jeweled chandelier hanging overhead.
A white bear skin rug lay before an unlit hearth, and a massive four-poster bed took up half of the far wall, covered by a black crushed velvet canopy.
I shivered when a cold draft whistled in through the balcony doors, moving my hands up to rub my frozen arms.
I reached out to open the velvet canopy when a startled gasp sounded behind me, along with a thud and a splashing sound. I spun around to see a maid staring wide-eyed at my hair.
Of course.
Steaming water sloshed all over the floor from the bucket the woman had dropped, but she barely even noticed. Instead, she made a similar gesture to the one I had grown used to seeing Venla make back at Elk, the one I suspected was to ward off evil, before turning around to leave the room.
Several minutes later, another maid appeared. Rather than fear, she looked at me with something that bordered on fascination.
“My name is Taisiya. I’ll help you bathe, Your Highness,” she said, gesturing toward a small door in the corner of the room.
Her voice was lightly accented, closer to Evander’s than Kirill’s.
“Thank you, Taisiya,” I told her, making my way toward what I assumed was the bathing chamber. “What happened to...the other one?”
Taisiya shook her head with a trace of exasperation. “She is...indisposed.”
I couldn’t help a small answering chuckle. At least someone in this castle didn’t hate me on principle.
Maybe the Clan Wife would make two.
CHAPTER15
When I was dried and in one of the soft, comfortable nightgowns that Mila had left me, I walked back into the bedroom to a roaring fire and a turned down bed.
The chandelier was lit, casting a glimmering light on the floor and walls that, combined with the flickering fire, gave the room almost a cozy feel.