As Xan’s brow became darker with anger, the older man smothered a laugh by coughing into his hand.
“My prince, if I may? If this young lady is indeed your True One, then she will require her own rooms for times when you have meetings, and she wishes to not participate. May I suggest the rooms that connect to yours? Currently they are vacant, but they can be converted within a short matter of time into your lady’s rooms. Once the ceremonies have taken place, they can then be converted to her own study and meeting rooms. Would this not be prudent?”
As Xan continued to stare at Remi, she refused to lower her eyes or back down. She refused to stay with him until the ceremony. She would not give his parents and the rest of the kingdom a bad first impression.
A glint came into Xan’s eyes as his face cleared. “We’ll discuss it once we get to my rooms.” As he went on up to the third floor and began striding down the hallway again, Remi took a moment to look around. Xan had taken the left wing of the hallway instead of taking the right wing or continuing to the second, smaller staircase at the side of the hallway. A sound behind them caught her attention, and peeking around Xan’s shoulder, she saw his brother Jarok watching them before he turned and went up the smaller stairs. Something about the way he had looked at her disturbed Remi, just as his disdain from yesterday seemed to echo in her mind. Maybe he just didn’t want his brother to make a mistake.
Remi turned back to see where they were heading as Xan continued walking. The older man walked silently at their side, nodding his head to the various household help as they worked. He stopped momentarily to speak softly to an older woman before quickly catching up with Xan. At the end of the hallway, two doors angled into the wall, several feet apart but at angles facing each other. The older gentleman hurriedly opened the one on the left and stepped out of the way.
As Xan walked in and set her on her feet, she looked around at the elegant sitting room. The furniture, though heavy and masculine, showed an elegance and richness that she was unaccustomed to. Couches, lounges, and chairs were situated around a circular low table upon which sat several decanters of undoubtedly expensive wines and liquors. To the left, a long table with several chairs situated around it matched a buffet cabinet along one wall. All this, situated in front of several doors leading onto a balcony. The older gentleman went about opening all the doors and allowing a fresh breeze into the rooms. On the left wall, a partially open door looked into an office or library.
Three women hurried in and disappeared through a door on the right wall, each carrying either cleaning supplies or fresh linens. As she looked through the door they had left open, she noted it led to a bedroom. She wondered where the connecting rooms could be if this all belonged to Xan’s suite.
Xan was speaking with the older man, who no one had introduced her to yet when the door opened again. One of the warriors from the courtyard entered, followed by three others. After them strode in court pages all bearing some type of scrolls, followed by more people, all trying to speak to the prince immediately. Slowly being jostled to the right side of the room as more and more people entered, Remi felt out of place.
Remi edged toward the door into the bedroom, figuring if nothing else, she could talk to the women who were working in there. While Xan spoke to the warriors, the older man placed a basket on the low table. He began insisting the pages place the paperwork into the basket while Xan spoke with the others. With a glance toward Xan, she slipped into the bedroom, gently closing the door.
“Quickly girl! The prince’s mistress will be arriving at any minute! We must make sure this room is ready, then head next door to prepare her rooms.” Remi turned to realize one of the ladies was talking to her as she put the finishing touches on making the bed, looking critically toward two younger women, girls really, who were finishing dusting and cleaning the windows. The first woman gathered the linens she had replaced and clicked her tongue at the other two girls. “Come you three, through the hallway now. Hurry! We can get started before the others arrive. It will go faster with more hands.” The woman herded Remi and the two girls through a door Remi hadn’t seen before, behind the door into the sitting room.
The door led through a short hallway that had a doorway on the left and one straight ahead. Remi followed the others, and when the end door opened, dust flew up in its wake. The drawn curtains made the room dark, and a musty smell lingered. Stepping in, the older woman kept pushing her charges until one stumbled over a footstool that materialized out of the gloom.
“Careful, girl!” She dropped the linens just inside the door and hurried across to fling open the curtains. Sunlight streamed through the windows, causing the dust motes to dance in sparkling twirls through the air. “Jeanae, go back to the bath and start the water filling the tub. Make sure and use two scoops of the bath crystals on the side of the tub. Lay out sufficient towels for both the prince and his mistress. Once the tub is full return here to help. Mari, start uncovering the furniture in the other two rooms, then start sweeping as much up as possible.” As the older woman turned from opening the windows onto the balcony, she stopped and propped her hands on her hips, looking at Remi.
“You, girl. I don’t know you. When did you arrive?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. My name is Remi, and I just arrived.”
“No matter. My name is Lorann, and I’m the head housekeeper for the Family’s third floor. Start with stripping the cover off the bed, then help pull the dust covers off the furniture both in here and in the other rooms. Once that is done, help Mari clean the furniture. By then the others will be here, and we can scrub the floors and windows. I just hope the new mistress is as good as the last.” Lorann finished with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. “Hurry now, I don’t want to disappoint the prince.” Lorann turned to start pulling dust covers from the furniture as Remi turned to the bed.
The room seemed to be a mirror image of Xan’s suite. The huge four-poster bed dominated the room, so she started pulling the dust cover off the top. The mattress appeared thick but comfortable. As she rounded the end of the bed to get to the other side, she uncovered a long bench that ran the length of the footboard. Finished revealing the bed, she piled the cover on top of the dirty linen pile. She unveiled a bedside table and moved toward a sitting area around a fireplace. Remi discovered a pair of lovely chairs, a deep chaise lounge, and a beautiful dark wood table that matched the bed and nightstand. She glanced up to see Lorann uncover a matching dark wood vanity and dresser.
Stepping through into the sitting room, she saw a pile of covers near the hall door and heard a rustling from the other room. Passing into the other room, she stopped in her tracks. Empty bookshelves ran the perimeter of three walls only allowing the fireplace and two large windows to dominate the outside wall. A large desk with a built-in credenza dominated the space to the right of the doorway, so whoever sat there faced the fireplace and windows but had bookshelves within easy reach. A library study table stood in the middle of the room with a cushioned chair for ease of study while a couch, flanked by two wing back chairs, faced the fireplace. She could easily see herself in here studying her books and scrolls while learning new things about the healing arts.
Mari struggled to pick up a pile of covers, so Remi hurried over and took half, helping move them to the pile in the sitting room. Lorann directed a couple younger boys and an older male in removing the cover sheets while Jeanae sat two buckets on the floor near the fireplace. Remi grabbed a bucket and went back into the study to start scrubbing down the bookshelves. She kept forgetting to pull the cloak up or away from her feet and just knew she would trip if she wasn’t careful.
Just as she sat the bucket on the floor and decided how to scrub with the cloak on, she heard a crash and a small shriek from the sitting room. Remi spun around and hurried back into the room, seeing a crowd around Lorann who held a small girl of about four or five years old. The little girl was screaming her head off. Remi elbowed her way through the huddled servants to see if she cou
ld help.
Lorann was trying to soothe the child and look at her hand at the same time. The little girl had her hand clutched to her chest, and blood seeped down her arm onto her dress. Remi was concerned about the amount of blood, but she needed to see before she could help.
“Hey, little one. What is your name?” Remi kneeled in front of Lorann as she placed a hand on the girl’s knee. “My name is Remi.”
The little girl quieted though sobs still racked her small frame. She eyed Remi before stuttering out “My n-n-name is H-Heather.”
“Nice to meet you, Heather. May I see your hand? I promise not to touch it unless you say I can.” Heather stared at Remi as her sobs slowly eased, then nodded jerkily and held her tiny balled fist out. Lorann caught her breath, but Remi shot her a look to discourage her from speaking. Blood still welled from the clutched fist at an alarming rate. “Jeanae, go to the bath and get me a bowl of clean water and some wash clothes, please. Mari, I need some clean linen strips. If you know of anyone in the castle that has a healer’s bag, ask if you can use it. Hurry now. The rest of you go on about your work. Mistress Heather will be fine and doesn’t need an audience.”
Chapter 8
Remi turned back to Heather, not noticing the quizzical look Lorann cast her. “Now, Mistress Heather, may I touch your hand? When Mistress Jeanae returns, I’d like to wash this hand and see what we have. Would that be all right?” Remi looked into the little girl’s eyes and smiled. As long as she remained calm, the girl would, too. Her grandmother had taught her that long ago. Heather returned her stare, blinking her tearstained lashes before nodding slowly, hiccupping, and burying her head tighter against Lorann’s shoulder.
Just then Jeanae returned with a basin of water and both washcloths and hand towels. Remi pulled the low table from between the chairs and indicated for Jeanae to set the things on the table. Pulling a hand towel from the stack, Remi made a production of snapping it out and laying it across Heather’s lap. “Can you lay your hand here, Mistress Heather? Thank you, ma’am. Now, can you unclench your fist for me? It might sting and hurt, but I really need to see what happened to your hand.” When Heather whimpered but opened her hand, Remi hid her wince at the sight of the gash across the little girl’s palm. It looked deep, and she could be in danger of losing too much blood if Remi didn’t get it fixed quickly.
“Can I try and wipe some of this blood away, Mistress Heather? I’ll be very, very gentle.” Remi waited for her nod before she dampened one of the cloths and, taking a gentle hold of Heather’s wrist, used the other hand to trickle the water onto the cut. When Heather started to whimper and cry, Remi asked, “How did you scratch yourself, Mistress Heather?” Remi hoped answering her questions would distract Heather from her hand.
“I was trying to help Mama dust the figurines on the shelves.” Remi glanced quickly toward the small pile of broken china near the display shelves near the sitting room’s fireplace. “I thought I had it tight in my fist, but it musta slipped outta my hand. It fell down and broke. When I went to pick it up, Mama screamed and…” Heather started trembling as Remi trickled more water over her palm.
“And…when your mama screamed, you accidentally scraped yourself? It’s all right, Mistress Heather. It was an accident, they happen all the time.” Remi breathed a silent sigh of relief when she saw no bits or slivers of the china left in the cut. Putting her hand over the cut, she stared into Heather’s eyes and sent healing energy into the deep cut while saying, “Do you want to know a secret? I have accidents all the time. I’ve gotten better the older I’ve become, but I still have them. The best thing to do is get any scrapes cleaned up, bandaged if needed, and just keep going.” Remi stopped the energies going into the little girl’s palm before it healed completely. She would arouse suspicion if there wasn’t a scar. The one problem when she completely “healed” injuries this way? A scar never showed up, which raised questions.
She looked down at Heather’s little hand and observed that the blood had quit flowing and just a small visible cut. She started gently cleaning the blood from her hand again, making sure to get every bit. “Mistress Heather, I’m going to put a bandage on here. You’ll need to make sure and not get it wet. Your mama can make sure it gets changed if it does, but most importantly…” Remi looked up into Heather’s big blue eyes. “You need to find me once a day, and I’ll make sure you have adequate candy to heal this.” Remi almost laughed when Heather’s eyes got impossibly bigger.
“Candy?”
“Oh, yes. But only if you are taking very good care of this cut until it heals. I’ll see your mama every day, and she’ll let me know if you are or not.” As Remi put a clean folded washcloth on Heather’s palm, she looked sternly into her face. “So don’t try and tell a fib and say you are. Am I clear, Mistress Heather?” As Remi tied off a strip of linen to hold the make-shift bandage, Mari came running back in, breathless and empty handed.
“Ma’am…no one had a healer’s bag.” Mari paused, trying to catch her breath. “Did you…want to send for a physician?”
Remi thought a moment. “Not necessary. Mistress Lorann?” She looked up at Lorann. “Can you bring Mistress Heather to see me later tonight or possibly in the morning? I’ll have to gather some things from the market.”
As Lorann nodded her head, looking somewhat confused, a bellow echoed from the hallway leading to Xan’s rooms.
“Remi!” Footsteps pounded the floors, and Xan practically slammed Jeanae out of the way when he barreled through the hallway door. “Are you all right? I smell blood!” Heather began crying and buried her face in Lorann’s chest. Lorann clutched her child and tried to kneel on the floor while balancing Heather. All the servants fell to their knees and tried to back away.
Remi’s chin dropped as the warriors that had been with Xan earlier, forced their way into the room from both the doorway beyond Xan and the outer hallway. Remi stood, putting her hands on her hips but before she could open her mouth, Lorann reached up and grabbed her cloak attempting to pull her to her knees. “Girl! That is Prince Anaxandros, Firstborn and Heir! On your knees!”
Xan roared as he rushed toward Remi and Lorann. Remi brushed Lorann’s hand away and stepped between Xan and the cowering housekeeper. Xan stopped chest to chest with Remi.
“Move, little one. She put her hands on you. She will learn not to touch what is mine!” Xan was panting, and Remi could see his eyes were changed to his dragon.
“Xan, calm down! She meant only to protect me. I might be yours, but you do NOT own me!”
“You are mine, and no one will hurt you,” Xan roared, staring past Remi’s shoulder at the quivering form of Lorann while Heather’s muffled crying could still be heard.
Remi put her hand on Xan’s chest and slowly stroked until she felt the muscles losing their tension. “I’m fine, Xan. She thought she was protecting me. She’s holding her daughter. You don’t want to hurt them for trying to protect me.”
Xan’s brows drew down, and he looked at Remi. “I smell blood. Are you hurt? You have blood on the cloak. Where are you hurt?” Xan turned his attention to touching her and trying to find her injury, running his hands over her body.
Remi blushed and slapped his hands away. She never noticed the gasps or the commotion at the outer door. “I’m fine. Mistress Heather cut her hand, and I took care of it. Now, if you would be so kind as to leave and take your entourage with you, we have cleaning that needs to be done.” Remi popped her hands back on her hips and stared Xan down. As Xan opened his mouth, low laughter started at the outer door. Both of them turned, and Remi saw a man who had to be a brother of Xan leaning against the door frame holding his stomach because he was laughing so hard. Xan huffed and crossed his arms across his chest as Remi raised one brow and looked at the man.
“Brother, I do believe you’ve met your match.” The other man finally stood straight and stepped forward.
“Of course I have, she is my True One,” Xan said, still frowning at the younger
man.
Remi couldn’t ignore the gasps that went around the room this time. All the servants cringed even more, if possible, and the warriors all dropped to one knee. Only the younger man and the old man who had accompanied them upstairs remained upright.
“How would they know that? No one bothered to introduce me.”
Remi looked at Xan and then back to the younger man and held her hand out. “I’m Remunada Summers, healer, but everyone calls me Remi. And you are?”
The other man chuckled, shook her hand, then turned it palm down and brought the back of it to his lips. As Xan growled, he brushed a kiss across it and said, “I am Prince Nicholas, Fifth Born of the Royal Family and the Royal Pain in the Arse, among other things. I am very honored to meet my brother’s True One and my future queen. You may call me Nic and may I say, thank you.”
Remi looked at him in confusion. “Thank you for what?”
“For saving the kingdom from having me as king.”
“But, I thought you said you were fifth born? There are a lot of siblings between you and the throne if I’m not mistaken?” Remi looked between Nic and Xan.
“He means because you will be adding even more layers between him and the throne when we have children.” Xan reached out and firmly took Remi’s hand from Nic’s grip, pulling her to his side. “Nic has nightmares about becoming king.”
Nic closed his eyes and shuddered. “I have nightmares about what would happen should I become king, not the actual act of becoming king.” Nic opened his green eyes, and the twinkle in them belied his words. “I would be totally inappropriate as king. I could not be as serious as my dear, oldest brother Xan.”
The older man who had accompanied them earlier cleared his throat, and Remi looked around. She realized everyone still kneeled and was horrified.
“Please, please stand up! There is no need to be on the floor!” She stepped away from Xan and reached to assist Lorann to her feet, Heather still clutched to her chest, but her crying had slowed to an occasional hiccup. “Please, get up.”
The Dragon's Soul: Xan (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 6
