Amaskan's Blood, Raven Oak [read me a book .TXT] 📗

added such depth to the room that the blue wasn’t overwhelming, just richly ornate.

“This is Her Highness’s sitting room. Your room is the first door on the right. After that is Her Highness’s study and then her own bedchambers. The stairs here,” he said, pointing straight ahead, “lead to Her Highness’s bower.”

Much to Adelei’s relief, he led her to her rooms rather than those of her sister. While her new room was lavishly decorated, it paled in comparison to the room she’d just left. Baby blue. Why couldn’t it have been dark blues? Instead she got the room meant for the royal heir. The shades were the stuff of nightmares.

“Just out of curiosity, what purpose did this room serve before being prepared for me? Something about the color scheme makes me doubt it has always been for a visiting Master.”

“Um, yes, it—it used to be the room for the Princess’s sister, may the Gods bless her.”

Had she really lived in this room? She held no memory of it, and she frowned. Might have been for the best with a color scheme like that. Not that she’d be spending much time there anyway.

The single bed wedged into the corner, and a small desk stood in the opposing corner with a chair missing a leg. A few empty bookcases lined the walls. Instead of anything useful, flowers and decorative art plastered itself along the walls and shelving. It wasn’t functional. It was… pretty.

My first task is redecorating. I damned well won’t live in a flower pot like this. The lack of furniture left the feel of space, but the space was empty. And she alone in it. Another door led to her private bathroom, complete with an actual tub, but even that struggled to conquer her moodiness.

Adelei grimaced as she left her room. “Is something to your disliking, Master Adelei?” Dumont asked.

“I think the blue has made me ill.”

Dumont cleared his throat. “Very well. His Majesty has requested that you remain in your room or the sitting area if you wish until you are called for. He will see you at his earliest convenience.”

As he left, Adelei touched his arm. “Wait—can you tell me where Captain Warhammer is now? I hadn’t realized she didn’t follow us in.”

“She’s standing outside the royal suite. Do you wish to see her?”

“Yes, please.”

His clean boots squeaked on the polished floor as he walked. “Captain?” he said as he stuck his head out the door, and Ida followed him into the sitting room. “Captain, you have but a few minutes as His Majesty wishes to see you at once.”

The door closed behind him, and Adelei spun once around the room. “Overdone much? I think I might die of a case of the blues.”

Ida grinned as her fingers trailed over the back of a blue upholstered couch. “This’s goodbye for now, I’m afraid.”

Adelei shook Ida’s outstretched hand. “Are you stationed in the capital or elsewhere in Alexander? When you aren’t playing escort, that is.”

“Normally, my job’s to guard His Majesty. I watch people. Look for problems that need my handlin’. Sometimes I run errands or go places His Majesty can’t. With your bein’ here and truth about me bein’ out, I don’t know what His Majesty will do with me.”

While Ida smiled, the corners of her mouth didn’t stretch far enough, and the smile’s light didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m sorry for my part in all this.”

Adelei touched the armor bearing shoulder. “I know you were doing your job, as I’m doing now. When the Master sends you to Justice, your blade must carry you through.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “If I had it my way, I’d be home in Sadai right now and not on this job.”

“This is your home, Iliana Poncett, whether ya agree or not. I hope ya remember what this place once meant to ya.”

“May we meet again soon, Ida.”

“May ya find your Way here, and may the Way be home.”

Adelei drew her hand to her mouth in surprise at the ancient blessing. It was a blessing given between only the closest of family, the very same blessing Master Bredych whispered in her ear as she left Sadai over a week ago. Tears sprang to her eyes, which she blinked away rapidly. All three saddlebags were dragged into her room.

This isn’t home.

She could give into the morose mood that had settled in behind her thoughts, but she decided to redecorate in earnest. All flowers, embroidery, and tapestries were removed and tossed into the chest at the bed’s foot. Even the floor rug, a hideous baby blue with cherubs bouncing around on clouds, was stowed away, though she regretted the loss as the stone floor was cold right through her boots.

No fireplace warmed the room, and she vowed to get more appropriate rugs and bedding soon. She needed to secure several blankets if she didn’t want to freeze to death at night. No windows was both a blessing and a curse. She was safer than some, but unable to see the enemy coming. It also meant she couldn’t leave the room any other way than through the main door.

Unpacking her few belongings kept her from thinking too long and hard about the inevitable meeting with her father. Adelei’s stomach knotted. She stashed her reserve weapons around the room in easy reach: one beneath the corner of the bed’s mattress and another inside a now empty vase.

Most of her books remained at the Order. She didn’t know if they would send them to her or not. What would a former Amaskan need with such texts? Her finger brushed against the three books she had packed, and she set them on one bookshelf where they rested as footnotes to the empty case.

It would do for now. Adelei leaned carefully on the chair to test its strength. It wobbled, and a small creaking confirmed it was as useless as the decorations had been. Nothing else to do, she sat on the bed and studied the