5. The Awkward Dinner

“Where are we?” I demanded as the horse trotted into what looked like an abandoned courtyard. It was already dark but the place looked so empty and creepy that I cringed.  “My home,” Winter said in his usual cold manner.   “People live here?!” I gasped before I realised how rude that probably sounded. But in all honesty, was it even the truth? What if he brought me to this abandoned place to kill me? It surely did not look like an estate of a famous knight…   “Master!” an old man appeared all of a sudden and helped us with the horse. Winter jumped off easily and stretched his hands to help me. I ignored that, of course. The less help I accepted from him the better.   But unfortunately, I did not realise how numb my legs were from all the cold and riding, when I tried to get down, I tripped and fell straight into his arms.   “Careful, my lady,” the old servant said, and I could swear I heard a snort from Winter. But when I looked at him,  he was his usual composed self.   “Finn,” he turned to the man, “This is lady Sage Satorr. She will be staying with us for…”   “Just the night!” I interjected, but seeing how the old man arched his brow, realised that it probably didn’t sound right.    “We’ll see how that goes,” Winter coughed awkwardly and then turned to the servant, “The lady needs a room prepared for her. A good one.”   “Will be done, master,” the man bowed as if he had never done this before in his life and left quickly, leaving us alone again.   “You will have to excuse us,” Winter told me, offering me his hand once again, “we don’t entertain guests often.”   I ignored his hand and went past him. However, he caught up with me quickly. Which was a good thing, since I had no idea where to go.    The place looked unkept and cold. I still couldn’t believe it was an actual house. Winter led me through the garden… which was probably the wrong word for a dried out piece of land with some stone passages through it and ancient fountains that were not working. It would have been a beautiful place probably if it had a better owner. But…   “This way,” he opened the door for me and we entered inside of the gloomy mansion. It was just as dark and sad as the rest of his land. At least it was spacious and could rival in size my house. But it was creepy the way each of our steps echoed through the hall.   “Just how many people live here?” I couldn’t help but ask him.   “Three,” he informed in his usual cold manner and then added, “When I am here.”   “No wonder this place is so…” I started talking but then bit my tongue. I hated the guy’s guts, but I was still his guest. And, technically, he just saved my life.   “So... what?” he looked at me and, for the first time, I saw some kind of emotion there, “Unkept? Forsaken? Deserted?”   “Neglected,” I gritted through his teeth. Did I have to be sorry for stating the obvious? The estate was a mess.   “Are you surprised?” he looked down on me, “I spent the last years of my life at the Rupture, a giant hole in the matter that forms our world through which demons try to get in constantly.  I spent those years fighting so that people like you could keep enjoying their lives while doing nothing important and taking care of their gardens.”   “Well, you made sure that I don’t have to worry about that anymore,” I hissed at him, “So, no worries there.”   We stared at each other for some time and then he simply went deeper into the large and mostly empty hall with just a few armchairs and a huge fireplace, unbuttoning his coat and ignoring me completely. Which was probably for the best.    “My lady,” his servant came back, and I was surprised that he was back this fast. But happy for that fact at the same time. One more minute with Winter and I would have started ripping my own hair out.   We went in the direction of a huge and dark staircase which probably led to the bedrooms upstairs when the owner of the house stopped us.   “The dinner will be served in one hour,” he said loudly, and our eyes met again. Did he seriously think that I would want to share dinner with him?   “I am not hungry!” I said proudly, lifting my chin up. And at the same time, my tummy rumbled loudly, the sound echoing through the empty halls of the building.   It was okay. I could pretend that it wasn’t me. No gentleman would comment on something like that. It could have been the servant.   But just when I thought that I had escaped, my stupid stomach repeated the sound. Louder this time. As if it tried to make a point.   In all honesty, I haven’t eaten since morning. I was busy with the party and then everything was such a mess…   “One hour,” Winter repeated, and I nodded politely. There was no point in pretending anymore. Dinner it was!      The room they gave me was surprisingly lovely. It was not huge but very cosy. And the fire was already burning in the fireplace, warming up the air quickly. On top of that, a bath was ready for me and, once again, I was surprised how they managed to do all that so quickly. It was a lot of work and, according to the owner of the house, there were just two servants here.   But I was too exhausted to think of all that and simply wanted to peel off my dirty clothes and wash away the horrors of the day. I bathed until my skin crinkled and made sure to go over every inch of my body. Thinking of everything that happened to me today, I wanted to cry. But it wasn’t the time, neither was it the place. I couldn’t show my weakness now and my problems were far from being over.   I walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in a soft towel and was surprised to find a new dress on the bed. My old clothes were gone, which bothered me. My underwear was there as well… And although the new dress was lovely in white brocade with dark green embroidery over the edges of the fabric, there were absolutely no undergarments anywhere there. The men of the house probably didn’t think of that… And all my things were gone in the woods.      Awkward.   I dressed even though it was a challenge without a maid. On the floor, I found new shoes as well, which were surprisingly my size. What was this? Where did they take the clothes? The questions circled in my mind as I tried to dry my long hair at the fireplace. It was going slowly and I wasn’t done when I heard the knock on the door.   “My lady,” I heard the old servant’s voice, “ dinner is served. I will escort you when you are ready.”   “Thank you,” I shouted, sighing and realising that I would still have to go with wet hair. They also didn’t provide a hairbrush for me, so it was what it was. A complete mess.   The old man kept his word and met me at the door.   “Finn, right?” I decided to make sure that I heard his name correctly.   “Yes, my lady,” he confirmed it, “But you don’t have to call me that.”   “Why not?” I smiled at him and then it struck me, “Does your master prohibit you from talking to the guests? Does he treat you badly?”   Despite living in this world for over twenty years already, I hated it when people treated their servants as if they were slaves and absolutely couldn’t take any of that.   “N-no,” the man replied, looking at me with an open mouth, “Master is very…”   “Finn, Finn, Finn,” Winter turned out to be standing on the other side of the corridor with his hands crossed on his chest, “You don’t have to lie to the lady for me. Just tell her what a monster I am. It’s what she wants to hear anyway.”   I gave him an eye roll, passing him by.   “Like he is going to tell the truth now!” I snorted. We all went downstairs and into the dining room, which was incredibly gloomy as well. Only a few candles and the fireplace were illuminating the space and the food was already on the table.   It was colder here since they started the fire just a few minutes prior. And the change of temperatures made me sneeze when I was sitting down.   “You will catch a cold like that,” Winter told me when he was helping me with the chair and absolutely unexpectedly I felt his hand touching my hair.   “What are you…” I muttered, turning to gape at him but then I saw him draining water out of my locks and making them nice and dry. They even curled properly.   “That’s much better,” he said with a smirk, and then clicked his hand and the waterball in his hands turned into ice. Another click of his fingers and it dissipated into tiny snowflakes and scattered around the room.   It was beautiful. And I hate it.   “A dinner and a show!” I stretched a smile over my face, “Lovely, Sir Winter.”   “Maybe we should drop the titles already, considering the situation?” he offered, knowing that I wasn’t in the position to refuse.   “Very well,…” I stumbled, realising that I had a tiny little problem…   “Sage,” he looked at me with a raised brow and I took a sip of my wine to give myself a few more seconds.   “Do you by any chance not remember my name?” he chuckled dryly, and I shook my head, gesturing to him that my mouth is simply busy with something more important.   What was his name? Patrick? Richard? Spencer? I had no idea… Everyone just called him Winter and so did I…   “Of course, I do,” I lied when the pause was already too long and awkward, “It’s… Geo…”   “Not George,” he teased me, knowing that he had got me.   “…lexander,” I cleared my throat to muffle the sounds coming out of me. Just how awkward was that? I was spending the night in the house of a man I didn’t even know the name of.   “It’s Killian,” he decided to end my torture and I was grateful for that.   “It suits you,” I added quickly, and started my meal. The food was delicious and literally melting in my mouth. I rarely ate much when I was stressed, but today was physically exhausted and I could feel that I needed a proper meal for the energy. Hard days were before me.   We were mostly silent but I caught him looking at me from time to time.   “The dress suits you, Sage,” he said all of a sudden, and I looked up at him again. Was he complimenting me? What was all that?   “Thank you,” I mumbled, “It’s surprising that you have something like that in your closet. Did it belong to one of your mistresses?”   It was not a nice thing to say. And he probably didn’t have any anyway…   “Yes,” his answer hit the ground from under my feet and I almost spit out my food. He, however, continued with his meal as if nothing happened.   I wanted to tear this dress off me. And the only thing stopping me was that there was nothing underneath.   I wanted to say something snarky at least and I had already opened my mouth when someone banged on the door. It was loud and they went on with it for a while.   None of Winter’s servants bothered to open.   It went on and on until he finally wiped his lips with a napkin and threw it on the plate, standing up.   “Excuse me,” he said politely, and walked out of the room. Probably to open the door himself. Which was unbelievable for a noble.  But this house just wasn’t a regular one.   Curiosity was eating me up from the inside and I decided to have a look at who was disturbing the Winter Estate at that hour. I got out of the table and to the window, taking a peek. But all I saw were two figures in dark cloaks. One tall and one relatively short. Killian was not letting them in and soon I heard them discussing something loudly.   Yet I couldn’t decipher the words. But what if it was something about my father?   My heart clenched and I took my shoes off not to make extra sounds and tiptoed out of the dining room. I got closer, hiding behind the doorway, and tried to listen.   “You don’t understand!” a woman’s voice sounded, “Everything depends on you!”   “Not interested,” Winter cut her off, “Now, leave my land.”   “But…” she wanted to say something else, but he already slammed the door in her face.   However, I kept standing there, frozen. That voice was utterly familiar… AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am back! As you probably already know, the end of January and February turned into a nightmare for me with battling covid. But it's finally leaving me alone and my brain starts to function again. I will be updating the Emerald Seer 1-2 times per week until the end of February. The daily updates will start in March. You can always find me on Inst.agram (books_of_marion) if you have any questions, or the Dreame Slayers group on Fac.ebook (check the group out even if you don't have questions).