EL BK5 | Chapter 30 - A Mysterious Moonlight Maiden. (Patreon)

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Achaicus Klein:

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Monotonous days wore on into slow weeks filled with night balls and meetings. I had never minded the soirée’s at Dunkel nor at Leúchtend, perhaps in large part because I had a hand in their organization. Attendance is far less entertaining when one notices all the small details that could have been prepared better. Ice sculptures not well presented or preserved beginning to sweat, décor that looked like it was made to seduce more than host, and music poorly timed for dancing. Rich polished wood framed the windows and paneled up the walls, lending to the gaudy atmosphere in the same way the golden lighting did.

As rifts of other nobles made their way past I was beginning to understand my brother’s frustrations. Perhaps his need for control was less of a character flaw and more genetically influenced for it seemed I too craved sovereignty over event organization. I’d had a large hand in planning Markos’s wedding for this very reason.

The instrumental pace slowed and the court responded accordingly. Couples paired to begin a slow waltz and I melted back into the curtains beside the tall paneled windows at the edge of the room. I hadn’t brought Halle with me to this event. Both the entrée and main courses were heavy with humayne, making it unsuitable for her. Molly wouldn’t have minded, but Halle was far more delicate.

Finishing my glass in a single swallow, I exchanged it for another off the tray of a passing waiter. This was the 9th ball for the month, and my attendance was a formality to be polite. I had already met a great many more people than I cared to, swooned the oligarchs and endured a lineup of noble daughters at the behest of Ælferic’s wishes. He had hoped I might choose one, I did not.

Noticing my glass was nearing empty again, I tracked the waiter on the other side of the room. He disappeared through a set of double doors and I watched them swinging in his wake wistfully. I would have to wait until he circled back with fresh drinks–

“Are you enjoying your evening, my Lord?” A soft feminine voice interrupted my longing.

Certain she had materialized from thin air, I flinched back so startled I very nearly fell through the window. I recovered with a rueful scowl. “It’s quite rude to sneak up on your superiors,” I stated, wiping the thin trickle of wine that spilled down my breast coat.

Standing before me was a short servant woman. Of a similar age to I, she had an aquiline nose, a long, unsmiling face, and rosy lips that looked made to play a trumpet with their natural pucker. Unlike most, and despite her ugly sort of beauty, she held confidence in her shoulders, meeting my gaze in a way few of the help dared.

“You have my apologies, my Lord.” 

I doubted I did, considering the smile in her voice.

She gave a slight curtsy when she spoke, spreading the plain brown and white skirts of her dress with the motion. I noted with surprise that her eyes were a dark purple that faded to yellow toward the center. A faint crease formed on my brow. Purple was the color of noble blood, but her dress was common. She was likely a low born brought into the serving class for the oddity of her appearance.

“What is it that you want?” I demanded, glaring downward with all the ice of my brother.

The woman glanced around us in a subtle motion that could have just as well been a simple readjustment of her skirts. “Well my Lord to be frank, I thought you looked simply miserable by yourself and wondered if you might escort me on a walk through the gardens instead?”

I scoffed out a small laugh. Escort a servant around the gardens? Surely she must have been joking. “Who sent you over?” I swirled my glass, side eyeing the crowd to see which one of the other nobles was taking part in this farce.

“Myself,” she answered, indignant. “Unless, of course, my Lord has had too much to drink and cannot walk?”

“Whoever trained you has done an abysmal job.” 

“This is why I am so rarely allowed at events,” she agreed, before offering me her hand. “Come, this way. No one will see you.”

I tilted my head, narrowing my eyes as I tried to determine how tight her braids must have been to give her such delusions. “Very well. I would appreciate some fresh air. You may show me to the gardens.”

***

The strange girl led me out through a narrow corridor, her silver white hair a shining stream behind her. It was a servants passage, intended for use so that the nobility did not have to see the bustle of the workers. Hurrying down it reminded me of every time I had snuck out Leuchtend castle this very same way with my brother. At the end of the corridor, she turned sideways to squeeze through a gap and I followed with doubts that I would be able to fit the way she had. 

We exited into the perfume of roses alongside the castle wall. Small stepping stones led through the shrubbery, and we followed it to the larger cobblestone path. The woman stopped there to straighten her dress and catch her breath.

“You see? No one saw.” Her teeth flashed in the moonlight, short canines—most certainly a low born. 

“Fleeing a ballroom is childish,” I remarked, loosening my collar too warm from the exertion, or from the wine.

Fresh snowfall blanketed the ground in a fine powder, and piled on bare tree branches. It would be a cold night with few clouds in the sky. Winter roses, bolstered in bloom by magic, drooped under the weight of ice and only the gentle trickle of the centre piece water fountain broke the silence. This garden had somehow eluded me in all the time I had been here. 

Most of the others were catered to Ælferic’s taste, filled with an unusual assortment of carnivorous plants, and poisonous flowers. It made the genteel walkways and common plants before us a welcome familiarity. Nathaniel cares little for keeping plants, but he enjoys taking long strolls, and his gardens are extensive as a result. I didn’t mind joining him, when Eric wasn’t with him, although I rarely walked on my own.

“Do you like the garden?” The woman asked, she had already walked several steps ahead and I began after her.

“Should I not?”

She gave a shrug, walking backwards to face me. “Lord Ælferic finds this garden to be boring, it is Lady Ilyana’s personal garden. I was curious which of your grandparents you took after.” 

“And if I said neither?”

“Then perhaps your mother.”

I’d had to leave my glass behind, and suddenly felt rather empty without it as I bit back the urge to silence her. Best not to let my annoyance show. “It seems you are well acquainted with my lineage, however, you have neglected to offer even your own name.”

“Does my Lord wish to know my name?”

“I am at something of a disadvantage without it.”

The ghost of a smile played on her lips as she deflected the question. “That sounds dreadful, I would hate to be at a disadvantage myself.”

“Who’s household do you serve?” I enquired. Knowing her master, I would only have to ask and her name would be mine.

“I serve a noble household,” she answered innocently, as if I were a fool.

We completed a long bend in the path and reached the fountain. The enormous stone structure was circular at its base, as shallow as one's knees and full of bright fish that would have frozen if not for the warmth runes carved into the base of the rim. My mysterious servant girl stepped up onto the stone, dancing across the edge with a short set of graceful movements until she reached the other side.

I scrutinized the fluidity in the motion, not as smooth as the ladies of the courts, but clumsy in a deliberate way. Who was this girl? And who had taught her? Perhaps she was a companion to a young noble lady. Often the few children born of noble blood are lonely and particularly wealthy families might buy, or steal a low born. Was she from a family outside of Hohenblut?

“If you will not tell me your name, nor master, how should I address you?”

“However you should like.”

That was profoundly unhelpful. 

She stepped down from the rim of the fountain and her heels met the stone with a soft, echoing clack. “Have you decided?” she cocked her head like a bird, holding her hands behind her back.

“No,” I gave an honest shrug. I suppose it didn’t matter.

A flicker of disappointment crossed her expression but before she could answer, new voices in the night air drifted toward us. We both turned toward the sound. Guards on patrol it sounded like, from the soft clatter of chainmail and the loud boast of their speech.

“We have been discovered, my Lord.”

“So it would seem,” I agreed with a sigh, being seen to indulge servants was far from becoming, although my reputation could hardly suffer any more from it with my prior actions. I turned to let her know it didn’t matter, and was startled to find empty space where she had once stood. 

The woman vanished as silently as she had appeared, leaving only the faint imprint of her footsteps in the snow to assure me that I wasn’t losing my mind. 

*** 

I returned to my room bothered by the encounter and melancholy for not having thought to command her name. Kicking the ice from my boots I entered to find Charles and Halle gathered around the low table in the living area. A tray with only one small cake remaining sat hostage between them as they each held a fan of playing cards in their hands.

“Do you have a two of…” Charles drew out the question as he thought, “Hearts.”

Halle scanned her cards. “No.” 

“Dammit,” the man reached forward to add a card to his hand from the stack in the center of the table. 

I shrugged off my coat and hung it as they played. Charles had been teaching the girl how to play a variety of card games with limited success, mostly because her emotionless gaze gave nothing away. Still, I was grateful that they got along better now. Training Halle took up a portion of the day, I couldn’t allow her to fail another test or it would reflect poorly on not only myself, but my grandfather as well.

Meanwhile, Charles became a feverish mess of human intellectual endurance. The piles of books around the room grew daily until they crowded the small dining table in the corner and spread into the dining area. Soon, his stacks would rival that of my brothers.

To end their game, I approached and selected the sweet cake from the tray, irreparably ruining the pot they were playing for.

“I was going to win that–” Charles complained and I glanced between his handful of cards in comparison to Halle’s.

“Unlikely.”

“Do you wish for me to help you undress and bathe?” The girl offered, laying her cards face down as she stood.

I waved her away. “That won’t be necessary. Please ready yourselves for bed, I will retire myself after I have washed.”

It’s customary for our Pets to help us undress to nude or redress from nude, but it’s not a service I care to use. Not even Molly had ever seen me entirely unclothed. I closed the door to my room, and filled the bathing tub with steaming water the scent of roses as I shed the remainder of my clothes.

Sitting on the cold ceramic edge of the tub, I unbraided my hair, letting it fall over my shoulder and down the length of my back. My thoughts drifted back to the woman from earlier, wondering about her name and breed. Her features were unconventional. Undesirable by nobility’s standards, but somehow fascinating… not that it could matter to me.

I eased into the warm water, letting it cover me from toes to shoulders as I slid into it. Once I couldn’t have sat in the warm water like this. When my scars were still tender the heat had bothered them. Now, I hardly notice the pale lines between my thighs, despite the permanent disfigurement they have left. The skin there had learned to forget, but I would forever be reminded of my time with my aunt.

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