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Blessed sleep was mine until something heavy and warm disturbed me. My eyes fluttered open and I discovered that an arm had draped itself over my waist. I followed the limb and twisted my head around to find Ben’s face just behind mine. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and even.
A faint hint of sunlight shone through the window and onto the floor. The fire had long gone out in the hearth, but the room was, according to my nose, still moderately warm. I shifted and the arm around me tightened its grip. There was also the slightest hint of a wafting breath on the back of my neck.
I stared ahead and narrowed my eyes. “I know you’re awake.”
Ben couldn’t stifle the slight laugh that escaped him. “Perhaps this is merely a sweet dream.”
I snorted and tapped his arm with one finger. “Dreams have a tight grip on the mind, not my waist.”
He nuzzled his nose into the back of my neck. “Could be both.”
“Could be you faking it and just wanting to snuggle.”
“I don’t see an issue here.”
Truth be told, I couldn’t think of an issue with it, either. I was just about to get ready for a nice snooze when there came a horrible rapping on the door. It sounded like a flock of rabid woodpeckers was trying to beat it down.
A heavy and very irritated sigh escaped Ben. “What is it, Fysan?”
The owl’s deep voice floated through the door. “My Mistress requests you arise and join her for breakfast.”
Ben tensed and his voice was strained. “What’s she doing up at this hour?” That’s when I recalled his mentioning she was a late riser.
“She didn’t go to sleep last night.”
Ben sighed. “We’ll be there in a moment.” A flutter of wings was the only reply.
I twisted my head around to stare into Ben’s concerned face. “I’m guessing she doesn’t usually stay up all night.”
He pursed his lips as he slipped his arm off me. “No.”
Ben rose from the bed and began to dress. I followed suit but kept one eye on him. The worry in his eyes never wavered and he was very quick to change. So quick, in fact, that I was hopping through the door after him with one sock in my mouth and the other halfway on my foot.
I managed to catch up to him at the top of the landing where I grabbed his sleeve. “Does she usually let things worry her this much?”
Ben ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “I’ve never known her to get up before ten even after a storm knocked down a tree into the house.”
He continued the journey down the stairs and I hurried on with my socks before joining him. Ben guided me through the maze of rooms and we soon entered the dining room at the rear of the house. Dreda was seated at the head of the table with a few dishes of breakfast foods placed in front of her. Her clothes were rumpled and she had huge black bags under her eyes. Frysan was seated on a thick wooden perch against the wall behind her.
Dreda looked up and smiled at us. “Good morning. Care for some bacon?”
“You’re up rather early, or late,” Ben commented as he helped me into my chair before taking up his own.
“Well, I thought since I was awake I would have breakfast before I went to bed,” Dreda mused as she picked up a teapot in both hands and began pouring some tar-black coffee into her cup.
Ben leaned one arm on the table and captured his aunt’s gaze in his own stern one. “Aunt Dreda, you despise the mornings. What really made you stay up to see this one start?”
Dreda sighed and set down the teapot. “It was Werd.”
The mention of the pasty servant made my heart skip a beat. “Is he okay?”
She shook her head. “I fear not. He tries to hide it, but he grows weaker by the day.”
A dark cloud settled on Ben’s brow. “Are you sure he doesn’t need blood?”
Dreda leaned back in her chair and stared at the table as she shook her head. “Unfortunately, doubt has begun to creep into my mind about that. There’s no evidence he needs blood, but he has also, as far as I’m aware, not eaten anything for at least a week.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Ben offered.
