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Perhaps Sigwulf’s mind had followed the same path mine had, because he made a low, choking sound deep in his throat. He cleared his throat, pressing a huge green fist to his mouth for a long moment as he kept his gaze fastidiously on the tub and not on me.
Oops. I hope I didn’t make him too uncomfortable.
“Of course,” he finally said. “After a long journey in the cold, a bath would do you good, I’m sure. I will have Hildfree send up dinner for you. If you are comfortable with an orc woman coming in while you are bathing, she can bring it directly to you. Otherwise, it can be left in the hall.”
“Oh, no, I don’t mind if she brings it in. But I can just as easily go fetch it myself!”
I wanted to show him I was ready to work. I wasn’t some layabout who was going to waste his time, or that of his staff.
“No, please, she will be thrilled with something to do. I think she’s been going rather out of her mind in this big empty place,” Sigwulf said, a note of groaning frustration in his voice. “She is my childhood friend. She and her brother, Grimswald, came here to help me get the estate in order as I had no other family to do so. She cooks and helps run the castle. Grimswald is the groundskeeper.”
“Is it just the three of you here, then?” I asked, placing my bag and cloak down on a wooden table beside the bath.
“Yes. Four, now,” he said.
I waited for him to introduce the fourth person, then realized with a happy thrill that he meant me.
“Thank you. I look forward to meeting them and… And finding my place here. I know I can be of service to you.” I forced my hands down to my sides, trying to look confident.
I’d already learned that Sigwulf controlled his expressions carefully. However, I didn’t miss the swift dart of his eyes down my body before he turned away from me. What that glance meant, though, I couldn’t be sure. His expression had remained too stony. I hope he isn’t too disgusted with my state of dress, I thought miserably, clutching at my threadbare skirt and curling my toes in my filthy old boots. This is all I have! At least I’ll be able to wash my dress each night in the bath and then lay it out for the next day.
I resolved to do just that as soon as Sigwulf left. Which, for some reason, he still had not done.
“I bid you goodnight, Wynthea. If you should need anything,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder so that I saw his face in brutal, striking profile, “you need only go a few steps further in the hall to the next chamber. Knock on the door beside yours any time, day or night.”
“Why, what’s in there? Is that Hildfree’s room?”
Sigwulf tensed slightly, a nearly invisible tremor going through his wings and tail.
“No,” he rasped, his voice oddly strained. “It’s mine.”
Chapter 6
Sigwulf
I closed the door to Wynthea’s chamber behind me, staring into the torch-touched darkness of the hall. I’d spent a lot of time here even before inheriting the castle. I knew every turn of every hall, every corner of every room. Yet as I stared into the hallway of the castle I knew so well, I felt entirely lost. For the first time, perhaps ever, I’d begun making quick, irrational decisions that were not grounded in logic or reason or evidence but rather based in need.
I needed to have her in the room next to mine. I’d realized it the moment I decided to let her stay. This chamber was not the one I’d originally chosen for the assistant the Matchers Guild was supposed to have sent.
But it was the one I’d chosen for Wynthea. I’d done so swiftly, instinctively, my feet leading me here almost before my brain caught up.
What am I playing at with this? What do I hope to gain?
I had no real answers for that yet.
I remained stock-still outside the door, leaning back against the solid wood, for entirely too long. The stone walls here were sturdy and the wood was thick. But even so, when I stilled my shuddering breaths, I almost imagined I could hear the rustle of fabric as Wynthea let her cotton gown slide down her body to pool around her delicate ankles.
Growling, I pushed off from the door, stalking away from her room and from her. Irritated, I slammed my wings outward, stretching them to their full width in the hall while my tail thrashed the stone. As I walked, despite the thick stone, I actually did hear the unmistakable churning of hot water in the pipes. Which meant she had undressed. And she was now likely easing her naked body into the steaming water.
Does the rest of her body blush as deep a shade of pink as her cheeks?
I stopped walking, thunderstruck by my own perverse thoughts. She was my employee! And even more than that, she was an impoverished, frightened, desperate young woman. She needed safekeeping and care and the opportunity to learn and grow. Not the lustful eyes of her new employer leering at her every moment.
I really should not have put her in the room beside mine, I thought. That was selfish and inappropriate.
I thought of making some excuse and moving her, but she’d seemed so grateful and pleased with the room, and I didn’t want to take that joy away from her. Which was rather too convenient, because it meant I got my selfish wish – I got to keep her near me.
I started walking again, pounding through halls and down stairs until I reached the castle kitchen. Hildfree was there, standing before a great iron cauldron which she stirred. Scents of simmering meat and herbs drifted through the air.
