“Right.” Margosha nodded. “We’ll tell her that we’re cleaning her jewelry. She’s been complaining lately that it doesn’t sparkle enough.” She motioned to Annika and Olenka. “The three of us can bring the caskets here.”
Gwennore sighed as the women left. Obviously, she was still not welcomed in the queen’s quarters.
Two hours later, they had the contents of the first casket all soaking in fresh bowls of water, each one topped with a lily pad. After raiding the castle garden of all of its lily pads, they’d resorted to taking them from the pond in the village.
“Whew.” Olenka collapsed in a chair. “So what do we do now?”
Annika ate the last piece of cheese left over from breakfast. “After lunch, we’re going into the forest to collect medicinal plants. If you’re serious about becoming my assistant, you should come along.”
Olenka saluted her. “Yes, Captain.”
Margosha shook her head, but smiled.
“Silas wants us to take some armed soldiers with us.” Gwennore nabbed the last crust of bread from the breakfast table.
Annika snorted. “We can take care of ourselves. When did he tell you this?”
“This morning.”
“Ah.” Annika’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Before you had to run up the stairs?”
Gwennore tossed the piece of bread onto the tray. “This is stale. Why don’t we have lunch?”
Annika’s mouth twitched. “Why don’t we change the subject?”
Gwennore gave her a wry look. “Nothing happened.”
“Well, isn’t that a shame?” Annika nudged her with an elbow. “You should have jumped his bones.”
Olenka giggled.
“Go get some food,” Gwennore fussed at her friends. “I’m hungry.”
Annika grinned. “All right, let’s go.” She waved at the others as she headed for the door. “Of course, Gwen wouldn’t be so hungry if she was satisfying her other appetites.”
“Go!” Gwennore threw the crust of bread, missing Annika, who laughed as she left with the other women.
Gwennore smiled. It was almost like being back with her sisters.
Her smile faded. She would miss her new friends here. And goddesses help her, she would miss Silas something terrible. It was like her heart was being torn in two different directions.
She wandered over to the long line of windows to gaze at the beautiful view. The charming village of Dreshka was nestled along the banks of the Norva River. And across the valley, green pastures dotted with fluffy white sheep swept up the hillsides. Then the forest began, stretching up the mountainsides till they gave way to patches of snow.
Gwennore sighed. I would never grow tired of this. Once again, she had the odd feeling of coming home, as if this place had been secretly harbored in her heart all her life.
What had Annika said about the elves? It was the river elves who lived in the mountains and had white-blond hair like hers. That had to be why she loved mountains so much. They soothed her soul, because they were in her blood.
A movement in the sky drew her attention. An eagle? It flew straight for the castle, then swooped along the windows on the western wing.
Brody? Gwennore quickly opened a window and waved. “Brody!”
The eagle circled around then came straight for her. She jumped to the side as it shot through the open window. It landed on the floor, then turned into a black-and-white shaggy dog.
“Brody!” Gwennore gave him a hug. “I didn’t expect you for a few more days.”
He grinned at her, then barked.
“Oh, you must have news.” No doubt, he wanted to shift into human form. She glanced around the room, but there were only a few small towels, not big enough to wrap around him. “Wait here a minute. I’ll bring you some clothes.”
She dashed off to Silas’s dressing room, wondering what had happened to cause Brody to come early.
* * *
Silas pulled off his shirt as he entered his bedchamber. He’d managed to stain the sleeves with blood while examining Romak’s body, so he wanted to put on a clean shirt before making his report to the king.
Although there wasn’t much he could tell Petras, since nothing was making any sense.
As he opened the door to his dressing room, he tossed the dirty shirt into a basket and heard a gasp from across the small room.
He spun around. Gwen? She was next to the shelves of clothes, holding up a pair of his underpants. At first she looked stunned; then her gaze drifted over his bare chest, and her lovely eyes grew even bigger.
His mouth twitched. “Have you acquired a sudden interest in my underwear?”
“What? No!” She hastily dropped his underpants on his dressing table. “I can explain.”
“No need to. I’m thrilled you want to see my underpants. Here, I’ll show you the more exciting version.” He unfastened the top button of his breeches.
“Stop that!”
He choked back a laugh. “Gwen, sweetheart.” He stepped toward her. “Why are you here? Did you miss me?”
She huffed. “I just saw you this morning.”
“You ran away from me this morning.”
A blush invaded her cheeks as she quickly folded up his underpants. “If you must know, I was simply checking the size of these to make sure they would fit—”
“Why? Were you planning to wear them?”
“They’re not for me!” She placed the folded underpants on top of some folded breeches. “I could explain if you weren’t so determined to distract me.”
“You find me distracting?”
Her gaze drifted to his bare chest again, then lingered on the dragon tattoo.
How much did she suspect? He motioned toward the shelves. “Could you hand me a shirt?”
“Of course.” She passed him one, then placed a second one on her stack of clothes. “I’m in a bit of a hurry. Brody is in the workroom, stuck as a dog until I—”
“Brody’s here?”
“Yes.” She gathered up the stack of clothes. “This was the only place I could think of that would have some male clothing. So if you don’t mind…”
“Of course not.” He slipped on his shirt. “Let’s go.”
She followed him into
