Escaping a Lord

Chapter 21 Family Visit

Kyra's pov

A few months passed and winter was slowly coming.
My language lessons had stopped because by now I was fluent at it.
Master Ludwigg focused his time completely on Valentine now, who failed to elude him despite making a really good effort.
But I quote "a 4000 years old vampire has seen all the tricks in the book."
I still couldn't wrap my mind around his age.

The lord now took me with him on short trips.
The reason for travel could be anything from collecting on a debt, visiting family or diplomatic trips.
Today's trip was a family visit to my least favorite branch of his family, that of Nadja.
It would be the first time for me to go there, she on the other hand had made it a sport to come to the castle as often as possible.

I wasn't looking forward to this at all.
But lord Radu had refused to let me stay at the castle for this trip and there was no use for me to argue over it, I had to do as I'm told.
I wouldn't have minded going to the house of Valentine's parents, although his father was intimidating, his mother was always nice to me when they came to visit us.
And maybe Valentine could join us then, that sure would liven things up.

The lord was always quite stiff, Valentine was the complete opposite, all about having fun.
And Nadja... well... my opinion of her hadn't improved since the first time we'd met.
She still made it clear she thought I was a bad pet and her hate for me had only seemed to grow.

I was sure lord Radu only brought me along to annoy her.
She was still going on about marrying him and he just wasn't interested.
For some reason he always kept me close when she was around, not ever letting me out of his sight.
As opposed to normally, where I was allowed to wander a bit if Mihai, Sarah or Valentine kept an eye on me, for obvious reasons.
I mean, we both know I'm still gonna make a run for it if I ever get the chance.
My life right now might not be horrible because I know what I can and cannot say or do, but I still want my freedom back.

"Snow..."

I was sitting on my knees, looking outside the car window when it slowly started to snow a bit.
Lord Radu looked up but didn't say anything at first.

"You like snow?"

He asked after watching my gaze for some time.

"Yes."

A smile appeared on my face and I began to speak enthusiastically while reminiscing about the past.

"We always made snowmen with the kids from the neighborhood, and at the cafe it would always be bustling with people coming in for hot chocolate. I like the cold, and looking forward to a nice warm blanket with hot cocoa at home after playing outside all afternoon."

"Her castle is high up in the mountains, there is probably more snow there this time of year."

His mind wandered off a bit until he said.

"Maybe I can find some free time today so you can play in the snow."

I nodded and continued to watch the snow.
How else was I going to respond to his stupid comment "So you can play". I'm eighteen for crying out loud, not a child.
Eighteen year olds don't play, we have fun.
Oh well, guess since he views me as a dog or a cat it doesn't matter how old I am, pets always play...

Today it was just me, lord Radu and the driver.
Mihai had to prepare something at the castle for when we returned.
What it was I didn't know, I wasn't told and I didn't ask.

He was right, the higher we got the more snow there was.
The view over the mountains was breathtaking, the sky was clear and you could watch over some of the clouds down at the valley.
The castle had come into view, it looked impressive but cold.
No big gardens like at Lord Radu's castle, just rocks, probably because the castle was so high up the mountain.