Chapter 4
Lyv contemplated running, but the window above the tub in the bathing room was just a little too small. She had been in there for a good hour, far longer than it took her to wash up and change into the simple blue dress Gideon had found somewhere in the small cottage. Other than the dress, there were no signs a woman lived there.
It actually didn't look like anyone lived there. Well, it looked like they had just moved in, which was exactly the case, as Gideon explained to her.
"I've only been here a week, so I haven't had time to make the place homey. We're only going to be here for a few months, so it doesn't really seem smart to have a lot of stuff we're just going to have to leave behind."
"We?" she asked as he led her to the bathing room. "The barmaid at the tavern said you were waiting on a friend."
"Checking up on me, were you?" he grinned at her.
"Only because you were the one who was watching me."
He went into one room which must have been his. The only things it contained was a bed, wardrobe, a chair, and a small table. The room she'd peered into on the other side of the short hallway was almost exactly the same. There was a large desk in one corner that held rolled up papers that must have either been correspondences, maps, or both. One of Escarral was spread out in the center, held down with two small paperweights. Pens and ink bottles were scattered around it.
"My friend...Amory." He must have noticed her curiosity, but she sensed hesitation at the name. "He's a mapmaker, but he's out doing some work for the man who hired him."
"And who, exactly, hired him?"
His grin widened as he handed her the spare clothes. "Would you believe me if I said the king?"
"What would the king want with maps?"
"And that, my dear Audry, is something I'm not at liberty to discuss." He nodded toward the door at the end. "Bathing room is there. Take as long as you need. I'll make us some tea and change the sheet on my bed for you to have clean ones to sleep on..."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I can sleep out on the sofa. I don't want to displace you when you're already helping me enough. Besides, it'll allow me to leave without waking you up in the morning."
"I've already told you I'll escort you to the city. You're not in any danger here."
"I'll be fine, thank you," she said, and headed for the doorway.
No, she wasn't in any danger. But now, as she stood in front of the mirror, she just didn't want to go out into the living room with Gideon. She could hear him moving around, smell tea he'd brewed half an hour before.
Smoothing her hands over her borrowed dress, she gathered up her clean, still damp clothing and finally left the bathing room.
"I forgot how long it takes women to get ready...or you were contemplating escaping through the window?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
She ignored the question. "I didn't think you would have plumbing this far out into the forest. How?"
"Magic," Gideon grinned. She stared at him blankly. "Just kidding. The man we bought the place from was a skilled craftsman and built the pump to get water from a well out back. The well's fed by an underground spring. Makes it easier making tea when you just have to the water from a faucet..." He looked behind him toward the kitchen. "Hey, Jett. You want to light the burner so we can heat the water again?"
YOU ARE READING
Map of Ember and Moonlight
Fantasy(Book 1 in the fantasy series The Crowns) Alyvia is the youngest daughter of the king of Escarral, a land where magic is feared and hidden amongst the humans who possess it...and just happens to be one of those humans herself. When Lyv befriends a...