Wylde Magic | Book 3

Fifteen: Winter Snows

This was not the tour of the main house that I had expected when we first arrived.

With my skirts hiked up and tied around my waist, running was possible but uncomfortable. Lady Yevaron kept up surprisingly well for someone who didn't have her skirts tied up at all. 

Thain, Lady Yevaron, and I rushed down a wide corridor. We passed paintings and vases, flowers and statues of horses. On any other day I would have stopped to admire the carvings, exquisite as they were. But we slowed as we reached a crossroads and Lady Yevaron turned to Thain.

"Can you get her things through the service tunnel?" Yevaron asked.

"The one that goes under the house? I can. Wren, what do you need?" Thain asked.

"Um, the pack with the red buckle has my reagents in it, and my mother's book is the light blue one with silver and white flower vines on the front."

"I will bring them," Thain said with a nod, and he went down the right hallway and down a set of stairs. 

"This way," Lady Yevaron said, and I turned and followed her down the corridor we had been running down already. Room after room we passed, and more than once I spotted a servant of the estate running about after something or other, likely preparing for more of the attacks. 

"This one," Lady Yevaron said as she stopped at a plain-looking door and pulled it open. "Straight up, there's a latch to the roof that locks from the inside but not out. Just pull it back, but watch out as it sticks sometimes, and leave the door open behind you."

I looked up in what looked like a closet with a thick ladder running up its back wall.

"Watch the floor," the lady of the house warned. 

Looking down, I could see the part of the floor that was open to the floor below. Looking up, the ceiling was open to the next floor, and the next, and then finally the latched door that would open to the roof. The ladder ran from basement to roof.

"Will you need any other assistance?" Lady Yevaron asked. "Thainalan knows how to get up there, so he will be along shortly. I could stay, or I could send others."

"I don't remember what the spell takes," I admitted. "I'll need to read it again before I know for sure. I think it involved painting somehow."

"Well, then I will wait with you for Thainalan to retrieve your book." Lady Yevaron stood, hands folded in front of her and holding her head high as she watched the corridor behind us where Thian would come from. 

I studied her a moment with envy. She held herself so well, and she wore her beautiful red gown like she wore them every day. I wondered if she did. 

Her golden eyes, eyes just like Eberon, slid to me as she gave me a small assessing stare too. "You have come far, for the little mountain girl who followed my son to Thanantholl. You seem to have grown into a formidable female. I am glad you are on our side."

I blushed. "I believe the same could be said about you, Lady Yevaron."

Her smile turned to one of amusement. "I hope you give Thainalan hell if he messes up. Someone should keep that male on his toes."

I choked on a laugh as I put a hand over my mouth, turning impossibly redder by the second. "I'll... I'll keep that in mind, Lady Yevaron."

"Good. See that you do." She smiled and faced down the corridor again. "And speaking of Thainalan, here he comes."

Thain carried the pack and the book as he ran toward us. I took a few steps to meet him as he handed me Lark's book, and I took it hungrily as I flipped the pages.