Lady Illea (Lady Illea #1)

Chapter Thirty Two

    After breakfast I really didn't want to go back to my room, nor did I want to go to the Women's Room where Contsnace was even though Ora insisted she'd take care of he rif things got out of hand. So I decided it might be nice to roam around the palace halls humming my favorite melody.

   I didn't really take into account how large the palace was, and it was only until I found myself a bit lost did I realize the extent of its enormity.

Oh great. Now how will I find my way back?

    I made another left and tried to remember where I came from. I walked down a large wide hallway with a window that took up the entire wall on one side and on the other a wall of portraits hung. They were some of the most beeautiful paintings I'd ever seen. Most of them were of landscapes, parts of the palace, and of people at odd angles doing strange things. One portrait was of the side of a woman, the sunlight blurring the features of her face, as she very delicately stroked the strings of a violin.

   Another was of the back of a man holding hands with a tolder. There was another portrait of the gardens, in beautiful water colors. I stroked the frames they in and I caught sight of a portrait of the horses Shalom and Amberly riding across the perimeter of the palace grounds.

   They were beautiful, magnificant portraits and the shadow of the sun made them even more incredible. I took into account one of my favorite, a picture of a blonde little girl kissing the head of a bunny. I smiled. I wonder who painted them all.

  Walking further down the hallway I saw what must have been an oil painting. It was of a little girl with dark hair, picking up the delicate fabric of her dress to look at her feet. And then another one assumably painted using acrylics was of a boy with dark red hair touching the water of what seemed to be the pond behind the palace.

   I kept walking and realized there was a wall ahead but, I could turn left or right and there were doors. I tried to think of which door would lead me back to the part of the palace I memorized. Until I heard something. I stopped humming some time ago and realized that the noise wasn't coming from me. Someone else was humming. It was deeper, more melow tone than mine. 

    I turned around and there was no one behind me. I began to wonder where the sound came from.

   Up ahead I kept walking and when I stole a glance around the left corner I saw another much larger room. I walked inside and saw a couch, a grand mirror, large rugs and a fireplace with a clock rested on the mantle. The far wall was made of glass and I heard the humming grow louder. I walked toward the window and again on either side of the room a door on the left and a door on the right.

    How many doors does one palace need?

   I carefully pushed the door open, squeezing into a narrow hallway and when I caught sight of who was in the room I blinked twice to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me.

   Will stood in a room lit by only the rays of the sun coming through the window. He stood in front of a canvas paint smudges on his white button down shirt and his cheek. He had a painting board and a brush in both of his paint covered hands and was working vigorously on what was in front of him. His eyebrows drawn together, his jaw tense, and his lips pressed together. That's when I noticed I must have stumbled upon an art room.

    I didn't know Will liked to paint. There was some furniture from what I could only see was a table covered in bushes and tubes of paint. A desk with several pencils and note books thrown on top of it and a board hung on the far right of the room with penciled pictures tacked to it.

   I held my breath carefully stepping back when I made the door creak and I cursed myself for being so loud.

  Will had his paint brush held between his teeth as he touched something on the canvas.