(From Rachelle’s Perspective)
“Do you love Uncle Dem?” Ava asked. I was at a loss for words. I did not want to lie, and I did not want to tell the truth either. But even I did not know at that moment what was the lie or what the truth was. How did I feel about him? I had no idea.
“Ava, you should not ask Rachelle these things too early. Give her some time.” His voice made me jump. If Ava was not on my lap, I would surely do so. I hastily looked back and saw that he was kneeling on the floor with a little smirk on his face. Could the sight be any better? Ava jumped up from my lap and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He easily picked her up and sat her on his lap, kissing her hair. I wondered how long he had been there. I did not even notice him. Lord knew how much he had heard. It was embarrassing.
“Ava is going to sleep. Let’s go back,” he said, and I jolted out of my thoughts. Ava was yawning and her eyelids got heavy. I nodded to him and got up. He went down the stairs and I followed.
“I have got my work covered for the day. Do you want to go on a tour of the castle?” he asked.
“You will show me around?”
“Yes.”
“Ok.”
“And there will be a gathering tonight. Tonight, I’ll formally introduce you as the future Queen, “he said, and my heart began to thump once more. It was going to take some time for me to get used to hearing the word “Queen.”
“Oh, alright. Do I have to do something there? I mean, anything that I don’t know about?”
“No. All you have to do is be there, and that’s all,” he said, shrugging. “Anyway, I’ll place Ava in her room. You can come with me if you want or you can wait here. Then we can start our tour.”
“I’m going to stay here,” I said, and he nodded. I stood in a corner of the long corridor, watching as he walked away. Behind me, Alpha Evarett and Ezekiel stood. I felt the urge to talk to them if they were my personal guards, but did not know how to start.
“Um… is it a pack or something?” I asked, gathering all my courage.
“Yes, my lady?” Ezekiel asked.
“He is the king, right? So what do you call it? A kingdom or a pack? Werewolves live in a pack, right?”
“We call it our kingdom, mostly. Some call it a pack as well. But most of us prefer kingdom as it’s far bigger than what a pack is supposed to be,” Alpha Evarett replied.
“I see. So, what is the name of this kingdom?” I inquired, quickly adding, “I
don’t know anything about this place. So, please don’t mind my questions.”
“Of course not, my lady. Please do not worry and ask me anything,” Alpha Evarett said quickly. “Our kingdom is Querencia. It’s the most powerful of the five kingdoms.”
As Alpha Evarett said this, his voice was filled with pride. Perhaps this was what it felt like to have a place to call home, a perfect home, a home to be proud of. I was about to ask something more when Tom came back. He motioned for them to leave, and they bowed respectfully.
“Come on. We’ll start from the Great Hall,” he said, offering me his hand, which I accepted after giving it a thought. I nodded, and he led me to the end of the corridor, where there was a massive door. We were greeted by two guards who bowed and opened the door for us.
The room was enormous-it was rectangular and three times as long as it was wide. On one of the long sides, there were windows, specifically a large bay window. There were many pictures on the walls, mostly portraits of men and women with solemn expressions.
“They are the previous kings and queens,” he whispered into my ear, his breath brushing against the side of my neck, making the hair on my nape stand up in alert.
“Why aren’t you there?” I asked.
“They are the dead ones, my bride,” he replied. “I’m not going to be there anytime soon. There are many things to do.”
“Who eats here?” I asked, pretending that I did not hear what he said last.
“Almost everyone. Especially on occasions, everyone in the castle, the soldiers, the royal have a feast together. Very chaotic, I have to say. Royals can eat with them every day if they want to,” he said, wrinkling his pointy nose. “However, I prefer my privacy.”
“Okay, so tonight… the…”
“The official introduction?”
“Yes, that. Will you do it here?” I asked.
“Yes, my bride. Have you seen the fireplace?”
“It’s huge,” I said, gaping at it as the woods burnt gracefully, the fire emerging greedily. “Do you sit there?”
“Yes, the Royals sit there,” he said. I cast a glance toward the far end of the hall, where the high table sat. I was wondering if I was supposed to sit there as well.
“You’re going to sit beside me there,” he said as if he could read my thought. I wondered how much he knew me to know what was going on in my mind almost all the time.
“I bet you know a lot about great halls as well,” he said, and it was all my mouth needed to spill out the words that have been running through my head the moment he mentions the Great Hall to me.
“In the Middle Ages, a great hall was the principal room of a royal palace, castle, or big manor house or hall house, and it was still erected in country houses in the 16th and early 17th centuries, but the family used it for eating and relaxing. The word ‘great’ merely meant ‘large’ and did not have the overtones of quality that it does now. Unless the structure featured a subsidiary hall, the room would have been referred to simply as the “hall,” but the phrase “great hall” has been used to differentiate surviving rooms of this sort for several centuries to separate them from the distinct form of hall seen in post- medieval dwellings. Great halls were particularly common in France, England, and Scotland, but similar spaces may also be found in other European countries. A typical great hall was a rectangular space that was one and a half to three times as long as it was wide, as well as higher. It had windows on one of the long sides, frequently featuring an enormous bay window, and was accessed through a screened corridor at one end. Above the screens passage was frequently a minstrels’ gallery. The dais, which housed the high table, was at the other end of the hall. The more private quarters of the lord’s household were beyond the dais end of the hall, while the kitchen, buttery, and pantry were on the other side of the screen corridor. Until the late middle-ages, even royal and noble households had few living rooms, and a great hall was a multifunctional chamber. It was used to receive visitors and was where the entire household, including the lord of the house, his gentleman attendants, and at least part of the servants, would dine together. Some members of the household may sleep on the great hall’s floor at night,” I breathed out the words. I had more to say, but I controlled my tongue.
“Do you see the difference between the Great Halls described in your world and the one you’re seeing now?”
“Yes. Do members really sleep on the floor here at night?” I asked.
“No. Everyone has their chamber here. The servants have their own chamber in the servants’ quarter at a side of the castle, the soldiers have chambers as well,” he replied.
“That’s great. Sleeping on the floor appears to be a bit… harsh, especially at night when it gets cold.”
“You’ll never have to sleep on the floor,” he muttered, as if he knew about the times when I had to sleep on the basement floor at night as part of the punishment. I did not say anything. It was uncomfortable to talk about those times.
“So you’re not going to show me the bed chambers, are you? They are private places.”
“I can show you if you want to even if they are private.”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.”
“You’ll see mine soon, after our marriage, because you’ll be staying there with me,” he said, and for some strange reason, I blushed. Staying in the same room, on the same bed with him was more than strange for me. He was still a stranger, yet I was going to be his wife the day after tomorrow and also going to be with him in his room. Everything seemed unreal at that moment.
“Is your room called the Great Chamber?”
“Yes, my bride. Don’t worry, sweet thing.
You’ll be there very soon,” he said, once again bringing his lips closer to my ear that his lips almost brushed against it. What was he doing?
Sudden Darkness