Fated Touch Box Set #2: Dragon Shifter Romance

Chapter 6

6

At Caius’ reply, the baron smiled and gestured to the stairs. “Then might I suggest you see if your rooms are to your liking. In the meantime, I might have my cook make us up some supper. It won’t be quite as good as in my days when the meat was shot by myself, but the local huntsmen are adequate at bagging game.”

I looked up at the top of the stairs with its long balcony that disappeared into both wings. “Do we have a map for that?”

“Fenla will show you,” the baron offered as he gestured to the hallway that led to the back of the home.

Fenla stood in the shadows, but stepped out at his beckoning. Her expressionless eyes seemed to fix on me for a moment, and I felt a cold chill run down my spine. She turned her gaze away and gestured to the stairs before proceeding up them.

Caius put Marcus down and we followed. At the top the young lad grabbed Caius’ hand and tugged him leftward. “You can sleep in the room next to mine!”

Caius looked to Fenla. “Is that okay with your boss?” She bowed her head.

“Then come on!” Marcus insisted as he pulled his brother down the hall.

The corridor was a single stretch of darkness illuminated only by the windows at the far ends and the lit candles that hung in their glass cases every ten feet. The doors were made of thickly cut wood and their knobs were covered in a soft gold metal.

I paused beside the first door and inspected the handle. My eyes widened when the flicker of the nearby candle cast multiple colors over the knob. I looked up at my companions with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. “Is this flameral?”

Marcus stopped his tugging just a few feet down the hall and nodded. “Yeah. Isn’t it cool? The baron has a bunch of flameral spoons and knives, too!”

“Don’t tell the whole world about it,” Caius scolded him.

Marcus grinned. “Nobody would dare try to steal anything from the baron! He’s the best shot in the world! I’ve seen him shoot an eld from a hundred feet away!”

“He could afford that practice,” Caius quipped as he looked up and down the hall. “Now which one is your room?”

Marcus pointed at a nearby door on the right side that faced the back of the house. “It’s that one. The baron gave me it so I could see my work.”

Fenla strode through our company and opened four other doors.

Sage smiled at her, but shook his head. “I thank you for your hospitality, but I believe we will only be needing two rooms.”

Caius’ face fell. “Us again?”

Sage nodded. “Us again, and the ladies in another room.”

“But I want my own room,” Marcus insisted.

Caius ruffled his hair. “Your bachelor days are over, but we’ll let you keep the bed.”

Marcus pushed away Caius’ hand, but grinned. “The bed’s big enough for all of us!”

Indeed, the beds in the two rooms we would occupy were larger than any king-size I’d ever seen. The floors were covered in more dead animals, and the tapestries on the wood-paneled walls showed scenes of hunting.

“I’m starting to sense a theme here,” I quipped as I studied the decor.

The greatest part of the rooms were the huge stone fireplaces that matched the one in the downstairs trophy room. The hearths were dark, but Fenla passed by us and lit those in the two rooms. At the final lighting she stood and turned to us. The woman bowed her head and passed us to leave. She slipped by me and I noticed her eyes flicker to my face. The move was so quick that I doubted my eyes, but my quickened heart didn’t lie. The room was a little warmer for the lack of her presence.

“What do you think?” Marcus asked us as he waved his arms at the room. “Isn’t it great?”

“If you like your decor served to you later,” I quipped as I stepped over another belk rug.

Marcus turned to me and tilted his head to one side as he studied me. “Who are you?”

Caius draped his arm over his young brother’s shoulders and grinned at me. “This is Jane, your sister.”

Marcus’ jaw hit the ground and his eyes grew as wide as the stones set in the fireplace. “M-my-my-my-”

“Sister,” Caius finished for him.

I gave him a weak wave and a sheepish smile. “Hi.”

Marcus shook off his shock and whipped his head to Caius. His little eyebrows crashed down and his adorable features were marred by anger. He grabbed the front of Caius’ collar and pulled him down so they were face-to-face. “How long have you two been married?”

Caius shrugged. “Just a couple of months.”

“And you didn’t write and tell me that you did that?” he snapped.

Caius sheepishly smiled at him. “Things have been kind of busy.”

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “You told me two years and six months ago that you wouldn’t get into that trouble again.”

“It’s not like I wanted the Blue Binds to capture me and steal my memories,” Caius countered.

Marcus blinked at him. “Steal your memories? How could somebody do that?”

“It’s a long story,” Caius warned him.

Marcus tapped a foot on the floor. “I’ve got time.”

A soft chime interrupted the amusing sight of Caius being tongue-lashed by his younger brother. Sage tilted his head to one side and arched an eyebrow. “Was that a bell of some sorts?”

Marcus dropped his arms to his sides and his shoulders slumped. “It’s the supper bell to tell My Lord that the food is ready.” He eyed his brother with a sharp look. “I want to hear about everything after supper. Got it?”

Caius smiled. “Sure thing.”

We trooped downstairs with Marcus in the lead. He guided us into the left wing of the house and to the first entrance which was a pair of doors. They were wide open and showed an expansive dining room. The table was twice as long as most kitchens and you could easily sit twenty people, and more if you squished them in. A fire burned warmly in the fireplace at the back of the room, and the decor was still in the hunting theme. A large head of some monstrum creature with horns and teeth longer than my arm glared at us from above the hearth.

The baron himself was already seated in his chair at the head of the table, and our places were set on either side of him. At his back stood the quiet Fenla, hands folded in front of her and her face as impassive as ever.

The baron gestured to the right-hand seat. “Mr. Ornello, won’t you honor me with your presence at my side?”

“I suppose,” Caius agreed. Marcus frowned and gave him a push. He looked over his shoulder and glared at his brother before he returned his attention to the baron. “I mean, sure thing. That’d be great.”

Caius took the right and Marcus on the left, while I sat on Caius’ right and my grandparents sat beside Marcus. I studied the empty plates set before us and noted the shimmering leafed border made of flameral. The silverware, too, had a coating of flameral over them as Marcus had mentioned earlier.

“I had forgotten,” Sage spoke up as he, too, studied the fine dining ware. “How did your ancestors make their fortune?”

The baron smiled as he took a sip of his wine from a goblet made of the same expensive material. “Mining of sorts. We were always willing to explore new avenues of revenue and struck rich during an excavation.”

A cart was wheeled into the room and on its top was a wide assortment of covered platters. The servant parked the cart near the baron and removed the domed lids. On every plate was meat sprinkled with a few cooked vegetables. The food was cut in front of us and doled out onto our plates by a second servant who took our small platters to their coworker and returned them filled with succulent meat. The meat had been simmered to barely cooked and I found my plate swimming in vegetable juice and not a little blood.

The baron chuckled at my unsure expression. “I like my meat as rare as my hunt.”

“Did one of your rare hunts take that eye?” Caius asked him.

Some of the baron’s humor fled as he brushed a few fingers over the patch. “No. I hate to admit it but common hunt did that. The damn thing insisted on living.” He lifted his goblet to take another drink, but a coughing fit struck him.

The baron grabbed his throat and his cup clattered to the ground. Fenla hurried forward and held him against the back of his chair as he was wracked by the violent hacking. His face turned an unsightly shade of red before he managed to get a hold of himself. He took deep, shuddering breaths as Fenla released him and picked up his spilled drink. One of the servants hurried over and took the glass while another cleaned up the mess before the wine stained the rug.

The baron gathered himself and gave us a bitter smile. “The wisdom of old age always seems to come with the infirmity of that condition, does it not? It’s a damn waste of a life to be in my health at the end of it.”

“How old are you?” Marcus spoke up.

The baron chuckled. “Quite a bit older than you, my lad. I’ve seen over a hundred and fifty summers, and I had hoped to see fifty more, but-” He pressed his hand over his heart. “This damn thing won’t last that long.” He swept his eyes over the table and shook his head. “Don’t give me those looks. I never wanted pity from anyone, and I won’t take it now. Besides-” He looked over his shoulder at Fenla who stood close by. “I have a competent nurse who is ever watching out for my needs.” The corners of her lips twitched upward, and she closed her eyes and bowed her head.

“Your experiences seem to have given you quite a varied appetite for meat,” Sage complimented as he studied the various dead animals set before us.

“Naturally, as any man of the world worth his weight in flameral would learn if he went out to the far-flung dark spots where no other person has ever been,” the baron insisted as he eyed my grandfather. “But I don’t believe we were properly introduced, Mr.-?”

“Sagious without the ‘Mr,’ if you would,” Sage told him as he nodded at my grandmother. “And this is my wife, Beelzebub.” I nearly choked on the meat in my mouth.

Midge twittered. “And this is Midge,” Bee added.

The baron chuckled. “Quite a name to give oneself, Sagious. Maybe your reading of that map shows you have some justification for the title.”

Sage bowed his head. “I thank you for the compliment.”

The baron waved away his solicitude. “Don’t thank me for speaking the plain truth.” His gaze fell on me. “And this fine specimen. Who are you, young lady?”

“Jane, and I’m just along for the ride,” I told him.

He chuckled. “Quite a ride, I am sure, for Marcus has told me a great deal about his brother and his adventures in the world beyond my lands.”

Caius frowned at Marcus from across the table, and the young lad shrank beneath the anger. “I only told him a couple of stories. Honest.”

“There is no need to be concerned,” the baron assured him as he leaned back in his wheelchair. “I’ve never cared about the troubles of others, and I don’t intend to start now. Whatever bed you’ve made for yourself is none of my concern. What concerns me is amusing myself in these long days, and this young lad and his treasure hunt concern me.” His gaze fell on my grandfather. “Which comes to you, Sagious. Are you very fluent in the Miamoran language?”

“I am able to read many of the words, though the pronunciations have long been lost to time,” Sage told him.

The baron turned his head to one side and eyed his protege. “Please fetch the book.”

She nodded and walked over to a small shelf beside the fireplace. A few odds and ends from his many hunts sat on the shelves. The rarity among the many dead animals and hunting tools was a small book. The leather cover was blackened with age and the binding barely held. She picked it up in both hands and walked over to the baron.

He grabbed the binding in one hand and held the book out to Sage. “Then this might interest you. With the young lad’s interest in the old Miamoran treasure I had Fenla drag out this relic.”

Sage accepted the book and opened the cover. He studied the hand-written inscription on the first page and his eyebrows shot up. “This appears to be a journal of sorts written in the Miamoran language.” He squinted at a place at the bottom of the page. “Written by one Aiken tos Levinan.” I noticed Caius started back and his eyes widened.

The baron nodded. “I, too, believe it may be a journal. At least the numbers at the top of the pages look like dates, though for the life of me I can’t figure out what calendar they’re going by.”

Sage flipped through a few of the pages. “Some of the words used in these entries are less familiar to me, so this may take me some time to translate.”

The baron leaned back and chuckled. “By all means, you may keep the book. I can hardly use a book I can’t myself read. That is, providing you tell me what it says.”

Sage smiled and bowed his head. “Thank you for your generosity, sir. I will be sure to inform you of what I find.”

The baron picked up his fork and knife, and smiled at us. “Now let us eat before the meat gets cold.”