Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Or I can try. The chances that Lemi won’t shift after me are low.
“What about shoes?” she asks me, glancing at my bare feet. “Do you need new ones?”
“I have the feet of a giant,” I tell her. “Yours won’t fit. I’ll just wear my boots.”
I grab the stockings she had laid out for me and slip them on, then pull on my boots that go up to my knees. Her nose wrinkles at first at the sight of something so dirty and utilitarian with her soft dresses. But then once I stand up she shrugs.
“Actually, I rather like the combination. Pretty yet rugged.” She gives me a soft smile and then eyes the grandfather clock in the room. “We should make our way down.”
“Come, Lemi,” I say to him. “Stay by my side like a good boy.”
We exit the room and step into the hall. I’m about to shut the door behind me, when the door shuts for me.
“Must be a drafty castle,” I comment wryly.
Solla doesn’t say anything to that. I want to ask about her mind-bending abilities but figure there’s enough time for that later. I have a feeling I’ll be spending all dinner fending off questions, not asking them.
We walk down the hall to the stairs and this time I’m able to sneak a peek down another wide corridor, one side lined with tall windows, the other with large doors spaced wide apart. I’m going to guess the chambers of the family.
Once we’re down on the main floor my nerves start to kick in. Lemi notices this and nuzzles my hand as we walk. Either that or he wants dinner.
It’s then that I smell it. The rich, hearty scent of spices and stewed meat wafting out from down the hall, making my stomach lurch in hunger. I haven’t eaten since this morning on the ship, and that was only a few dried pieces of salted cod.
Solla takes me through two open doors and into a massive dining hall with shining stone walls the same silver sheen as the exterior. There is one large table in the middle to seat a dozen or so people, and there are two more tables at either end, enough to hold a banquet or a feast or whatever rich people in castles do. Along the opposite wall are large windows framed by thick curtains that give a view into an orchard grove. The outer castle wall rises behind it, the landscape grainy in the dusky light. Some built-in seating is underneath the windows, the backs of the booths lined with draped furs, and a great fireplace with crackling flames in the center. Above are several chandeliers lit with thick flaming candles that cast an additional glow into the room.
“Solla, dear, you’re early,” a woman says as she bustles into the room holding a tray of stacked dishes. She’s short and round with a crooked nose and lively eyes, her dark hair pulled back under a bonnet. She looks both old and young, an age that’s hard to place.
She pauses slightly when she sees me, then Lemi, but then continues setting the places around the table. “I was told we had a guest tonight but I wasn’t expecting a hound, too.”
“I hope that’s not a bother,” I say to the woman.
She glances up at me in surprise as she finishes putting down the plates. “No bother to me, but even if it were, I’m only the help.” She exchanges a quizzical look with Solla, as if to wonder what corner of the world I’ve been dragged out of. I suppose I should get used to that look.
Once the woman has put down cloth napkins and silverware, she leaves the room and Solla pulls out a chair for me near the end of the table. “Here, you can sit across from me and next to Andor. Also farthest from my father and uncle, which you’ll soon appreciate.”
I sit down on the tall wood chair, taking in the ornate carvings of dragon tails wrapped around cedar trunks. Even though Norlanders don’t worship dragons, their images are throughout the house.
Lemi comes beside me, his head on the table, until I tell him to go sit by the fire, which he does reluctantly, never taking his eyes off me.
Solla takes the seat across from me while the woman comes out again, this time bringing along an older balding gentleman with graying blue hair at the temples. They bring out glass jugs, gold carafes, and various crystalware and place them on the table along with a giant bowl of fresh-baked bread in the middle of the spread with a platter of melting butter. At first I think the butter has gone bad because of the dark flecks in it, but then the woman notices the expression on my face and tells me it’s herbed butter.