Chapter Sixty-Six point Seven: Noble Reunion.

  With the discordant ensemble of footsteps around Selriph as he slowly found the manor getting larger in his vision, his body was held by the invisible chains of obligation that inexorably pulled him onwards. Selriph’s lips were shut tight, unable to muster his disagreement at being brought closer into the waiting embrace of House Eilsweth’s hospitality.

  To his right was the butler, his face plastered with uneasiness, not at the merchant that he had thrown his suspicions at mere moments ago, but at the source of the only sound of protest in their current vicinity.

  Not the disguised runaway mage. But the dire wolf trailing behind Selriph, fangs barred, body coiled in tension, stared at the butler as if it were facing down a hostile, demonic apparition.

  Butler Reggel cleared his throat as he voiced his disapproval. “Kind sir, could you please stop your animal from baring its teeth at me? I would be most obliged.”

  Selriph turned, his pudgy face—a result of his arcane disguise—met the butler with an almost sympathetic shake of his head “I cannot control what he does; he led me to the young lady in the first place,” as he pointed to Emmett.

  “This… savage bested her captors…?” He turned towards the wolf with a look of dismissive amusement, similar to how one might react to a sarcastic joke.

  “The kind man of the trade speaks truth, Reggel. I witnessed it for myself.” A pronounced formality characterised Leian’s speech, reaching a zenith as they stopped at the foot of the steps leading to the manor’s main entrance.

  Selriph knew, of course, that part of the reason for her rigidity was the lie within her words—she had not witnessed the collaborative slaughter that freed her from the sellsword’s clutches.

  The mage, bearing the guise of a merchant, tugged the reins, bringing the horse to a standstill and gesturing toward the trailing cart.

  “Some of the stuff in there is from those abductors. Emmett keeps my goods safe; otherwise, I’d never travel the roads alone,” he stated with an appreciative inflexion.

  That was met by the sceptical stare of the butler, along with the softening of the droning growl from the wolf and the barest wiggle of its tail.

  Then the butler spoke as he gestured with his hands, as if ushering the wolf and its owner towards the exit. “Lady Leian is now safely on Eilsweth grounds; you may take your leave, Merchant Jorin.” He spoke dismissively, as if he were shooing away a persistent beggar.

  What?! The only reason I risked staying was because of the coin—I will not leave empty-handed.

  Selriph’s brow furrowed as frustration brimmed to the surface. “Pardon me? Surely some compensation for my services is in order.”

  A faint smirk played on the butler’s lips. “If what you say holds true, then we need not compensate you for bringing young Leian safely,” he stated, his eyes locked on the wolf as he pushed his glasses down his nose.

  “This is most unfair, by the spirit of the trade, surely I deserve coin for the services I have rendered?” Selriph voice, but in protest, his frustration was fuelled equally by his merchant persona, but also his genuine frustration of not attaining the coin that had enticed him into this risky endeavour.

  “A beast hardly needs to be compensated in gold for indulging in its animalistic whims.” He spoke with derision and a deliberately challenging flair.

  “Unless you would like to state something to the contrary?” As his eyes met the estoc at Selriph’s side.

  This slimy bastard! If I claimed my skills with the blade, it would contradict our fabrication…

  Selriph turned back to the cart, seeking assurance in the goods, the spoils he had collected on his long trek through the

  No... don’t get worked up. I already took an undue risk by foolishly indulging Leian’s enticing offer for coin; I should retreat now before any further complications arise—

  Then he heard a firm voice from behind him, one that was once more uncharacteristically commanding yet diplomatic. “Please, Reggel, I believe that decision lies with Mother’s discretion.”

  Selriph turned around at the unexpected verbal defence Leian had mustered for him—welcomed yet simultaneously undesired.

  “Leian—Lady Leian, please. I scarcely believe one of Mistress Eilsweth’s stature would entertain a lowly merchant and a beast of the forest on these grounds. I’d best take my leave…” as Selriph took a step towards the exit, intent on pulling his black steed with him.

  Then he felt an icy hand on his shoulder, an imperceptible tremor that gave away the current of unease in the voice that had hidden it so well. “Please, good Jorin, allow my mother to gaze upon you and your kind-hearted companion and to reward you accordingly.”

  Selriph, or rather, Jorin, observed Leian, attempting to interpret the woman’s countenance. The butler stood beyond, burning incense at his face at the physical contact the noble lady had made with one of the lowly mercantile trade.

  Does this girl not realise that herding me to the estate only brings trouble to me?!

  Before Selriph moved to execute another delicate attempt to depart without suspicion, he observed Leian, who was silently echoing the initial word from her last spoken sentence.

  “Please.”

  Leian…!

  Selriph looked up at the butler and back to the wolf, whose growling had stopped, but was still very much staring at the butler with a tinge of unease that coloured its typically stoic facade. A message that the youth somehow understood fully.

  Emmett … even you?

  Selriph turned back to Nightwind; the horse’s neutral expression did not indicate its opinion on the matter.

  Then he let out a silent sigh through his nostrils.

  Damn it all. I have little choice either way. It would be strange for me to turn down the offer now.

  Eventually, his gaze returned to the young noble girl, who was dressed in her noble, albeit tattered, attire.

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  “Fine, but if Emmett’s presence causes a disruption, I believe I reserve the right to excuse myself?” Selriph’s voice intoned in formal inquiry.

  Leian gave a curt nod, and a small smile of gratitude played on her lips as he turned towards the estate, her home.

  The grand hall was revealed as the black-suited butler opened the doors. The light illuminated Selriph’s face, and a sight that gave him a weird sense of familiarity greeted him. A soft glow from a candlelight chandelier lit the hall’s entrance. The flickering glow cascaded down, reflecting off the central staircase’s polished surface as it ascended to an upper mezzanine, displaying portraits—possibly of the Eilsweth family and their predecessors.

  The gleaming, warm, brown wooden floor, recently polished, emitted a pleasant herbal aroma. The walls were a warm, dark red, and their colour seemed to amplify the comforting, inviting heat of the manor.

  A luxurious blue carpet adorned the floor, and its surface displayed intricate circular patterns. The main room’s opulence was enhanced by the sight of numerous vases and display cases filled with sparkling jewellery.

  There, two women, dressed in grey-white maid outfits, emerged from the corridor to the right, their faces first plastered with weariness from their monotonous routine, then widening in surprise as they registered Leian’s presence once more on the estate.

  With a gesture from Butler Reggel, the brown-haired elven maid hurried up the stairs, subsequently dashing to the left on the mezzanine. A silver-haired human woman darted back through the hallway they had just come from, presumably intending to return in a matter of minutes with supplies and items to care for the young maiden who had recently returned.

  As the moments ticked by while awaiting the inevitable news and Lady Eilsweth’s reaction and emergence from the estate’s upper story, Selriph turned towards the open front doors, feeling the cool draft waft into the warm, homely interior. The dire wolf stood there, its gaze not on the Selriph but intensely focused on the butler, who had frozen halfway in his bid to close the door, his hand hovering over the ruby-adorned hilt of his rapier.

  Selriph lifted a reassuring palm to the butler as he nodded with implicit understanding—the wolf should not be present at the reunion between mother and daughter, not yet, at least.

  He directed his words to the dire wolf. “Monitor Nightwind, friend. We will introduce you when it is appropriate,” as he walked over to the wolf, scratching and patting its head while giving a reassuring smile.

  Emmett’s tongue lolled as its posture of tension relaxed; it now sat like a docile, domesticated dog as Selriph walked through the doors, the butler now able to execute his duties with the wolf in a passive state.

  With a resounding thud, the two towering wooden doors closed, sealing in the warm, inviting air. As Selriph’s mind refocused on the scene before him, his eyes landed on the latest addition.

  A tall noblewoman, almost Selriph’s height, strode down the upper landing of the stairs in a mix of refined elegance and raw haste. The left half of her luxurious, long locks of hair was braided in a sophisticated, intertwining lock, while the other hung freely down to her waist. Her face of aesthetic, angular beauty was painted with concern and relief as her ocean-blue eyes landed on the tattered, nobly dressed young girl who stood at the stairs landing.

  Her daughter, Leian Eilsweth.

  By the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs, any noble bearing and composure she had learnt in what was like three to four decades in nobility gave way to pure relief and affection as she embraced the daughter she thought she had lost. Soft streaks of silver down her cheek and a muffled, shaking voice as Leian found herself buried in the loving, tearful embrace of her mother.

  “Oh, by Dova’s loving grace, I thought I’d never see you again,” Lady Eilsweth tightened her grip around her daughter.

  The moment Selriph registered those words in his ears, his mind raced as it experienced two distinct emotions. The first was the distinct feeling of unease and apprehension caused by his doubts surrounding Lady Eilsweth, now washed down the stream of his thoughts.

  Whatever the source of Leian’s unease and calls for safety, it almost certainly didn’t originate from her mother.

  But likely from the servant who had been attempting to withhold and impede House Eilsweth’s hospitality.

  The other emotion was a distinct sting and knot in his heart. The tableau before him was pure, unadulterated love and concern between mother and daughter, in full display. No pretence, no acting, no theatrics, just genuine familial love.

  That was something he could never experience, something he secretly yearned for, something he wished he’d tasted when he was still welcomed within the walls of the estate that mirrored his current surroundings.

  Selriph felt some doubt wash down the stream of these thoughts; whatever the source of concern that precipitated Leian’s calls for safety, it certainly wasn’t her mother.

  After the precious second of reunion passed, Leian’s reply came muffled through as her face was buried in her mother’s bosom. “Mother, there are eyes upon us.” As she turned, her eyes landed on the butler and then on Selriph’s merchant form.

  Lady Eilsweth’s pupils widened as she registered the presence of the stranger and her butler, patting her daughter’s head with fondness as she pulled slowly away from the embrace, dignity returning to her form as she cleared her throat.

  She gestured to the maid beside her. “Tend to Leian—prepare her brew before her affliction shows itself again,” as she placed her palm on an exposed part of Leian’s skin through her dress, glowing faintly with golden energy.

  The maid scurried off once more, joining her colleague down the corridor.

  “Mother, it’s fine… I feel better after—” her voice caught as her eyes darted to Selriph, whose figure subtly coiled in tension and gave an indiscernible shake in his head at the near revelation of the arcane tuition he had dispensed to her—one that had given her the means to regulate the erratic otherworldly energy that plagued her.

  Lady Eilsweth’s eyes followed where her daughter landed. Selriph felt the appraising gaze of the noble matron scan his body, her expression unreadable between the boundaries of surprise, curiosity, and suspicion. “Leian, who is this stranger you bring into our midst?”

  Leian interlocked her hands over her lower stomach, mirroring her mother’s formal poise. “Merchant Jorin here chanced upon me in the woods; he and his companion freed me from the clutches of those who abducted me,” as she looked in Jorin’s, or rather, Selriph’s direction.

  “His companion? I see only one person before me.” She tilted her head in curiosity as she paced towards Selriph.

  “What became of the other who brought my little dove to me? It would pain me if they met an untimely end against those lowlifes…” Lady Eilsweth’s voice tinged with genuine disappointment.

  Selriph’s head jerked slightly at the unexpected expression of sympathy from the noble lady, along with the assumption she had made of his accomplice.

  He bowed in respect as he spoke. “No, my lady, the companion young Leian speaks of is just beyond these doors. He…” Selriph’s voice caught in his throat, unable to muster a reasonable choice of words that wouldn’t draw the noble lady’s ire, confusion, and scepticism.

  “This merchant claims his tamed beast bested Leian’s abductors,” the butler’s words dripped with unconcealed mockery and scepticism.

  “A beast…?” The noble lady’s voice was low, not from doubt, but almost from ponderment as she turned to her daughter.

  Her words came out softly as the young girl looked up at her mother. “I bore witness to it myself, Mother — the beast is pure of heart. We just saw it prudent not to announce his presence before we could explain it.”

  As he spoke, the butler paced up towards his noble patron, his footsteps muffled on the plush carpet. “A beast setting foot within these walls is most unbecoming of this house. With your permission, I can dismiss this coin-coveting vendor and—”

  “Present them to me.” Her injection came as a swift and unquestionable command that all but silenced the butler.

  Reggel’s face twisted briefly with a scowl as he paced once more to the door, opening it.

  Once more, the cold night wind wafted in as the light from the manor’s interior illuminated the beast sitting at the entrance.

  Its fur was mottled grey, its face stoic and posed almost in regal pride, similar to the portraits that decorated the manor.

  A silent but very much pronounced reaction from Lady Eilsweth, whose eyes widened in recognition as she mumbled under her breath, barely audible to Selriph, met that sight.

  With an enigmatic look of comprehension spreading across her face, she glanced at her daughter and muttered under her breath. The words were barely audible, only understandable by the motion of her lips, “Salvation brought forth by a beast of grey…”

  Her words were accompanied by the faint, sweet scent of a herbal concoction and the clatter of ceramic as the maid reentered the scene with a steaming hot brew of a dark liquid floating with specks of silver, glittery dust.

  One that Selriph could feel—something that felt familiar. Like the pendant that used to hang around his neck, the trinket that, at one point, suppressed his magical signature.