Read Online The River's Gift by Mercedes Lackey - Free Book Online

this is Lady Katherine, my chatelaine,
and stepdaughter to my father's oldest and nearest ally, Count Andrew of
Loderdale."
    Neither
of the names meant anything to Ariella. As Lord Lyon stalked off down a
hallway, leaving Ariella standing there alone, Lady Katherine looked her up and
down without losing a whit of her cool composure.
    "Well,"
Lady Katherine said, her voice just as unemotional as her expression, "you
must be chilled and weary, Ariella. Let me show you to your chamber."
    That
was the last thing that Ariella wanted, but it would do her no good to protest
at this point. She simply let Lady Katherine lead the way back up the stairs,
trailed by the two maids, who whispered to each other behind her back.
    Drafts
gusted up the staircase behind them, making the torches flare and smoke in
their sconces, as they wound their way up and up the spiral stone stair until
Ariella was afraid she would not be able to go another step. Then, just when
she was ready to drop, Lady Katherine paused at a landing before a small wooden
door and opened it without a word, leaving Ariella to follow her inside. A
guard stood at that landing, a guard with the same cold, dead eyes as the one
that had caught her trying to escape.
    Ariella
was afraid at this point that "her chamber" was going to be as cold
and cheerless as every other place in this castle. But although the rooms
beyond were stonewalled and stone-floored like the rest, here at least there
was light and warmth, and some effort had been made to cut off the drafts and
create some comfort.
    Panels
of thin-sliced horn covered the slit-windows, allowing some light to come in
from outside. Instead of smoking torches, fine wax candles as thick as her
wrist provided plenty of clear illumination. Tapestries covered the walls, and
furs and rugs placed over a layer of rushes strewn with lavender softened and
warmed the floors. A fine fire burned on the hearths in both the outer and
inner rooms, and charcoal braziers added their warmth from each corner. The
outer room was furnished with a desk, several chairs, and an embroidery frame;
the inner held a canopied and curtained bed. Several chests waited in the inner
room as well, one of them open, and Ariella caught a glimpse of a familiar
dress trailing over the side.
    "This
will be your set of chambers, Ariella," the chatelaine said. "You
won't be expected to share Lord Lyon's rooms, of course; he has men coming and
going at all hours of the day and night, and you would be constantly disturbed.
He will join you here, at the proper times." Lady Katherine kept her eyes
hooded, but Ariella caught a flash of satisfaction when Ariella winced at the
mention of Lord Lyon "joining" her. "The maids and I will finish
unpacking your possessions and I have sent for some dinner for you. Why don't
you warm yourself at the fire while you wait for it?"
    Ariella
mutely did as she was told, allowing one maid to take her cloak before dropping
down into the chair nearest the fire. She knew that she looked much the worse
for wear, rumpled and tired, pale and travel- stained, but she didn't care; she
was just too exhausted. At least she was somewhere warm and no longer in that
cursed horse-litter.
    Food
came and was presented to her; she ate part of it without tasting it. Lady
Katherine sailed out with a tiny smile on her lips; one maid followed the
chatelaine with the tray of half-eaten food, the other remained behind. She took
Ariella into the inner room, and helped her out of her crumpled, dirty gown and
into a night-dress warmed before the fire. The maid sat her down on a stool in
front of the hearth, combed out and braided her hair and put her to bed,
closing the curtains around her. Ariella heard her footsteps retreating, heard
the door open and close, and she was finally alone.
    But
as tired as she was, she was not at all sleepy; she was too tense and unhappy
for that. The warmth and food finally eased the ache in her head and the knot
in her stomach, but