Following the Snow: Obligates of Ærta Book 1 by E.A. Fortneaux

Author:E.A. Fortneaux [Fortneaux, E.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Halefort Books
Published: 2023-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-seven

The Darkness

A knock sounded on the door, and I shot awake.

The Fourth and final Maneuvering would soon begin. I prepared quickly and dressed in a simple, extremely lightweight woolen gown of black. My hope was to get out fast and find Nan before being sequestered for three days, and to do that, I had to shove my anxiety about what was to come to the back of my mind.

After debating with myself last night, I woke and knew what the Gaeans proposed needed to be brought up to the Nortian Devotee. Nan, as emissary, would surely have access. Hair rebraided and a mauve lip cream applied, I headed to the door. I’d skip breakfast and head toward the companion’s quarters on the first level.

I opened the door into an eerily darkened hallway.

I looked to my right, carefully poking my head out, and spotted a servant holding a lit taper inside a red glass dome. The wall lamps had all been snuffed and other than the servant, there were no other sources of light. I rushed to my right, thankful for the stroke of luck. At the end of the Troth’s wing, I stepped out cautiously and saw that the faintly glowing path reached around the entire level and up the staircases. It continued up until the candles’ flames were tiny, twinkling flickers, and I could no longer make out those that held them.

I groped out into the dark and found the corner wall. Feeling my way as I went, I decided to head in the opposite direction of the servant-lit pathway and take the staircase that would lead me closer to the temple’s entry point. I’d have to find my way across the massive first-floor atrium, but I’d avoid the eyes of a hundred servants and whomever else lined the way to the Fourth Maneuvering. I trailed my hand along the smooth wall for guidance and slid my feet forward slowly, never allowing them to fully leave the floor. I knew the stairs would be nearing, and injuring myself in a fall wasn’t how I wanted to begin my day.

The wall ended. This had to be the second alcove, the one with the massive statue of Gammond in its recess, so the stairs would soon appear.

The scent hit me before the sound… cedar and clove.

“Nortia,” a voice whispered.

I stopped dead in my tracks and waited. Was the dark playing tricks?

“Tommand?” I murmured, “Are you here?”

Two hands came around my waist, and a scratchy cheek nuzzled at the nape of my neck.

“I thought you were afraid of the dark.” He ran his nose along the shell of my ear, causing goosebumps to run down my neck.

“Tommand,” I rested my hands on top of his. “Was it not perfectly clear to you that our short-lived liaison was over?”

“It was… but then I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I missed your back pressed against my chest, the feel of your silken skin under my hands. I thought of nothing but the taste of your lips.

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