Time Without End by Miller Linda Lael

Author:Miller, Linda Lael [Miller, Linda Lael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Vampire
Published: 2012-09-27T09:34:34+00:00

Elisabeth

London, 1457

The house was fine indeed, with a cozy fire burning in every room and paintings on the walls. Elisabeth had a chamber of her own—that was what the master called it, a "chamber," and she liked the way the word sounded—and even a servant whose task it was to look after her. The maiden, named Kate Crown, plainly disapproved of Elisabeth and her country manners, but she was a canny soul and showed her misgivings only when Valerian wasn't about.

Elisabeth saw neither hide nor hair of the master during the day, and even at night he often had business abroad. She didn't mind dealing with Kate and the other servants of the household, for she could hold her own against that lot right enough, but she'd become somewhat attached to Valerian and was always anxious for his return.

He joined her at the table most nights, and an abundance of roast meat and boiled vegetables was always served, along with fruits and potatoes, but Elisabeth never saw him take so much as a bite to eat. She asked him once why he didn't touch his food, and he said he'd had all he needed somewhere else. She didn't raise the subject again, but she'd often gone hungry in her brief and difficult life, and she still thought it was a queer thing never to take up a spoon or a knife in your own house.

There were other odd things about the household and its master.

For one, Valerian was never addressed as Mister This or Mister That—the servants called him sir or master, and kept their eyes down. His friends, of whom there were a great many, and who always visited at night, were every bit as strange as he was, and greeted him in odd ways. They scolded him indulgently, as if he were a child, and yet they seemed to revere and even fear him.

Elisabeth was frankly jealous and wished they wouldn't be so familiar. She especially hated the women, in their grand gowns and jewel-trimmed capes, for to them he was "darling" and "beautiful one," and they kissed him and smoothed his hair.

Sometimes, when he was home of an evening, he read to Elisabeth from manuscripts and bound volumes by the fire in the drawing room. He took her to see a puppet show once, and every night, when she was ready to go to bed, she found a handful of shimmering gold coins waiting on her pillow.

She hoarded them against a future that might be less bountiful, hiding them under a loose board in a corner of her room. She had learned long since that good fortune was no more trustworthy than spring weather or a tinker's promise, but there could be no denying that she was in luck.

Not that Elisabeth was entirely happy, for she wasn't. She had come to want Valerian, as a woman wants a man, but despite his generosity, he still had not come to her bed. In fact, he hadn't even entered

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