Mother is scared.
My mother is sort of pacing about, almost like she will die if she simply lets anyone else take care of the work that is supposed to be done and i am sure that this calls for an eye roll because she wasn't this anxious on my birthday last year.
She literally sat down and she set camp in a part of the main hall, laughing and drinking the day away all because she couldn't be less bothered about how the day would go. She also let me have the day free to myself and i loved that.
With the way she is so worried about what is going to happen today, i am sure that she isn't going to let me have the day off. She is definitely not going to let me have the day off, and the look on her face tells me it is going to be a busy day.
I feel a lot of the excitement i had felt earlier at the thought of finally getting to see my brother sort of die and i feel it replaced by a horrible feeling of apprehension. Gosh i hate it when a royal comes visiting.
That is probably what the fuss is all about. Mother has to keep up the act that she is the undisputed ruler of the house and she also has to make the place look neat enough so that others don't think we live like age old vampires.
I sigh and turn back. I need to head to the library for a bit.
The main hall is downstairs and the library is located on the floor above that. I really don't know how mum has managed to renovate a dusty old manor into this, but i'll make sure to tell her how much i really appreciate the flight of stairs later. The fact that Ilya is coming back home fills me with a sort of apprehension and a lot of nervousness.
Mother told me the name of the royal he was coming with and at the mention of the House Bartell, i have to say that a lot of things made sense all of a sudden.
I should have expected it.
The book that i want to grab is one that i have been acquainted with for the better part of my childhood. Mother made sure that i had a good enough knowledge on the history of our rulers and i have to say that Ardanian history is quite interesting.
I don't know how a group of six brothers had managed to pillage lands and build the most powerful empire on the continent and at the moment i have not the slightest idea what a member of the house Bartell is coming here to do, especially when he is a prince.
The anxiety i had been feeling has simply skyrocketed at this point so i am doing the only thing that i can do, i am going to find out the exact identity of this person.
Mother had told me we were going to be entertaining a prince and she had let the house he was from out earlier on, so i know it is a prince of the House Bartell, but i just don't know which prince it is.
Word rarely reaches us here in the south about things that go on in the capital, well correction, word rarely reaches me. I am the only one who doesn't have a network of spies at my beck and call and i seem to resent that fact now.
Busying myself with talks of the capital isn't my favorite past time and unless it is about Ilya, i rarely want to hear it. Mother will only give me the essential bits of information and let the rest slide off. I also don't usually wanted to hear the rest but now i wish i did.
At least i would know which prince was more likely to escort my brother on a trip to his home after the death of his bitch of a father.
No. No.
Father isn't dead yet so i should leave that bit of celebration for later. Yes, i'll leave it for later.
Mother looks like she might actually be worried about the state of his health, and she might, she actually might. She is really unpredictable sometimes and sometimes she still manages to shock even me but at the same time, what she does is always precise and calculated and i am sure as heck that she will not just consent to anything to save my father. That is if she even wants him to be saved.
The book that i pull off the shelf is one that is heavy but with growth comes strength and i feel a sixteen year old should be able to move mountains.
I am wrong.
The book slips out of my hand and falls on the floor and i am so thankful Gregor isn't here. He is the family butler and also the librarian. He was employed by father but has earned the trust of my mother and now he helps her manage the family records and most of the finances. I think mother is just using him as a stand in but he seems to like it. He likes it too much if you ask me and i can almost see him frowning.
He would also frown if he saw the way this book had hit the floor just now.
I bend down to pick it up and i haul it to the table that is nearest to me. Mother has had this place set up like the library at the capital so there are a lot of seats here to simply recline on and have some quality alone time to yourself.
I flip to the page that begins the history of the House Bartell and a black and white rendition of the first Bartell meets me. He is not the one i am after today, i flip over to the last few generations and stop at the name of our current king, and my most favorite ruler.
He's kind, from what i heard.
I settle in and start the genealogy that should take me to what i am looking for.
A note slips out of the huge book and falls on the floor. A purple flower comes next.