Chapter Twenty-two: Supper

I stopped just inside the doorway.

And stared.

“Oh.”

It was all I had.

Because apparently the North had looked at the concept of subtlety and collectively decided against it.

The entrance hall was enormous.

I’m talking cathedral enormous.

My entire apartment building back in Brooklyn could have fit in here with room left over for two parking lots and a small forest.

Dark stone rose upward in sweeping arches until the ceiling disappeared into shadow. Massive iron chandeliers hung overhead, each one holding dozens of candles.

The walls were draped in tapestries depicting forests, battles, wolves, mountains, and what looked suspiciously like a man fighting a bear.

I blinked.

Maybe it wasn’t a bear.

Honestly, it might have been.

This place seemed very committed to a particular aesthetic.

I was still processing the tapestries when I realized the entrance hall was not empty.

Twelve servants, all dressed in identical black uniforms, stood in two lines flanking a spiral staircase that led somewhere up.

They were waiting for us, it seemed.

They bowed in unison the moment Varul and I walked in.

“Welcome back, Alpha. Welcome, our Lady,” they chorused.

It was actually a little terrifying, to be honest. But I guessed it was something the real princess would have been familiar with.

I felt like an impostor.

But when you really think about it, I hadn’t actually asked for all this, had I?

I mean, I’d literally woken up here.

“The household staff of Pillak Towers,” Marta announced beside me, preening with what I could only describe as maternal pride. It was obvious that they had put in a lot of preparation for my arrival. That thought warmed my heart a little.

“They are at your disposal, my Lady. Whatever you require, at any hour.”

I looked at the two lines of people looking at me.

“Thank you,” I said, because it was the only thing that came to mind. “All of you. Really.”

For some reason, several of them looked surprised, and all eyes flew up to the tall figure behind me, hand still firm and warm against my back.

I glanced up at Varul but his face was aloof and expressionless. I had a feeling that he was leaving all the talking to me, watching how I related with his people. Then his eyes flicked down to mine and a shadow of something I couldn’t name flashed across them.

I smiled tentatively, and although didn’t smile back, his eyes softened a smidgen.

I thought about it: would tonight be the night when we consummated our marriage?

Even though pleasure zapped through me at the thought. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

He was broody and his eyes carried a truckload of darkness.The only things I knew about him were things I’d been told by a maid with a strong penchant for gossip and embellishing stories.

Sexually though, we seemed compatible enough, I mean the fact that he had given me an orgasm on our wedding night without barely even touching me was proof enough.

And, as someone who had previously thought of herself as “asexual”, this was kind of a major deal for me.

My body craved him in a way that terrified me. There was almost something…magical about it.

Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that I met the man just two days ago.

My eyes however had a mind of their own because they chose that moment to drop to his lips, causing my brain to remember what he’d done with them just last night.

His hand lowered to my waist and squeezed. A silent promise.

A gentle throat-clearing sound brought my attention back to my environment.

My cheeks turned red as I lowered my head and returned my attention to Marta, who had made the sound. She looked like she was trying to hide a smile.

“A-hem…If it pleases the Alpha and my Lady, shall I show my Lady to her chambers so that she cleans up in time for supper?” She looked to Varul deferentially, seeking his permission.

“Go ahead,” Varul answered, freeing me from his hold. I tried not to feel disappointed at the loss of his touch.

I followed Marta as she led me up the spiral staircase. At the landing, I looked back over my shoulder, but Varul was already gone.

*

My chambers were on the upper floor of the east tower, accessible by a corridor that Marta navigated with the ease of someone who had walked it ten thousand times.

She opened the door and stood back.

I walked in and stopped.

The room was large…like genuinely large, not just by medieval standards but by any standard.

A fireplace that could have accommodated a small dinner party burned with a fire that had clearly been lit some time ago, the room already warm and carrying the smell of woodsmoke and something faintly herbal.

The bed was enormous, carved dark wood, dressed in deep green and black linens that looked like they’d been pressed within the last hour.

A writing desk overlooked the window. A dressing table with a mirror framed in iron. Tapestries on the walls to keep out the cold. A screen behind which, Marta informed me, a bath had been drawn.

I stood in the middle of the room and looked at all of it.

“Is everything to your satisfaction, my Lady?”

I turned to find Marta watching me with that steady, assessing gaze.

“It’s — yes,” I said. “Thanks, Marta.”

She nodded efficiently. “Glad it is, My Lady. Three of the household maids have been assigned specifically to your service. They will attend to you morning and evening and whenever else you require.”

“Well, thank you. How about my…ladies - I mean, the women who traveled with me?”

Marta blinked. “Oh. Your…ladies are settling in the servants’ quarters. Would you rather be waited on by them?” She asked.

“Yes, if that wouldn’t be so much trouble?” I said carefully, not wanting to step on her toes or anything. But I would feel more comfortable having Rita and Conny attended to me instead.

She shook her head. “Of course, My Lady. Nothing is too much trouble for the Alpha’s wife. I shall have them settled and ready to attend to you.”

I smiled, relieved. “Thanks. But not tonight. We’ve all had a long journey. So I’d rather they take the night to rest.”

Marta looked stunned.

Shit. Did I say something wrong?

“That is…quite kind of you, My Lady,” Marta said, giving me a faint smile.

“There is also this.” She crossed to the dressing table and opened a carved box that I hadn’t noticed.

Inside, an array of glass bottles and small ceramic pots. “Imported from the Southern coast. The Alpha sent word of your preferences.”

I stared at the bottles.

My preferences.

Rather, the real Princess’s preferences.

Still, there was still the fact that he’d gone the extra mile to have his new wife’s preferences brought to his home.

It was a thoughtful act so different from the brooding vibes he gave off.

I didn’t know what to do with that.

Marta pulled back the screen and showed me the bath.

It was enormous — a proper deep basin, not the wooden tub I’d been using on the journey — filled with steaming water that smelled of roses.

Two young women materialized to help me out of my riding clothes with the efficient grace of people who had been doing this their entire working lives.

One of them poured something into the water that foamed and smelled extraordinary.

“What is that?” I asked.

She looked up. Slightly surprised to be asked, I thought. “Pine oil and heather, my Lady. It is traditional in the North. Good for tired muscles.”

I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning back against the tub. “That,” I said, “is the best news I’ve received today.”

By the time I was dressed and my hair had been dealt with by hands considerably more competent than my own, a knock at the door announced that supper was being served and the Alpha was waiting on me.

*

Ten minutes later, I found myself standing outside my chambers trying very hard not to feel nervous.

Which was ridiculous.

I was a grown woman.

A grown woman who had somehow become the wife of a six-foot-something werewolf Alpha with a broody aura and criminally broad shoulders.

Okay.

Maybe the nerves were justified.

The corridor twisted through the tower before opening onto another staircase.

Unlike the dramatic spiral one in the entrance hall, this staircase was broader, lit by wall sconces that threw warm golden light across dark stone.

At the bottom of the stairs, another servant bowed and guided me toward the dining hall.

The doors were already open.

The room was long and vaulted, dark stone walls lit by iron candelabras running the length of the table. A fireplace at the far end burned with a fire large enough to heat the whole floor.

Varul was already there, seated at the head of the table.

Freshly changed.

His dark hair looked slightly damp, falling around his shoulders.

He'd exchanged his travel clothes for a black tunic that somehow made him look even broader.

Honestly, I was beginning to suspect the man owned nothing that wasn't black.

The dress I had chosen was a deep emerald green that skimmed my figure before falling in soft folds to the floor. The neckline was lower than anything I'd worn since arriving in this world.

The color complimented my eyes and the wolf necklace perfectly.

The dress was not scandalous…just enough to reveal the faint traces of marks still visible along my collarbone and on the tops of my breasts.

Marks that had faded considerably, but not completely.

Varul's eyes dropped.

Followed the line of my throat.

Something dark flickered across his expression, making my pulse jump.

The table between us was ridiculous.

Absolutely ridiculous.

There was enough food laid out to feed an entire football team.

Roasted meat on a platter the size of a cartwheel.

A whole bird of some kind, golden-skinned. Bread in several varieties.

Bowls of something that steamed and smelled of herbs. Root vegetables glistening with what appeared to be butter and something sweet.

A soup that was almost the color of rust and smelled extraordinary.

Small dishes of things I couldn’t identify but that looked interesting enough to try.

He watched me walk the length of the room toward him.

I made my way toward the empty chair beside him and sat down.

We began to eat. The silence was the kind that had weight to it. It was charged, the way air feels before a storm.

The food was extraordinary. The meat fell apart. The bread was warm and dense and nothing like the sliced sandwich bread I’d grown up on.

The soup — I tried it cautiously and then had to actively stop myself from making an undignified sound.

Whatever was in it tasted like someone had distilled an entire cold evening into a single bowl.

Unfortunately, soon, my brain became determined to sabotage me.

Specifically by noticing things.

Like the way his hands looked around a wine goblet.

Or the way the candlelight caught in his dark hair.

Or the way his mouth—

Oh no.

Not the mouth.

Anything but the mouth.

My traitorous eyes lingered. Remembering the feel of them against my lips.

Against my nipples.

Biting.

Sucking.

“Is the meal to your taste, Princess?”

I blinked and nearly dropped my fork.

Heat flooded my face.

“Yes,” I said quickly and took a huge sip of wine.

His hand lifted and brushed lightly against my cheek.

The gesture was surprisingly gentle.

I leaned into it before I could stop myself.

His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb tracing once along my cheekbone. I forgot how to breathe.

Then he moved in one smooth motion, and my chair scraped against the stone floor as he pulled it closer to his.

His finger found the thin strap at my chest and traced it slowly, following the line of it down, past my breasts.

My skin went electric everywhere he touched.

He leaned in. His face dropped to my neck, his face against my skin, breathing me in. A slow, deliberate exhale.

“You are my favorite scent.” The growl of it was low enough that I felt it more than I heard it.

His hand slowly moved to my calf, tracing upwards beneath my skirts. They moved past my thighs and parted them, brushing the seams of my silk panties.

My breath came out unsteady. His palms pressed warm and firm and I—

“Forgive the intrusion, Alpha.”

I jolted back so fast I nearly knocked over my wine.

He stood at the entrance to the dining hall, ten feet away, his eyes carefully directed at a point somewhere above both our heads.

“What?” Varul growled in irritation, pushing his face away from my neck, hands disappearing from beneath my skirts.

He pinned Darren with an icy glare.

“My apologies to you both.” Darren eyes moved briefly to me. “My Lady.” Back to Varul. “It cannot wait, Alpha.”

Something passed between them for a few seconds.

I watched Varul’s face change and become thunderous. A shiver ran down my spine. He looked furious.

Fucking pissed.

He rose abruptly. He didn’t ook at me.

“Finish your dinner. I will be back.” He tossed over his shoulder, already moving to the doors.

Darren followed swiftly, wearing the same grim expression.

Then they were gone.

The dining hall door closed.

I blinked and sat back on my chair.

What the fuck just happened?