"Damn you!" Nora continued to pound on the door, her relentless knocking sending a surge of echoes down the ordinarily sleepy corridor. "Hurry up! I need to talk to you!""One second!" She listened to the sounds of creaking floorboards and rustling fabrics as Lord Severin and whoever was in there with him hurried to get dressed. She didn't know why the woman was bothering to clothe herself--they could hear who it was, and it wasn't as if Nora didn't see a naked woman every time she took a bath. Maybe she was trying to hide herself in the wardrobe or something. If that was the case, Nora didn't think there was much point to her shame--like half the maids in the castle hadn't already slept with Lord Severin.
"Some time today would be nice!" she hissed, placing her fists on her hips. "Really, this is im--""All right, all right!" Lord Severin opened the door just widely enough that he could slip through, then quickly closed it behind him; Nora caught a brief glimpse of a cinnamon-haired woman she believed worked in the kitchens. "What do you need?"
Rolling her eyes, Nora grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him down the corridor, into the next of the guest bedrooms. "It's probably best if we have some privacy." It occurred to her after she said it just how he might have interpreted the statement, but he didn't say anything. She didn't know whether to feel respected or insulted.
He shut the door, then drew nearer and met her eye. "What is this about?"The room was lit only by a couple of candles on the the nightstand, and the coral paneling bent it in such ways that the lighting in the room was of a rather rosy hue. She could scarcely make out the blue of his tunic. He was all black wool and silver buttons. He looked so untouchable--and yet, that only made her want to try.
But enough ridiculousness; she had a mission here. "It might interest you to know, my lord, that your daughter Viridis is a woman now."She hadn't guessed how he might react. Her own father hadn't lived long enough to be informed of her transition into womanhood, nor would her husband be alive for any of her daughters'. But in all fairness, she shouldn't have been the one telling Lord Severin about this--it should have been Lady Alina.
"What?" A look of panic crossed his face, his brow raised and his mouth agape. "Already? She's only ten years old."Nora nodded. "Some girls get it early; Jothein's sister started at nine."
Somberly, maybe even a little guiltily, Lord Severin frowned. "When did this happen?"
"Some time in the night. The cramping woke her, she claims. Naturally, the sight of all that blood scared her, so she went and woke Raia."He sighed. "Poor girls. How are they now?"
"Viridis is lying down in Raia's room," she told him. "She's still in pain, but at least she's informed. Raia went to your mother's for some sort of mixture; she should be back soon."
Gravely calculating, Lord Severin crossed his arms, twisting his wedding band with the sides of the adjacent fingers. "One of my little girls just went through that difficult transition without her mother. The two after her will as well. Thank you for talking to her; I imagine it must have been uncomfortable for you."Nora shrugged. "Someone had to--and really, Raia handled it as best she could last night. I didn't have to say much."
"Regardless, I appreciate it."
"Not a problem." She sighed, letting her hand fall lifelessly to her side. "But I know what you mean. My son is getting older, and one of these days, he's going to need someone to give him a talk. Someone's going to need to make sure he has the right information."
He reached across the gap between them and took hold of her hand. He was both warm and cold, soft and rough. She'd always looked up to him as some sort of majestic being of a man, something beyond human, but he felt so earthly and present and real. He simply was. Just as she was, she supposed."Someone will."
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then released it; it hovered for a second as she tried to figure out what had just happened, if anything. "You think?"
He nodded. "I know." A faint smile on his lips, he leaned toward her and kissed her on the cheek. "Again, thank you; I'm going to see my daughter now."
"Tell her she's very brave," Nora insisted.Lord Severin looked her over, a hint of a spark in his eye that she had not seen in quite some time. "Coming from you, that is high praise indeed."
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