clothing, he explained, and one for extra bedding.
A smaller room opened off this room. It had been his mother's sewing room.
He escorted Channa Leigh down the narrow corridor to the garderobe, saw the color bloom in her cheeks as he told her what it was.
When the tour was complete, he took her back to her own room. "I will get yer belongings," he said, and left her there.
Channa Leigh made her way to the bed and sat down. 'Twas a huge place. She would not have been surprised to learn that the whole of her village could fit inside the main hall. She ran her hands over the mattress. The bed itself was bigger than her room at home.
Home. A single tear slipped down her cheek. A year away from her mother and father, from Ronin, seemed a terribly long time, and yet it was a small price to pay for her mother's life.
She shook off her melancholy and thought about the wizard instead. What did he want of her?
Frightened and restless, she stood up and began to pace the room, her feet moving slowly over the floor as she memorized the dimensions of her chamber, her hands exploring every object within the room, running over the window ledge, touching the glass.
She whirled around at the sound of the door opening.
" 'Tis I," Darkfest said. "I have brought yer things."
She heard his footsteps as he crossed the floor.
"I have put yer bag on the foot of the bed."
"Thank you, my lord." She clasped her hands to still their trembling, took a deep breath. "I would like to know, my lord, what it is you expect of me."
"I should like ye to prepare my meals and wash my clothes, and clean the castle, as best ye can."
"Aye, my lord. Is that all?"
"It is."
"I do not mean to be impudent, my lord, but surely you could have hired a girl from the village to serve you. One who could see."
"Aye, Channa Leigh."
"Then why..."
"Why did I want ye?"
She nodded, certain she had angered him.
"I want ye to sing for me in the evening, Channa Leigh. For me, and for no one else. Is there anything else ye wish to know?"
"Nay, my lord. I shall do whatever you wish."
"Then we shall get on well together, the two of us."
She heard his footsteps move toward the door.
"I shall see ye this evening. The larder is well stocked with meat. Prepare whatever ye wish for supper."
"Aye, my lord."
She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the door close. She would cook for him and sing for him, and at the end of a year she would go home.
Darkfest cursed softly as he left the girl's room. He should not have brought her here. What folly had possessed him to do so, to think he could look at her every day and not want her, to think he could remember the touch of her hand upon his wolf self and not take her to his bed? Even now, he burned for her, for the touch of her hand, the sound of her voice rising in ecstasy, sobbing his name.
With a harsh laugh, he plunged down the stairs to the dungeon room where he practiced his sorcery. What did he know of women? Of ecstasy? No doubt she knew more of the carnal nature of what went on between a man and a woman than he did. His only experience in coupling had been in his wolf form with a she-wolf late one moonlit night. It had left him feeling satisfied and confused and frightened.
A wave of his hand, and a dozen candles sprang to life, illuminating the room where he kept the ingredients he used in his magic. Powdered horn of a unicorn. Saint-John's-wort. Crushed rosemary and thyme, vervain and yarrow and lavender, garlic and sage and rue, mugwort and cinquefoil and hyssop. He kept a large supply of tree bark and leaves: birch for cleansing and to expel evil; hazel for wisdom and the divining of water; yew, the tree of death; rowan for life and healing; ash for power and absorbing illness; pine for rejuvenation; willow for enchantment; hawthorn for male potency; holly for beauty; the apple for fertility; mistletoe for love and peace. And the alder, said to be the tree of fire, the wood of witches and wizards. He carried a whistle made of alder in his pocket for use in summoning and controlling the four winds.