Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,16

his armored head, he exited the room, closing the door behind him and leaving me there alone to wonder about it all.

Such as, how did this place get its food? And I had to remain in this room, all by myself, until the wedding? I wouldn’t even see my future husband before the ceremony? That didn’t feel right to me.

The room was large with its own windows and ice-covered candelabras. The bed held a translucent canopy of the thinnest fabric I’d ever seen. Dressers of every size, chests of all kinds, littered the room, making its grey stone walls feel a bit warmer. A fireplace that appeared as if it had not seen use in years sat across the bed, the only thing in this place that was covered in dust.

A small washroom sat adjoined to the room. A bath level with the floor, along with a full-length mirror and what looked to be a chamber pot attached to the tiled floor. There were these weird contraptions, levers that looked out of place, and with a little fiddling, I realized what they were: some kind of moving mechanism for the water. To take a bath here, all I’d need to do was turn the lever near the bath and water would come out of its mouth. No multiple trips to a well necessary.

That was… that was quite extraordinary, and I wondered if magic had anything to do with it.

I discovered the same thing with the chamber pot, which meant no lingering smells or having to empty and clean it myself. Huh. Imagine all of the time something like this would save if it was prominent in every house in the kingdom.

Wandering out of the washroom, I sat on the edge of the bed, sighing as I gazed down at my dress. No longer white, in spite of the many times I had tried to keep it clean. I doubted this would be my wedding dress; in a big, fancy castle like this, there would surely be a ballgown I’d wear, or something.

Then again, come to think of it, as I’d followed the messenger through the halls of the castle, we hadn’t crossed paths with anyone else. It was almost as if this castle was deserted, which didn’t bode well, in my eyes.

Eventually I got up and wandered to the dressers, checking them out. I found clothes in every drawer, along with more dresses in the tallest one, hanging there, as if waiting for me to put them on. Waiting for me to arrive.

I pulled one out, studying it. Shiny and silver, like the messenger’s armor. Pretty, though, and it looked more comfortable than the dress I’d been wearing these last few weeks. I ended up changing, finally getting out of the dress my ma made me, along with changing my underthings and pulling on new boots. You’d be surprised at how dirty things could still be, even after washing them in a river.

What I should do was take a nice bath. Soaps of all kinds sat in the washroom, some with immaculate scents, but I felt the need to investigate this castle. I felt the need to do anything but sit here and listen to the messenger like a good girl.

I stared at myself in the floor-length mirror resting in the corner of the room. Wearing this silver gown, I appeared paler than I knew I was. My blonde hair was a bit dirty, but I didn’t care. Right now, this would do. As I decided that, I spun around, my intent to spend some time getting to know the halls of this castle, but I found I was suddenly not alone in my room anymore.

Ishan sat on my bed, his tunic open near his neck to show his collarbone and the smooth, muscular, dark skin on his chest. His brown hair was a bit ruffled, and he wore an easy smile that made my stomach do a few flips.

He was a devastating kind of handsome, I’d give him that. He also would always have surprise on his side, apparently, able to miraculously appear to me whenever he desired. I should be annoyed at that, but as I gazed upon him, as I worked to calm my heart and my stomach down, I realized I wasn’t.

I think I liked that I had his favor, even if I was set to marry his brother.

Staring at him, I demanded, “Well? Aren’t you going to tell me what you’re doing here?” I tried