10

The horses' hooves were slowing down until finally we stopped in front of a small lodging with a long and triangular roof. The soft, gleaming snow was accumulated on the windowsills next to the narrow entrance door.

Cael was the first to descend and soon after him I went. The place where we would spend the night was rustic simple with some rotten wooden tables and chairs turned up and piled up on the north side of the small hall.

- Can I help you?

A woman of short stature, slim body, thin hair, round face and brown eyes that by the nervous expression should be tired and without patience for outsiders asked pointing her red nose towards Cael.

Judging by the tone of her voice, her hips and the grimy apron, that woman should own that rustic hotel.

- Sir, we're closing! You want something? Otherwise...

- Want two quarter madam and three bowls of stew.

- Okay! It's gonna cost 1500 shekels of copper. Will you pay one half now and another half tomorrow morning or will you pay cash?

- I'll pay the full amount tonight. Filiph! Take my coin purse and pay her the amount she asked for. Kris... let's go to the room. It's very late and... ma'am! Could you...

- I do not deliver anything in the rooms! If you want to eat the stews you will have to get in the kitchen!

- Here is the payment ma'am!

The young man with gray eyes, curly hair and gentle face was handed a small dark bag stuffed with a good amount of coins to the lady who checked the authenticity of some of that small copper triangles using a golden canine stuck in her dental record.

- You can go upstairs... Your rooms are upstairs... - Suggested the lady concentrated on her gold.

- Filiph! You will stay here and will take the stew bowls to our room.

- Yes my sir!

The wooden stairs behind the dusty old counter of the inn ranged with every step we took. Cael kept firmly in front of me as I followed him in silence right after him.

We quickly reached the upper part of the stairs, there was a shy hallway and two doors. The ceiling was low and the air around us was hot and humid.

- A nice heating system and surprisingly cozy. It is a reasonable inn...

Cael seemed to be calmer. The comment about the lots of those rooms, the environment revealed it... but had he changed his mind about Ilyada and the others? Did those harsh words and the cold way and the fiery temper still echo inside him?

- Kris... please come in... you can't stay out alone...

- All right my lord.

I walked in, the door closed and we were alone again. The room was fairly small, old furniture and moldy the only window that was inside the bedroom made it look like everything had been decorated by a prison warden. The only luxury inside that dark lair were the smooth stone fireplace that housed a small handful of firewood in flames, flames that illuminated everywhere.

The bed was very similar to the one I had in my old cottage. It was big enough for two people but did not have much more comfort than the large size, some sheets and two clean pillows.

Cael was the first to take his clothes off. Their broad muscular backs were imposing and inviting but was in the body of someone who I should keep my distance at that time.

I turned my eyes to the ties of my dress and I began to undress me. skirt by skirt my dress went down to the ground.

Underneath my dress a delicate silver nightgown was still intact and outlining my silhouette, my breasts and enhancing the gold of my skin.

I loosened my hair and sat on the bed. Cael looked at me in silence. His eyes were as burning as fire of the fireplace in our bedroom.

Gentle knocks contain the door drawing attention of Cael. It was Filiph with our foods.

The young man entered silently, put the two bowls on top of the small table by the window and left as quickly as he entered. Cael took his bowl and sat on the bed. I followed his movements and I started serving me.

- Not now Kris! - Warned Cael - At first I eat then you... as our tradition says.

I didn't say anything, I just agreed and I sat in the only chair that accompanied the lonely table. Cael ate slowly and it irritated me deeply. I hadn't eaten all day, I felt weak, I was already delirious from hunger and now I had to wait for him to eat so that later I could served myself because of a useless tradition.

Spoon after spoon the stew was being devoured until at last after ten long minutes I could eat.

The stew was good, a little without salt but it was still good. I ate quickly, I wanted more, more and more. I forgot the manners and the politeness, I just wanted to feel refreshed again by the meat and the water of the broth of that meal.

- Where are your table manners? It looks like a wild man eating! - Cael criticized with the look loaded with disapproval.

- I was very hungry...

- But it didn't seem... you told me you weren't hungry why you didn't order me food? It would have been better to have left this rotten pride of yours and asked me for food than to have gone through this shame.

Countless answers that statement went through my mind but the motives inside my lips. I've never been the kind of person who blows up before something as situations and days like this but Cael was provoking me.

Moments ago in the carriage when I was delirious with hunger I still wanted him, I still wondered him...why do I still wanted him intensely?

But now with properly stocked body I can think a little better. Is he cute sometimes? Yes. Is he hot and hansome? Yes! Absolutely! Sometimes I may even lose my reason because of his beauty? Yes. I want to learn to tame him? I don't think so... But my patience has limits and he was starting to play with these boundaries but as my situation was unfavorable and unfortunately my life was extremely dependent on him I decided to act like I was ignoring him

- I'm sorry my lord... It won't happen again.

- Good... I'll sleep here. Take your pillow, your blanket and go sleep on the couch, I completely lost the urge to share my bed with you tonight.

By the old gods... what kind of man is this?

Since I didn't have much choice, I took a deep breath and followed the instructions given by him. I was tired so I could no longer resist the sleep that my fed stomach produced in me and the tranquility and fullness that the warmth of the fireplace brought to my body. Although I felt happy to be asleep I still brooded over Cael's words. His aggressiveness, his coldness... I put every single one of those things in my own court. On one side of that court were his voice, his beauty, his perfume but on the other side of my court were his defects, his bestability, his hate and his evilness that I presented today. Half of me wanted stay blind and find reasons to still love him but still exist one part of me screaming to the four winds that man was the biggest problem I've ever faced.

In the conclusion of the trial Cael and his defects and his bestability, his hate and his evilness were guilty and I needed to survive and to escape from his hands.

🌫🌕🌫

The beams of light was radiating through the small window and finded my face scaring my sleep and awakening my senses.

I lazily left my body and opened my eyes. Cael was in "our" room, concentrating on tying his boots while I was waking up.

- Morning Kris! Did you sleep well?

- Like a rock...

- Great! We'll travel for another half day until we reach the Muddy Port.

- Yes my lord...

- I'm sorry about yesterday I was a crazy beast with you... it was my situation with Ilyada...

- I know it.

- Well, you understand me... that's one of the qualities I most admire in a first lady... understanding.

- Good.

Understand him... So this is what he sought in Ilyada because she was pious so then he thought that this piety and charity was subordination? If she has all the qualities of a perfect first lady, why does he blame her for the outburst of rage he had yesterday?

A first lady is a wife, not a governess. Since I was little in my colony I was always thought like this. A first lady is the wife of her Master. She must love her master and her Master must love her to the point of dying for her. Maybe this is just a fairy tale and the reality is quite different.

- Put on your clothes and eat something... so that we'll be leaving soon...

- Yes Cael.

- And please have some table manners, that's also the other quality that I value in a First Lady. So let's forget yesterday and start over... all right?

- Yes my lord... thank you... - I feigned a smile of gratitude and obeyed his orders.

Without much refinement or sensuality I dressed myself and I accompanied my lord to the downstairs.

There was no one waiting for us. Neither the lady who had welcomed us the last night or Feliph were there. It was just me and Cael.

We left the inn in silence and entered our carriage.

The horses came back on the hard, icy road as Filiph drove them through curves that meandered through the snow and the thin drizzle of frozen flakes that descended from the sky in cascades of winds and ice.

- Aren't you going to apologize? - Cael asked with visibly wounded pride.

- I'm sorry... but what exactly am I supposed to apologize for? - I asked back trying to remind me of some serious mistake I've made since the day broke on the horizon.

- Perhaps because of your insolence to ask me that question? Or maybe because you disrespected me at dinner time when you broke traditions... or when you ignored me for something more important than what I was explaining to you yesterday... - The volume of his voice increased at each item on the list of reasons why I should apologize - Or else the fact that