“Except for House meetings,” Mike added. “We hold those in a function room.”
“But Private Council meetings in the Round Room,” Morg said.
I nodded, remembering vague details about the Round Room.
“And if you look down there—” Morgaine pointed to an archway on my left, “—at the end of the manor is the Throne Room. That’s where we hold sessions of Court.”
“Throne Room?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Isn’t that going a little far with the whole monarchy thing?”
“No. Amara, you are royalty—royalty has a throne. Get used to it.”
“So, I have to sit on some big chair and tell people what to do all day?”
“Not all day, no. And you won’t be sitting on the throne until you’ve taken your oath and been crowned. So stop worrying.”
“Besides, I’m sure you’ll pretty much lose focus and stare out the window at the trees all day.” Mike patted my shoulder, as if doing that would make his insulting remark seem like a humoured observation among friends.
“That reminds me.” I turned to Morgaine. “The trees around that wall at the gate—are they natural?”
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“I dunno.” I shrugged. “They just looked a little out of place.”
“They are,” she said. “Some say the forest bordering Loslilian is enchanted—that it grows legs and moves to protect things as needed.”
“Weird. So, how long have those trees been there then?”
“Well, the forest has been here since the beginning of time, really, but the trees at the gate grew up around the entrance shortly after Vampirie gave the throne to Lilith and she swore her oath.”
“Wow.”
“Yep. Now, also through that archway—” she pointed to my left again, past a parlour with curvy, antique-looking furniture and floods of light brightening the pale colours, “—is the common rooms, kitchen and dining areas—well, causal dining. We dine formal for dinner every night in the Great Hall.”
“Really? Every night?”
“Yep. It’s tradition.”
“Whose tradition?”
“Lilith’s, actually. One she started when she ruled. The vamps didn’t keep that tradition, or any others, when they took over, but we’re keen to bring them all back.”
“So I have to eat with a table full of people every night of the week.”
“Yes, and you’ll love it.”
Both Mike and I laughed in the back of our throats. “You don’t know me very well, then, Morgaine.”
“It’s too bad. You’ll be queen soon, which means you, of all people, have more reason to adhere to tradition. You just have to get over it.” She skipped ahead of me; I headed up the stairs slowly behind her, taking everything in.
“This place is huge.”
“Yep. It has nineteen bedrooms in the west wing—”
“West is right of the front door,” Mike added from behind.
I looked down at him. “Thanks, that was my next question.”
“And nineteen bedrooms in the east wing, as well,” Morgaine continued in her ‘tour guide’ voice. “There are thirty staff rooms, which, because the land slopes down on the south side of the manor, sit at ground level under the Great Hall.”
“Like I said—” I stopped on the landing and turned back to wait for Mike, who was too busy texting on his phone to keep up with Morgaine and I, “—it’s big.”
“It is.” Morgaine stopped by another staircase, hidden from where we stood in the entranceway, leading upward, back toward the front wall of the manor. “Now, hurry up. I have other guests arriving in a half hour.”
“Yeah, Mike. Hurry up,” I said.
“Sorry.” He stuffed his phone in his pocket.
“Okay, so, this staircase—” Morgaine started up it, “—will lead you to the west wing’s third floor, and the mirroring staircase will lead to the east wing.”
“What’s in the east wing?”
“Mostly bedrooms.”
“Which wing has the library?”
“West wing,” both my tour guides said.
I smiled widely, following Morgaine up the stairs. “I think I’ll be spending a bit of time in that room.”
“I’m sure you will.”
When we reached the third floor, the windows that lined the entire front of the manor became floodgates for white sunlight to brighten the corridor, lighting a lengthy path from where we stood to where the corridor ended after about the fourteenth window.
“Okay,” Morgaine said, walking faster. “Rooms one and two are empty right now and rooms four and five, right beside the room at the end, are mine and Eric’s.”
“What about that one?” I pointed to a set of mahogany doors, sitting grandly at the centre of the corridor, the frame intricately carved with detail. “Is that the library?”
“Yes. That’s your private entrance.”
And it was a perfect entrance. It stood out, unlike the portal sitting inconspicuously in the wall back at my old school.
Morgaine’s tiny, cold little fingers tightened on mine. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Libraries always make me miss David.”
“Well, you can spend all afternoon in there, once we get you settled.”
“Cool. So, is it a big library—like on Beauty and the Beast?” I asked.
“Trust you to ask that,” Mike grumbled from behind; I smiled back at him.
“Yes,” Morgaine said. “It is. The main section is two floors deep; picture floor to ceiling bookshelves.”
I walked with my eyes closed for a second. “Picturing.”
“And there’s a special section on the first floor, where we keep the scrolls and other ancient books. But it’s closed off—locked. You wouldn’t even know it was there if I didn’t tell you.”
“Why not? Is it hidden behind a secret passage?” I laughed, but Morgaine didn’t.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” I frowned. “Well, why is it locked?”
“To keep people out.”
“Including me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, why would you tell me about it then? You know I’ll find a way to go down there.”
Morgaine laughed, looking at Mike. “I know. That’s why I told you about it. If you’d found out by snooping around, you would definitely go down there, but, if I tell you about it and request that you only go down there with me or Mike, even Arthur, then you can’t get into any trouble.”