Sonia took her prattle as an opportunity to look around and finally see her new bedroom.
The minute she did she stopped eating and stared about the room in wide-eyed wonder.
It was like no other room she’d seen.
The walls were not flat but rounded however the room wasn’t a circle but seemed to go in waves.
And it was huge.
There were two, five-doored, dark wood wardrobes that went from floor to high ceiling and they also followed the wavy curves of the walls. There was a thin dresser but it was tall. There was a wider one with seven drawers and a longer one that had four drawers up and four abreast but was shorter (the one Maraleena was at presently). The walls not covered in furniture were covered in intricate tapestries that looked old but were definitely well-kept and hung from curving, polished brass rails at the top edge of the wall.
There were many windows, all of them diamond paned and the glass was so old it was wavy as well, giving the gray, green and white landscape beyond it an almost dreamy quality.
There was an oblong alcove set in one wall which was big enough to seat two and had a fluffy pad covered in hunter green twill and humongous cushiony pillows scattered around in different shades of brown and green.
There was a circular fireplace that, she noted in shock, was in the middle of the room. It had what looked like a stone hood over it which served as a chimney. On one side of the fire was a half-circle, comfy couch in a reddish-brown and on the other side were two cozy chairs with ottomans separated by a stout, round table. The couch and chairs were also piled with big pillows, woolen throws or soft animal hides.
The bed Sonia was in was bigger than any bed she’d ever seen, not only wider but longer. It had four curtained posts and was covered in heavy, soft, dark hides stitched together. There were copious pillows across the head, the mattress were covered in soft, clay-colored, flannel sheets and Sonia was separated from the underside of the hides by sheet of the same.
The floors were littered with rugs, all of different sizes, most of them large and thick and elaborately woven in browns, rusts and greens.
Any part of the room not taken up by furniture, tapestries or rugs was made up of a mellow, golden-red-brown stone.
It was the most inviting, comfortable looking, beautiful room she’d ever seen.
She immediately felt like crying.
For it was this room she sensed in some of her dreams. She knew it from the many times she’d see that golden-red-brown at the edges of her consciousness that wasn’t involved with her handsome wolf or saw the dancing of the firelight on his skin.
To bury these thoughts and halt the tears she could not shed in front of Maraleena, Sonia looked down at her plate and forced some egg into her mouth.
Then she glared at her crockery on her tray for it, too, was beautiful in a sturdy, handsome way with the bottom of the plate and the outside of the bowls, mugs and jugs being a rich, earthen brown but the inside was a gorgeous, muted turquoise.
Of course, only Callum could have crockery that she instantly loved and therefore forced herself to instantly hate.
“…executed them all,” Maraleena was saying as Sonia pushed down the top of the cafetière, her words catching Sonia’s attention.
“Sorry?” Sonia asked.
Maraleena was zipping up an empty suitcase and setting it aside as she looked at Sonia.
“They should have executed them all,” Maraleena repeated.
“Who?”
“The rebels!” Maraleena exclaimed, not ceasing in her endeavors and heading toward another suitcase then repeatedly pulling out Sonia’s jeans and cords and piling them, folded double, on the couch. “A stroke of brilliance, we all think, King Callum handing down the order to slay them one-by-one until they signed the terms of surrender.”
Sonia sucked in breath and the oxygen burned her frozen lungs.
Slay them one-by-one? Sonia repeated in her brain.
“Nothing less than they deserved,” Maraleena muttered, again oblivious to Sonia’s reaction. “Lots of us feel they shouldn’t have stopped. This has been going on years. Years! And what they want, what they’re fighting for! And killing our males for. It’s revolting. Now, finally, it’s over.”
Sonia decided to get her system working by pouring coffee into it which always helped and therefore, with studious precision in an attempt to stop her hand from shaking, she prepared her mug.
Callum had ordered the executions of men.
One-by-one.
Until they did what he wanted.
It was barbaric.
He was barbaric.
And he was her mate, her husband, now he was her king!
“Anyway, it’s a happy New Year with this business over and you seated in the lap of your king,” Maraleena declared while hanging Sonia’s pants on hangers. She threw another smile at Sonia as if she hadn’t just been crowing at the deaths of multitudes of men. “Everyone’s really excited.”
“I’m glad,” Sonia replied but her voice sounded choked so she sipped her coffee.
It was delicious. But it didn’t help.
“You know,” Sonia started, wishing (desperately) to change the subject in an effort not to go stark, raving mad. “I can do that.”
Maraleena froze while shoving the hangers with her pants on them in the wardrobe.
Slowly, she turned and bowed her head low.
Then, deferentially, she murmured, “Yes, my queen.”
But before her head bowed, Sonia saw a look on her face that was near to tragic.
“What?” Sonia asked before she remembered Callum telling her that Julianna would be offended if Sonia tried to help. So, quickly, she said, “Maraleena, I’m so sorry. I’m human and new to this royal business.” Maraleena’s head came up but her face had lost its cheerfulness as Sonia carried on, “I’m used to doing things for myself.”
“I suspected, as King Callum’s mate, you’d want to take care of him,” Maraleena replied in a dead voice.
Hardly, Sonia thought but did not say out loud.
“It’s not that, it’s just –” Sonia stopped speaking when the hint of a light of hope lit in Maraleena’s eyes.
Sonia made a decision, put the tray aside and got out of bed. She walked to Maraleena, grabbed the surprised woman’s hand and led her to the couch. Seating them both side-by-side, she faced the tall woman.
Then she explained, “Callum has been kind of busy. He hasn’t had time to tell me about the ways of your people and my people are very different. So, if you would, could you tell me what’s happening here because I need to understand it so I can…” Sonia trailed off, not knowing what to say then found her words. “Be a good queen.”