Instead, she took a sip of tea, then asked, “Has he always been so tense?”
Gus sighed, his shoulders drooping. “Always. Since I have known him. He bears the burden of the entire realm on his shoulders.” He brought his teacup to his lips and drank. Trolls tended to drink their tea in hearty gulps.
“But why is that? I mean I know that he has a lot of battling power so that he can fight the Invictus, but why isn’t there a government in place to support him?”
Gus snorted. “Have you not been in Merhaine a year now? Do you not see the greater problem?”
She was afraid to give her opinion. She didn’t know if it was politically correct to speak of the differences in the species. There was a lot of intermarriage among realm-folk, but it was still in the range of ten to fifteen percent, which meant that a majority could still be hostile and disapproving.
“Well,” she began, trying for tact, “I have noticed that fights tend to break out between trolls and elves, elves and fae, fae and shifters, shifters and vampires. I even watched a forest gremlin start shouting at a fae who was ten times his size.”
He nodded several times slowly. “Then you understand. Each folk believes they are the smartest, the best, the most reasonable, the strongest, the prettiest, you name it. And the older the realm individual, the more profound the belief in superiority.”
“Oh, yes, I saw a fae woman spit on the ground in front of a troll. I was later told she was over five-hundred-years-old.”
He shook his head, pinching his lips tightly together. He took another drink of tea, the three ridges of his forehead folding into a scowl. “We are not a perfect society. And though being long-lived has a wonderful advantage, it is even harder to rid our world of its deepest prejudices.”
“Like a human dating a vampire?”
He met her gaze and his forehead relaxed, though a solemn light entered his eye. “Especially a vampire, not to mention a mastyr vampire.”
“You would disapprove, then?” She leaned forward and took another sip.
“Thirty years ago, yes. Today, I don’t know. I have come to know your kind and you are not as…well…as ignorant as I had supposed, or as cruel.”
She wasn’t offended. How could she be? “There is great cruelty in our culture.”
“But much goodness as well.”
She met his gaze once more. Because she wanted to understand the position of the castle staff, and especially Gus’s take on the subject, she said, “Gerrod kissed me this evening.”
Gus’s eyes went wide.
She couldn’t help but laugh. She knew his gossipy kind well, but she also knew something else. He was a wise troll and she trusted him, so she added, “I kissed him back.”
His eyes literally moved in a complete circle, as though he was trying to wrap his mind around a certain thought. Or perhaps he was just wondering how the hell he could keep this a secret.
Since he didn’t respond right away, she thought she would be more direct about what she wanted to know. “Do you disapprove? Is this a very bad thing?”
Finally, he set his cup and saucer back on the table, and bid her do the same. “Come with me. There is something I wish you to see.”
She was on her feet and moving swiftly. Trolls were fast, those feet again.
The return walk in the direction of the entrance hall took at least a couple of minutes. The castle, as the dwelling was called, was more like an ancient European church, made of stone, with only one level, but having several extremely tall, and quite beautiful, vaulted ceilings.
Because of the gray stone, however, it definitely had the feel of a castle, especially with several suits of armor, imported from Medieval England, standing like sentinels near several of the doorways.
She thought he meant to take her straight into the entrance hall, where a lot of shouting could be heard. Instead, he turned into a shallow alcove about twenty feet from the doorway. She frowned, wondering what he was doing. But he shoved the small table to the right and slid his hand up the left side wall.
She heard a click, then the wall moved inward a few inches. He pushed and gestured for her to precede him.
The room was pitch black but as had happened in the forest, her vision altered and changed and she could actually see as though the room had a glow. Was this some kind of fae magic, a spell that had been cast over the room? Or was this something she was actually doing?
Ever since she’d come to Merhaine, small things like this had begun happening to her. She wanted to ask Gus about it, but he seemed suddenly tense and waved her to the sofa that faced very strangely toward the wall adjacent to the entrance hall.
She sat down. He fiddled with the drapes that spanned most of the wall, pulling them back slowly. What a surprise when the entire entrance hall came into view as through a soft haze. She could see everyone and when Gus flipped a switch off to the right, she could hear everyone as well.
How was this done?
“Don’t worry. We can’t be heard but I can see your question. How is it done?”
She nodded.
He gestured with a sweep of his arm the length of the viewing window. “You know that big landscape in the entrance hall? It’s painted on a very fine mesh screen.”
“Oh, I see. Do you come here often to observe?”
“No, not often.”
Gerrod had his back to the wall. He turned slowly until he was almost facing the painting. Then he was in her mind. Abigail? Are you in the viewing room?
She was so startled, she jerked in her seat. She also felt as though she was spying on him. Yes, I’m here. How did you know?
Not sure, just a feeling. His brow puckered, a familiar sight.
Gus brought me here, she explained. Should I leave? Please say no.
Stay if you like. You’ll learn another reason why I want you to leave.
There was more than one reason?
He turned back into the room but stepped off to the side in a very casual manner so that she had a better view of what was going on. The room was full of notables. She recognized them from having read the various Merhaine newspapers.
But in the middle, beneath a very large round wood chandelier, a fae and an elf, both male, stood almost touching chests. Did she hear growls?
“Humans are vermin,” the elf said.
“That’s absurd. There are good humans and bad humans. The baker is quite acceptable. I think she smiles too much, but beyond that her intelligence is sufficient and her cupcakes are quite good, excellent in fact.”
“Here, here,” moved about the room.