07: A Grand Entrance

It was as if all the stories that Amaris had ever heard about Craester Castle did not do it justice. Three days after leaving The Bitterhead Inn, and many miles behind her and her new friend, the emperor Ivailo, she stood there, gawking up at the imposing castle, with its turrets dwarfing the tallest mountain and the walls so thick that the castle might as well be an enormous jar, like the ones used for the homebrew at the Inn. I bet those walls are at least a bed thick, Amaris thought, accepting Ivailo's help down from the back of the midnight black mare that he had brought to the Inn.

Decorating the front of the castle, Amaris saw lines and lines of vampires. Pale, thin figures that Amaris realised looked just like her, except not as exhausted as she used to be. The ride to the Castle had done Amaris a lot of good, helping her gain some form of energy that she had never had before. It probably helped that horse riding was less taxing than cleaning an entire inn by herself.

"Let me introduce you to the household," Ivailo whispered in her ear. She nodded, letting him lead her to an especially pale vampire with salt and pepper hair. "This is Raphael. He is the butler of the castle and will be in charge of making sure that you have every need and comfort taken care of, starting with a new set of clothes."

"My lady," Raphael bowed so low that his long nose touched the grass. "It is a pleasure to serve a fellow vampire."

"It is nice to meet you, and it is nice to be anywhere but the Inn that I was living in." Amaris said, smiling.

"Raphael, I trust you will look after miss Amaris," Ivailo stated, handing her off to Raphael to take care of her.

"You know I will, Your Majesty."

"Good. And be sure to have one of the housekeeping staff named her ladies' maid." Raphael nodded, and Ivailo turned to Amaris. "I will see you a bit later." He kissed her hand. "Right now, I have a country to take care of." Why is he treating me like I am a diamond? Surely my being a vampire is at least a little off-putting, Amaris thought.

"So, any chance of a tour of my new home?" Amaris asked, turning to Raphael.

"Certainly, milady. If you follow me, I will show you to your chambers." Raphael walked to the large wooden door, so thick that Amaris wondered if there were some wine barrels hidden inside. They entered an entryway that put the cavern-like front room at The Bitterhead Inn to shame. If this is the entryway, Amaris thought, just what is the rest of the castle like?

The entryway, much like the hallways leading off to the various wings of the castle, was decorated lavishly with many large tapestries and paintings, so vibrant that the bare rock wall was barely noticeable. The floors, otherwise made of flagstone tiles, were covered with a deceptively simple carpet that must have taken the weaver months, even years, to make. After what seemed like forever, Amaris had worked up the courage to verbalise a question that had been plaguing her thoughts since she had first met Ivailo.

"Does his majesty treat all the vampires within his line of sight as if they are royalty?" She asked, almost embarrassed that she felt the need to. Raphael smiled.

"Yes, his majesty treats all vampires he comes across much better than others, doen't he? Much better than the treatment you used to get, I expect." He stopped as they reached a large wooden door covered with carvings of an image Amaris had never seen before. "They're called roses," Raphael said, noticing her curiosity. "Behind this door are your chambers. And as for the other question that I know is coming, his majesty remembers how he had been treated when he was a servant of this castle, and has actively tried to not make the same mistakes that the last emperor, your father, made."

So this all comes back to the man who sired me, Amaris realised; Given everything that I am hearing, I sincerely hope for the stability of Acad that Ivailo doesn't decide to turn around and do the same that was once done to him. Otherwise, all that he has worked for to have the werewolves on the top of the social hierarchy may implode in on him. Still, I am very glad for his kindness and I hope I can repay his kindness, serving the community as best I can.

Amaris stepped through the door, and whatever she had been expecting was nowhere near what greeted her. The room was so bright, for a moment Amaris thought she had entered the center of the brightest star in the night sky. Once her eyes had adjusted, she saw that the room was more richly decorated than either the entryway or the hallway had been, with a deep purple bed dominating the far wall and flowers of every colour and shape covering almost every flat surface, and much of the wall like the room had once been a garden that had been transformed into a bedroom fit for a goddess.

Stepping into the room, Amaris noticed many other interesting things about the room. One painting depicted a battlefield, probably from antiquity, given that all the figures were as pale as if not paler than she was. A bookshelf, filled with volumes and tomes beyond count, had ivy cascading over its sides as if it were a waterfall. Approaching the bookshelf, she felt the velvet and leather spines in an array of colours and sizes. She had never wished that she could read more than in that moment. This room seemed to be the perfect place to settle down with a book and a cup of tea. Montego had put no importance in learning to read, and certainly did not encourage any of his staff to pursue the gaining of knowledge. I wonder if Ivailo encourages his staff to read, Amaris wondered, continuing to explore the room.

To say the room was vast was an enormous understatement. Just as Amaris thought she had explored every inch of her new home, she found a door covered by a curtain of Ivy bearing a similar pattern as the door that lead to the hallway. Curious, and a little terrified, she turned the rose shaped doorhandle, cracking the door open just a smidge. To her relief, the room behind the door was not a nefarious dungeon where many vampires were kept captive, but an elaborately tiled restroom, complete with a bathtub, chamberpot and basin hewn out of Aublandite, a purple gemstone only found in Thoasia. Ivailo must be really wealthy, Amaris thought; if he can afford to equip such an exquisite set of chambers with so much Aublandite.

Amaris was suddenly keenly aware that she was not the only person in her chambers. Whipping around at the sound of a door closing, she silently padded to the portal separating the bathing suite with the bedchamber.

"I am sorry if I startled you, Milady." A slender, but not frail vampire said quietly, as if it scared her, that she might have scared Amaris.

"That is quite okay," Amaris said, pulling herself out from behind the doorframe. "What is your name?"

"Kenia, Milady."

"Are you the ladies' maid assigned to me?"

"Yes, Milady."

"Well, it is lovely to meet you, Kenia. I do hope that we become friends."

"I hope so too, Milady. You are someone I aspire to be like."

"How so?" The statement intrigued Amaris. I have done nothing of any significance, she thought; all I did was be in the right place at the right time. "You know that the job of being the Lady of the people just landed in my lap, right?"

"Yes, Milady. But that is not why you are such a person deserving of admiration. You survived so many years of terrible abuse as a slave, and yet still have a graceful air around you."

"Thank you, Kenia. Your words hearten me."

"Your welcome, Milady. However, Your Ladyship needs to have tutoring in becoming a courtly lady. I do not imagine that your training that you have previously received is sufficient for you to pass off as a princess."

"No, indeed it was not. All I learned how to do was to make homebrew, clean a bar and please the lower classes who wanted some evening company. In fact, that is how I met his majesty."

"I thought as much. First lesson, never bring up what goes on in bedrooms across the nation, it is undignified for a lady to talk about such things."