: Did She Know?

Turning around, Dimitri saw that Kayda was still standing there, staring at him.

"Follow me."

Hearing his words, Kayda tentatively stepped forward and followed him into the cabin while Clouse went off with his valkmare after putting his lord's up in the stable next to the cabin.

It was dark, there wasn't a single candle lit inside as she followed Dimitri, but she had no problem following him with her eyes.

They made their way upstairs where he suddenly stopped in front of a door.

"You can sleep in here tonight. We'll be leaving in the afternoon so get cleaned up and get some rest."

And before she could even reply, he walked off and entered another room, blocking her outside when he closed the door.

"Well, isn't he a rain of sunshine."

She muttered under her breath. But her voice was loud enough to make her narrow her eyes.

Her voice was still scratchy and hoarse. But even then, she still smiled at its sound. At the beginning of the day, she felt like she might die as a beast. Her body scattered in the wind like ash.

Just hearing herself talk, that itself was a gift.

Entering the room in front of her, she looked around. It was an average room with a canopy bed and a desk. A wardrobe propped on the wall with a floor length mirror that she didn't even glance at. She didn't want to know what she looked like. She didn't want this appearance in her mind.

When she found the bathroom, she was surprised to see appliances she had never seen before.

Of course she knew what a sink and tub where, but the last time she had a proper bath in a tub and wasn't hose down like an animal, it was filled by heating up buckets of water.

But she couldn't exactly grab a bucket and find a well then go back and forth to fill the tub.

So, with her head stuck in her thoughts, she just decided to grab a rag that was hanging up and dipped it in a pitcher of water she found and wiped herself down as best she could.

With a casual white shirt on and a glass of wine in hand, Dimitri looked out over the distance with a domeering air around him.

His thoughts kept circling back to the little drakin they had picked up today, Kayda.

She used to be a slave, and most slaves are severely mistreated, but the sight of her put the word mistreated to shame.

Her raspy voice filled his head as an image of her formed in his mind. Her joints had stuck out of her skin, while her cheeks where holllowed, her eyes took on a bigger shape, making her look like a ghost of a skeleton. And her big eyes, they stared at him with so much hostility and caution. But it did nothing to hide her fear.

Slowly, Kayda's figure overlapped with another small frame in his mind before he closed his eyes to breath out an exhausted sigh.

Until his silence was interrupted.

There was a knock on the door before Clouse entered with a bundle of clothes.

"I got the clothes. Do you think she is still bathing?"

Dimitri looked over to Clouse while he thought for a second remembering her dirty appearance.

He nodded before looking back out the window.

But after a second, his brows creased as he looked back at Clouse who hadn't left yet.

Clouse felt his annoyance from where he stood and he felt his brow twitch.

"Clouse. Do you need something?"

Clouse let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, how my lord mistreats me. Can't I just stay too look at your gorgeous face?"

Clouse suddenly felt a chill as he met Dimitris dead cold stare.

Giving an awkward laugh, he finally asked what was on his mind.

"Dimitri, we don't really know how long she's been in that condition right?"

Dimitri was silent.

"And she had that collar too."

"Get to the point."

Clouse held up his hand in surrender as the temperature in the room dropped.

"Fine! Do you think she even knows how to work the bath?"

The room had suddenly turned silent.

Clouse was patiently awaiting for Dimitri to respond when he suddenly stood up and grabbed the clothes in his hand as he walked out of the room.

With a hand on the back of his neck, Clouse sighed.

"I guess that's a no."

And then he walked off after him.

Dimitri stood in front of the bedroom door, not knocking.

He stood there for a second before he lightly knocked on the wooden door and waited in silence.

When there was no response, he frowned and then opened the door and entered the dark room.

Clouse had just turned the corner to see this and he felt a foreboding feeling. He should probably lecture his lord later about the rules of a woman. One of which, if there is no reply, do not enter the forbidden layer.

When Dimitri closed the door behind him after entering the room, a slight breeze caressed his face.

It didn't even take him a second for his eyes to find her.

Kayda was sitting upon the window seal. Her arms hugging her knees close to her chest as she closed her eyes to feel the breeze on every pore of her face.

Her face was now clean of dirt and dust, but she couldn't do much about her hair and clothes. So she just settled with wiping down her skin and then letting the cool morning breeze dry her off.

Feeling a stare on her back, she turned her head to look behind her.

Dimitri stood there like a shadow as his eyes seemed to bore into her.

Coldly, she returned his stare.

"Can I help you, lord?"

Her voice oozed with sarcasm, resulting in a slight twitch from Dimitri.

Walking forward, a portion of his face came into the light the moon had shone into the room.

"I came to show you how the bath works."

The room went strangely quiet as Kayda stared at him for a second.

She could feel an awkwardness fill her on the inside, making her have the strong desire to hide herself in a small ball but she was able to put up a perfect mask of indifference.

Hopping off the window seal with ease, she walked towards the bathroom and Dimitri followed.