Chapter 4

The evening seemed to be endless and Syrah was at her wits end by the time the Kellers retired to their quarters. They had stayed up late into the night with Anthony and he was staying in his old room. She was exhausted from her day in the woods and the stress of the evening. She was the last one awake, as usual, trying to finish her chores before bed so she wouldn't have to get up extra early and thinking about all she had learned. Thankfully the Kellers knew nothing of her woods trip nor her encounter with Anthony. Her mind raced with all the questions she had for him and she considered sneaking to his room to talk to him, but that could be the worst offense of all of she were caught. It wasn't her job to check on guests and ensure their comfort. She was never allowed contact with people outside the household, never allowed outside the house except to gather eggs from the chickens, milk the cows, and feed the animals. She had been beaten and burned many times as a young child for violating that rule, but she just learned how to be more covert in her outings. Her punishments were almost daily though for other reasons... so many other reasons. She was whipped yesterday with a cane stick across her knuckles for cleaning too fast in the sewing room. A room that never gets used now that the family uses a seamstress in town. The day before she punched in the stomach for breathing too loud. The day before that she was forced to expose her backside for whipping because she scuffed the floor when she tripped over one of the twins traps. Mr. Keller loved those kinds of whippings and made sure she struggled to sit for a couple days after. As she dried and put away her last dish, she yawned and decided to just go to bed. Maybe the Anthony situation would make more sense in the morning. She wandered to her room and opened the door. Her room was closet sized and fit a small mattress on the floor, a chair, and a small chest of drawers for her uniforms with a small lamp. It was dark in her room, the way she preferred it to be, and she flopped down on her bed too tired to even change from her clothes. She began to scream when her mattress turned out to be a lumpy, warm thing. A hand quickly covered her mouth to stop her scream and she stared into a set of bright green eyes. She broke away from the hand and jumped up, breathing hard. Then she quickly turned and closed the door, in case someone heard something, and turned back to the room. It was completely black now, so she turned the lamp on while she sat down in the chair and whispered, "Anthony, what are you doing here?! We could both be in a lot of trouble..", her voice trailed off as she got a look of the person in the room with her. He had brown hair, a slender build with broad shoulders, and a grin on his face. She jumped from the chair, unsure if she should run or scream. His grin quickly disappeared and he held his hands out as if to stop her, "please don't," he whispered," we've been searching the continent for you for years and don't want to lose you again." She stood there frozen with her mouth half open, her scream stalled on her lips. Searching for her? Why? Anthony has said he had finally found her. She startled as she heard Anthony's voice in her mind,"it's okay. He was the closest person to me to call in for help. I won't leave you here any longer than we have to now that we have found you and you will not be alone." The man in front of her was nodding his head like he could hear Anthony's vow as well. "Please sit back down," the man whispered, " I will explain as much as I can." Anthony said," tell her everything." The man's eyes got wide but he nodded his head once more like Anthony could see him. Syrah tentatively sat in the chair, on the edge in case she needed to run from this crazy man hiding in her bed. His grin returned and she saw so much kindness in his face that she immediately wanted to trust him and everything he said. He did a half- bow from the bed and whispered, "my name is Elias. It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Syrah." She stopped breathing. What did he call her? He must be mistaken on her identity. She was the child of a whore, bought for a small sack of grain. She couldn't be a princess. Elias then said, "Syrah, I am your brother. We have been searching for you since the day you were stolen from us."