12. Closing the Keep by Zachary

zachary

Lord Kelzen was out making last minute purchases while the final details were seen to at Starsunder Castle. It was not the first time the estate had been closed up for the winter but it was the first time it was done so that Lord Kelzen could travel north into an even earlier and harsher winter.

Zach snapped the crisp sheet in place over his lord’s bureau. With luck they would return from Gauldalier in the spring, Zach despised the cold but would follow his Lord to the frozen center of the Northern Wastes if Kelzen told him to. He smoothed the sheet over the top, straightening it neatly over the large piece of furniture then turned towards the door when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

Cold, nearly hostile eyes stared down at him, the snort that greeted his ears was contemptuous. “Aren’t you done yet?” Curtis’s voice was as cold as his eyes as they slid down Zach’s slim body. Zach shivered despite the warm fire blazing in the hearth, his voice quiet in the large room when he answered the large servant of Kelzen’s. “Almost. Lord Kelzen’s trunks are all downstairs.” He only had to finish covering the furnishings in Kelzen’s room and bring his own bags downstairs.

Curtis curled his lip upwards while lounging back against the doorframe. “You know that Kelzen is going to send you back to Sareth, don’t you?”

Zachary was use to Curtis’s barbs and barely spared him a glance while he grabbed another sheet from the pile on the floor and moved to the other side of the room. Curtis continued, his voice a silky threat, “It’s true, pretty-boy. You fucked his life up in Sareth, you think he’s going to risk another scandal when he’s about to make good with the Ice Wench?”

The only sound was the snap of the crisp fabric as Zach covered Kelzen’s favorite reading chair by the ornate fireplace. Curtis couldn’t hear the increase of Zach’s heart when fear surged through him. Could it be true? Would his Lord send him packing? The faint tremble of his hand when he adjusted the protective material over the chair must have given him away for Curtis let out a low, taunting laugh before the click of hard leather on stone indicated that Curtis had walked away.

Tues, Oct 22nd – 2:12PM