Chapter 453: The Rooms Above the Hart

Chapter 452: The Rooms Above the Hart

Lyria’s POV

The further upstairs we climbed, the more dust I observed.

It lay thick upon the banister, gathered in the corners of each step, and had settled over the floorboards in a fine grey film. Even the air seemed laden with it, stirred by our passage and catching what little light strayed up from the candles below. The walls were no better; they had darkened with age in places, and several corners bore the unmistakable marks of having been left unattended for some considerable time.

I wondered whether the inn had been in operation at all of late.

The woman had claimed to own it, had she not? Yet everything about the upper floor spoke of long neglect. There was no bustle of servants, no murmur of other guests, no clatter of dishes nor tread of footsteps overhead. The Wandering Hart seemed less an inn awaiting travellers than a house reluctantly unlocked after a long season of disuse.

I had questions I wished to ask.

There were, in point of fact, rather a great many of them.

But I could ask none, for the woman had not once given us leave to speak.

She halted at the first door upon the left and thrust it open.

"This one’s fer the maids," she said. "There’s only two beds, so only two of ye can stay in ’ere."

She crossed the corridor to the door opposite and opened that one likewise.

"This one’s bigger. Three can fit."

Then she indicated the door directly beside the larger room.

"This’ll do fer ye," she said to me.

I inclined my head, as civility required, and folded my hands before me.

"T-thank you."

She seemed scarcely to hear, for she had already turned towards Obadiah.

"Show the men ter their own rooms."

Obadiah grumbled something beneath his breath, though whatever it was, he possessed the good sense not to say it loudly enough for his grandmother to hear.

He obeyed nonetheless, gesturing for the gentlemen and guards to follow him along the corridor. The gentlemen bowed to us as they passed, one after another, with a gravity that seemed almost absurd in so shabby a place.

Elara stepped forward and dipped a shallow curtsy to the innkeeper before she spoke.

"Pardon me, madam. Might I ask where we may find brooms? The rooms are filled with dust, and they must be set to rights before we can sleep."

The woman stopped.

She regarded Elara with the very expression she had worn downstairs when Marquess Silverwyn had begged her to introduce herself.

"Downstairs," she said.

And with that, she walked away.

Her footsteps receded down the staircase, each step growing fainter than the last, until at length there was nothing but silence.

We remained where we were for a moment.

Then Elara came to stand at my side, and my other maids gathered close, their skirts whispering upon the dusty boards.

Margery looked towards the rooms, then back towards the stairs, with the composure of one who had been well schooled never to remark upon a host’s failings, and who intended to remark upon them regardless.

"I am grateful that the rooms are close together, Your Highness," she said. "Though I must confess, the hospitality might admit of some considerable improvement."

Debbie gave a small, delicate sigh.

"It is because it is us, I think. I suspect this inn has not received a guest in some while, and yet it has been offered to us all the same."

"And with no direction whatsoever as to where the cleaning supplies might be found," Pippa added, glancing towards the stairwell. "I suppose we are expected to discover them by some miracle...downstairs."

"It d-does not matter," I said gently. "I m-must admit, I quite e-expected this. If I am to be f-fully honest, I e-expected worse. It is no n-news that these p-people have no fondness for nobles."

The words were hardly comforting, but they were true.

A yawn escaped me then, which I hid behind my hand, the weariness of the long day settling upon me all at once.

"R-rather than lamenting h-hospitality," I said, "we should t-try to make our r-residences more s-suitable for sleep."

Elara inclined her head.

"Then we shall begin the cleaning at once."

"C-cleaning would t-take even m-more time," I said, "and I am c-certain you are all t-tired. Let us rather clean only a p-part, and then g-go to sleep. We may c-clean the whole on the m-morrow."

I gestured vaguely at the dim corridor about us.

"The whole p-place is dark, save f-for a few candles, and this i-is an unfamiliar p-place. We know n-not where anything is k-kept. Let us simply b-bring in our luggage and r-rest."

Elara regarded me a moment longer.

"Are you quite certain, Your Highness? It would be no trouble. We might clean tonight regardless."

I shook my head.

"D-do not trouble yourselves," I said. "No one i-is doing any c-cleaning tonight. At l-least, not the m-much-needed cleaning."

"As you wish," she said at last, and bowed her head.

---

The guards helped to carry in the luggage, moving soundlessly through the establishment.

The contrast between their careful, measured conduct and the state of the inn was almost amusing. They bore trunks and cases across the worn floors without complaint, setting each down wherever there appeared to be room. They had plainly been trained to perform their duties without fuss, and even the indignity of hauling luggage through a dusty, neglected house did not draw a single word from them.

They ignored Corvin entirely.

So did his own guard and valet, who remained outside with him as he continued to complain, loudly and at length, about the establishment.

I could hear his voice even from upstairs.

Obadiah, the woman, Cadmus, and Thaddeus had departed at some point. I had no notion of when precisely they had gone, only that we had been left to our own devices.

My maids set to work at once.

They brushed away the worst of the dust, turned down the beds, opened the windows to air the rooms, and changed the sheets. The cold night air entered immediately, bearing the scent of damp earth. It was not warm, but it was far preferable to the stale air that had lately occupied the rooms.

They did the same for the gentlemen, who thanked them with grave courtesy before withdrawing, that the maids might finish in privacy.

There was no further discussion.

The day had taken its toll upon everyone, and one by one, we settled for the night while Corvin continued his complaints outside.

Eventually, however, even his voice grew distant enough that I could scarcely make out the words.

Zephyr slept beside me.

He curled against my side, warm and soft, and in spite of everything, I wore a small smile as I drifted off.

All that I had expected, even before our arrival, had come to pass.

And when we woke, matters would at last be set in motion.

For I was not backing down.

I would find a way to ensure that these people ceased to be hostile towards us.