Chapter 870: Last Reward [Bonus - ]

Chapter 870: Last Reward [Bonus Chapter]

Martha was still smiling at the window when the Zenith passed the exit for the northern ridge and kept going, sliding down the off-ramp toward the lower boulevard instead.

She blinked and sat up a little straighter.

"Master Silas...? Wasn’t that our exit?"

"We’ve got one last stop to make before we head up the mountain," Silas said.

"Where else could we possibly go...?" she asked weakly. "I don’t think my heart can take another surprise tonight..."

"I made a promise to a certain ancient empress," Silas grinned. "And I always keep my promises."

Martha blinked at him... and then the realization hit her, and she laughed so suddenly that she had to cover her mouth.

"The gelato...! Oh, Master Silas, I’d completely forgotten! If we’d gone home without it..."

"She’d have clawed my face off in my sleep," Silas agreed. "And then complained to me about it for a week..."

Ten minutes later, the car pulled up at the curb outside the little artisan creamery on the lower commercial boulevard.

It was just about to lock its doors for the night with the striped canvas awning flapping in the crisp wind.

Silas jogged inside and came back four minutes later with an insulated foil bag stamped with the shop’s gold logo.

Inside were two large heavy pints of fresh roasted-pistachio gelato swirled through with dark salted caramel, loaded with candied waffle crumbles and finished with a thick extra layer of caramel poured over the top before the lids were sealed.

"Two pints," Martha read off the receipt he’d tossed onto the dashboard. "With extra caramel... Master Silas, that’s enough sugar to put a grown man to sleep for a week."

"...She’s a cat so it really doesn’t matter."

"She’s a very small cat," Martha said with deep housekeeper disapproval.

"She’s two thousand years old, Martha... At least that’s an estimate, I think her teeth can handle it."

Martha huffed, but she was smiling, and Silas noticed that all through the drive back up the mountain.

Her left hand never once left her lap... her thumb kept drifting back to the ring, turning it slowly around her finger as if checking it was still there.

The Zenith climbed the winding tree-lined switchbacks of Celestine Heights, glided under the glowing security arches and rolled up the private drive.

The tall gates swung open and let them onto the wide quiet grounds of Grand Horizon.

The estate was peaceful under the starry sky... The outdoor lanterns cast a soft golden glow across the lawns and the dark mirror-like surface of the pool.

Silas parked on the circular driveway, pulled the glossy Weaver’s Spire bags out of the trunk, scooped up the gelato and led the way up the white stone steps.

Martha followed with the plush duck hugged against her chest and they slipped through the front doors into the foyer.

The house was wrapped in deep late-night stillness.

The girls were still fast asleep upstairs, and not a single sound drifted down from the second floor.

Silas and Martha stepped into the living room.

In the middle of the huge room, bathed in the flickering glow of the giant wall-mounted screen, Nito was still sitting on the edge of the coffee table exactly where they’d left her.

...She hadn’t moved an inch in three hours.

Her sleek black cat body was locked in a tight motionless crouch with her tail curled around her paws, and her big violet eyes were blown wide into glassy saucers, reflecting the bright studio lights of the reality show.

On screen, two middle-aged women in matching leopard-print dresses were wrestling each other over a velvet couch while a security guard in a yellow windbreaker tried to pry them apart with a plastic broom.

Nito didn’t even twitch an ear at the sound of the front door.

"Look at her," Silas whispered to Martha. "She’s completely hypnotized..."

Martha covered her mouth with a delicate hand as a quiet giggle slipped through her fingers.

Silas strolled into the room and stopped right beside the coffee table. He reached into the foil bag, pulled out one of the cold heavy pints and slowly cracked the lid open.

POP!

A rich cold wave of roasted nuts and buttery salted caramel drifted into the air.

Nito’s nose twitched twice.

Her whiskers flared and her whole body went stiff as an iron rod.

Slowly, her small black head turned away from the screen until her glowing violet eyes locked directly onto the open pint in Silas’s hand.

The proud ancient empress of the desert vanished, and in her place sat a cat goblin.

"NYAAA~!"

The shriek that tore out of her was a desperate battle cry of pure shameless gluttony.

She launched herself off the coffee table with all four paws outstretched and scrambled frantically up Silas’s leather sleeve.

"Give it to me, barbarian! The sacred cold fat! The extra caramel tribute! Stop taunting your empress and hand over the frozen nectar at once, Nyaa~!"

"Hey! Watch the jacket, you menace!" Silas laughed, holding the pint up high with one hand while using his other forearm to stop the squirming black blur from climbing onto his head.

Nito latched onto his wrist with both front paws and her pink tongue darted out in frantic lightning-fast laps, scooping up a huge glob of melting caramel with absolutely no dignity whatsoever.

SLURP-SLURP-SLURP!

"Mmm... magnificent... divine... you are forgiven for being late, barbarian, but only just, Nyaa~!" she purred so loudly it sounded like a running engine, her eyes rolling back in her head.

Standing by the archway in her new cashmere wrap, Martha watched an ancient desert empress inhale gelato off Silas’s wrist, and she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

A sweet clear laugh bubbled up out of her chest and filled the room.

Silas chuckled and shook his head as he set the pint down on a low side table, letting the cat bury her whole face in the container in peace.

"Keep an eye on your show, goblin," Silas teased, scratching the base of her tail. "And don’t eat the plastic..."

"Silence, mortal, Nyaa~" came the muffled reply from somewhere inside a mouthful of pistachio then one violet eye cracked open and slid sideways... past Silas, over to Martha, then down to the duck in her arms and the gold band glinting on her left hand.

The eye narrowed as the eye slid back to Silas.

"...Hmph. So that’s what took you so long, Nyaa~," Nito muttered into the gelato, and went back to eating before either of them could answer.

Martha turned scarlet all over again.

Silas only grinned, picked up the Weaver’s Spire bags and nodded toward the stairs.

"Come on. Let’s get you upstairs."

They climbed the wide staircase side by side, their footsteps muffled by the thick runner.

The upstairs hallway was dim and warm under the soft wall lights, and every bedroom door they passed was closed and peaceful.

Halfway up, Silas shifted all the bags into one hand and rested the other lightly at the small of her back, the same way he had at the boutique doors but this time Martha didn’t jump.

She leaned into it, just a little, and pretended it was because the stairs were steep.

’They aren’t steep at all...’ she thought.

They walked in comfortable silence until they reached Martha’s door at the end of the hall.

Silas set the shopping bags down beside the doorframe and turned to face her with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

Martha stood at her threshold with the duck tucked under one arm and her chestnut hair falling softly around her face.

The gold band on her left hand caught the amber glow of the wall light, and her cheeks still carried a lingering rosy flush as she looked up at him.

"Thank you, Master Silas," Martha murmured, folding her hands over her waist. "For the clothes... For the market... For... for the ring. Today has been... the most wonderful day of my life."

Silas looked down at her, and the warmth in his dark blue eyes deepened.

He stepped forward, closing the small distance between them, and reached up to cup the side of her soft cheek with his warm hand.

Martha’s breath caught as her lashes fluttered and a fresh wave of heat washed up her neck.

’Oh,’ she thought, and that was the last clear thought she managed.

Silas leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

It was a real kiss and the duck slipped out from under her arm and landed softly on the carpet.

FLUMP!

Martha didn’t notice.

Her eyes had fluttered shut and her small hands had risen on their own to curl lightly into the front of his leather jacket, and a soft dazed sigh trembled against his mouth.

After three long beautiful heartbeats, Silas slowly drew back.

He lingered for half a second with his face just inches from hers, his thumb tracing the curve of her flushed cheekbone, and then his lips curved into a slow warm smirk.

"Consider that added to your rewards, Martha," Silas murmured, his voice low and soft against her skin. "Sleep well..."

He bent down, picked up the fallen duck, tucked it gently back into her arms and gave her cheek one last light pat then he turned and strolled down the hallway toward his own room with his hands in his pockets, completely unbothered by the devastation he’d left behind him.

’What a day... Now I have to prepare for tomorrow! I’m feeling a bit energetic, so why not do more training...?’

Martha stood frozen at her door with her hands still curled around the empty air where his jacket had been.

Her lips were tingling and her whole body was trembling.

She stared after him until he reached the corner... and then, in a voice so small she wasn’t sure he could even hear it, she found herself whispering.

"...Then I’ll have to work very hard from now on, Master Silas."

Silas’s footsteps paused for just a moment.

He didn’t turn around, but Martha saw his shoulders shake once with quiet laughter before he disappeared around the corner.

Martha slipped into her room with a breathless little whimper and let the heavy door click shut behind her.

CLICK!

She leaned her back against it and slid down a good two inches before catching herself with her free hand flying up to press trembling fingers against her mouth.

’He kissed me...’

The thought bloomed in the middle of her chest like warm sunlight.

’Master Silas... kissed me... And I said that to him... I actually said that out loud...’

She stood there in the dark for several long minutes, just breathing and letting the happiness wash through her like warm honey.

Finally, she pulled herself together with a soft misty smile and switched on the lamps.

She set the duck carefully on her nightstand where it could look at her bed, then carried the Weaver’s Spire bags over to her wardrobe and slid open the doors.

Inside hung forty pristine identical black-and-white maid uniforms in neat severe rows.

Martha smiled at them with no trace of shame.

She took out wooden hangers and unpacked her new clothes one by one.

The emerald silk blouse went beside a crisp summer uniform, the oatmeal sweater-dress went next to a heavy winter apron and the navy fleece cardigan went right at the front of the rack, where she could grab it every morning.

...Last, she slipped off the charcoal cashmere wrap and hung it carefully on a padded hanger, frowning at the tiny soy stain on the front.

’I’ll get that out tomorrow,’ she thought, then caught herself smiling again. ’Or maybe I’ll leave a little bit of it... so I remember.’

She changed into a simple linen nightgown and sat down on the edge of her bed.

The room was cool and smelled of clean mountain air, and outside her balcony, the evergreens swayed gently in the breeze under the stars.

Martha lifted her left hand and looked at the gold band on her finger.

The tiny script was invisible now, sunk deep into the polished gold, but she could still feel its warm pulse against her skin, like a quiet second heartbeat keeping time with her own.

Martha thought about the silly furious battle with the claw machine, the weight of his hand on hers in the car and the soft warmth of his lips in the hallway.

’I’m cherished,’ she thought, and for once she didn’t argue with herself. ’I’m home.’

Martha pulled the thick down comforter up to her chin and curled up in the soft mattress as the long day finally caught up with her, and her eyelids grew heavy and sweet.

She brought her left hand up, curled her fingers into a soft fist and pressed the warm gold band right over her heart.

Martha soon fell asleep with the ring pressed to her chest, smiling.