36 – New Friends

Just as dawn started illuminating the eastern part of the attic, I left and closed the door behind me.

A small bowl of freshly cut fruit sat in a prominent position close to where the bats had nested before being disturbed. Garnished with a few drops of blood dissolved among the juice.

Now I just had to wait. And keep an ear on the room to see whether my ploy would work. And I really hoped it would.

Morning in the manor was notably slower than usual. Not that I’d met a lot of people walking or working the halls on any other day, but today even the number of hearts moving about I could detect was nearly cut in half.

What few servants or maids I passed looked to be in varying states of discomfort. Going to bed late, paired with a hangover, was not pleasant. To balance this out, I smiled graciously at everyone. The reactions were mixed.

Unlike many of his colleagues, the cook had only had a small amount of alcohol last night and didn’t look too bothered by the late hour. He managed to wrangle me a nice, blood-sausage-based stir-fry with a few vegetables for breakfast.

A bit unconventional as food choices went, but it was really good.

Shortly before noon, a pair of hearts entered the grounds. Both of them were familiar to me. Mia and Lily. Apparently the two decided to return together. Or maybe it was a coincidence, who knew.

I greeted the pair in the entrance hall.

As the day progressed, more and more of the staff were converging here to clean all traces of yesterday away. Only belatedly did I realize we’d feasted under the chandelier Mia had rigged to be a trap. Oh, that could have gone so wrong. Better have it fixed asap.

Both the maids greeted me and hurried over when our eyes met.

“Good morning, Lord Steelheart.”

“Good morning to you as well, Mia, Lily. I hope you enjoyed the time with your family?”

“Yes, thank you very much,” Lily answered. Mia was trying to convey something with her eyes.

“I feel like sitting down. How about you join me in the meeting room?”

Once I’d claimed my plush chair again, Mia sat down as well. Lily only followed suit a few seconds later, visibly hesitant. Mia’s encouragement helped her along.

“So?” I raised an eyebrow at Mia.

“Priest Tristan came by yesterday evening. He said he’d recovered enough to begin his work.”

“That’s great.” Mia smiled happily and nodded at my words.

“He isn’t quite done yet, but he came back this morning to continue. It looks like mom will be fine.” Her face was radiant like the sun. Just that this version didn’t burn me to ashes.

“You didn’t have to come back so soon, you know? You could have stayed until the priest was done.”

“Well, I didn’t want to leave you to your own devices too long. Who knows what issues that’ll cause. Also, a certain other maid came by, afraid you’d be mad she overslept.”

Lily reddened. “I told you to keep that a secret!” Turning to me, she bowed her head deeply. “I’m so sorry. I’m usually very punctual, but the circumstances–”

“It’s fine. If I needed you back here early, I would have said so. I even told the other staff not to be too serious this morning.”

I could hear the barely suppressed relieved sigh. Mia quickly changed the subject.

“Thank you for the meat. It’s the first time in a while my family ate that well.”

“Oh, no problem. Or, rather, this helped solve the problem. You know that pig you ordered for me? Well it arrived yesterday. The majority of it was raw.”

“Oh. Ooh.” Mia glanced at Lily. “No wonder you threw a feast. Was it any good at least?”

Her eyes revealed the hidden meaning behind the question.

“Yes, I’ve found a new appreciation for an unusual food. Unusual for a noble, that is. It’s very tasty. And nicely filling.”

“Good to hear. So this is a solution to your special diet?”

“It’ll hold me over for a bit.”

Lily had been glancing between us, trying to understand what we were talking about. I could almost see her mind working behind her eyes.

Mia, seeing the mildly confused maid, grinned and leaned forward.

“He has to eat certain unusual things. It’s an issue with his body. Don’t worry about it, Lord Steelheart… A lot of men have issues like that.”

For once I was the one left staring slack-jawed. Mia winked.

Wow. Wow. The worst part was, she’d said it in such a way that every individual part was true.

Yes, blood and blood-based foods were not usually required. Yes, it was an issue caused by my body. And even yes, a lot of people, including men, had unusual dietary requirements. But that way she phrased it…

I wasn’t the only one to recognize the innuendo, obviously. Lily was fidgeting, downcast eyes flitting between Mia and me. She seemed stuck in between mortified and anxious. The blush was winning.

“You know I’m trying to improve my image, right? Spreading false rumors like this is really not helping that along.”

“Hear that, Lily? He says it’s a false rumor. But everything I said is true, you know? Of course he’d deny it. He has his pride, after all.” The way Mia’s eyebrows were waggling, I was sure her joke was obvious by now. Well, obvious to anyone who wasn’t a maid clearly still worried about my wrath.

“Please stop, Mia! I-I’ll pretend I never heard any of this, so–”

I snapped my fingers. “That’s quite enough. I don’t know why, but Mia is telling a joke at my expense. Are you intentionally trying to make me mad, Mia?”

“I just realized you’re not that scary. Especially that problem of yours–”

“Okay, enough. You had your joke, don’t go too far. You’re scaring poor Lily here. She looks like I’ll tear your or her head off.”

Lily flinched like I’d slapped her and tried stammering out an apology. I waved her off.

“Is there a reason you’re trying to antagonize me?”

Mia pouted. “You’re no fun.”

Contradicting her easy-going, relaxed exterior, her heartbeat had been elevated since the beginning. It had spiked when she doubled down. Is this some sort of test? See how I react to being humiliated in front of another person? Maybe. She might be trying to prove – to herself or Lily, I don’t know – that I’m not going back to ‘my’ previous ways.

“Despite what you might be thinking right now, I will not be dismembering our dear Mia here. No matter how tasteless her joke was. Though if you can’t be serious, Mia, maybe I should have you clean the western part of the attic so you have some time to cool your head?”

“There’s an attic?” Mia’s joking facade was broken by surprise. Lily was looking at her with pity. At least she didn’t appear as worried any more.

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“Indeed. On a related note, what’s your opinion on bats?”

“Bats, Lord Steelheart? What are those?”

I stalled. Does she really not know? Is she playing again? Both of them were looking at me in confusion that appeared genuine.

“You really don’t know what a bat is?” Shaking heads were my answer.

A wide smile spread across my face. Though the situation in this room was barely a factor in my joy. It wasn’t all that surprising two uneducated people in a world like this wouldn’t know an uncommon animal.

“Well then have I got a surprise for you. Follow me.”