Chapter Four

Kae tossed and turned beneath the covers of the luxurious bed, the sheets twisting and tangling around her slim legs. She sighed raggedly, pushed her hair away from her eyes and turned to look at the bedside clock. The LED display read as eight in the morning.

After a scalding shower and a quick supper of toast, she had tried to sleep. But as exhausted as her body was, Kae could not get her mind to switch off.

Throughout the rest of the night, while her tortured brain kept reliving the past week over and over again, she'd heard various voices and the sounds of heavily booted feet marching along the corridor. Kae had buried her head in her pillows and tried desperately to imagine she was lying in her own bed back home, that the footsteps going past her door were those of her parents.

Instead, unfamiliar voices and scents bombarded her.

Giving up, she threw back the covers in frustration and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Going to the closet, she pulled out a black silk dressing gown and slipped it on over her bed shorts and baby tee but left it untied and open. She'd had more than enough of feeling suffocated in this room. Her suitcase had been brought her room before she went to bed and now she rummaged through and pulled out an mp3 player and a fold up docking station. These she tucked into her pocket.

Silently, she left her room and headed down the corridor towards the staircase, her bare feet making no sound on the carpet. As she descended the stairs, Fritz came out of one of the many doors and jumped at the sight of her.

"Mistress, was there something you needed? I would be more than happy to bring you anything you need."

His horror at having missed her needs seemed strange to Kae.

"Fritz I'm fine, I just couldn't sleep. Jet lag, you know," she shrugged.

Fritz shifted the stack of fresh napkins he was carrying to his other hand.

"Is there anything I can get for you now Mistress?"

"No, but if you could point the way to the kitchen for me, that would be great. I'm just going to make myself some breakfast…I promise I'll clean up when I've finished."

Fritz hesitated for a moment.

"Are you sure you would not like me to bring something to your room Mistress?"

Kae shook her head.

"No, I need to do something with myself, something familiar. This place is too…" she paused and looked around her, momentarily lost, "…it's too strange. Please show me? I promise I'll stay out of the way."

Fritz showed her how to get to the kitchens, fretting needlessly over a guest serving themselves but Kae soon overruled his objections by reminding him that she was not an aristocrat but a civilian and more than used to doing things herself.

"Civilian or not, you are a guest of this house Mistress and I would be failing in my duties if I did not serve you as you ought to be."

Kae rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fritz, I promise not to make a habit of it. Please, I just need something to do to distract myself and it might as well be to make myself something to eat."

He finally conceded and left her to whatever she needed to do.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, she set up her mp3 player on its docking station and soon the familiar and soothing sounds of her favourite tunes echoed around the vast space.

Kae hummed along to the music, finding a reassuring calm in the beats she was so used to hearing at home. It made the mansion seem a little less imposing and frightening.

She moved around the room, searching out a large frying pan and opened the impressively stocked fridge. A good old fashioned English Breakfast seemed to be just what she needed and she selected eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Soon the frying pan was popping and sizzling as she threw in the mushrooms, sausages and bacon, turning them until the mushrooms were soft and the bacon was crisp. The most wonderful aroma filled the kitchen and she could almost imagine for a moment that she was back home in England.

Moving the cooked items to a warm plate, she added the tomatoes and eggs and popped some bread into the toaster while she set about making a cup of tea.

The song on the player changed to one of her favourites, a piece of R n B that always made her wish for a male to call her own, silly wishful thinking that she never allowed herself to succumb to too much. Her spirits lifted immeasurably and she turned the volume up as loud as she dared, helped by the high ceiling of the kitchen.

She sang along, danced despite herself and lost herself to the music that she loved, her robe billowing around her as she twirled around, her voice carrying as loudly as the music itself. She couldn't help it; in this perfect moment, she almost felt at home.

Passing by the toaster, she grabbed the two pieces and turned to add them to the warm plate…a dark imposing figure loomed largely in the doorway.

Kae jumped and stumbled back, the toast slipping from her fingers as she caught herself on the edge of the counter.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't wake you, I was just making some….sorry," she mumbled, trying to gather herself as she picked up the toast. As she shoved it into a bin, she tried to swallow the fear that she had somehow intruded on someone else's space.

The male in the doorway came further into the kitchen, eyeing her with open curiosity. He was dark haired, tall and solid, his arms thick with ropes of heavy muscle. He was pierced in several places and bore a tattoo of a single red teardrop below his eye.

His eyes…Dear Virgin, his eyes were beautiful; one blue and one green and striking to look at. He was dressed in a black muscle shirt and workout pants but barefooted as she was.

'Say something please,' she wished silently to herself as she rescued her frying pan from the heat and served everything up onto the waiting plate.

"You must be Kaelina."

Kae turned as the male spoke; it was a statement, not a question so he must have known about her arrival. She nodded and made a small, if belated attempt, at the proper greeting of someone who was of higher social rank than she. Slowly, she bowed her head and introduced herself in the Old Language. The male smiled and moved closer to her.

"No need for formalities Kaelina, it's a pleasure to meet you. Bella told us you were coming to live here. I'm Qhuinn by the way."

He stuck out his hand and Kae shook it gingerly.

"Please call me Kae, sire. Only my mother calls me by my full name."

Qhuinn laughed and she found herself chuckling along as well.

"Like I said Kae, no formality here. Just call me Qhuinn ok."

"Ok…Qhuinn. Look, I'm sorry if I woke you up. I was just making something to eat."

Qhuinn smiled slowly, revealing the tips of perfectly white fangs.

Of course, Kae thought, he had already been through the change.

"The music didn't wake me, although I did enjoy your singing and dancing," Qhuinn smiled and winked at her, causing Kae to blush, "It was the smell of your cooking."

Kae looked at the heaped plate in front of her and suddenly felt like a pig for cooking so much.

"You wanna share some with me? I'd be more than happy to split this," she offered cautiously, not wishing to cross some etiquette barrier she did not know about.

Qhuinn looked at her as though she had offered a thirsty man her last drop of water.

"You would share your food with me? Food you have prepared yourself?"

She didn't understand why this should seem like such a big deal; hell it was just a good greasy fry up breakfast. But the seriousness in Qhuinn's expression made her think otherwise about her comeback.

"Umm sure, I mean, I'm not gonna starve to death anytime soon and you look about as hungry as I am."

Qhuinn smiled broadly and picked up two forks from the stack on the counter.

"Lets have some breakfast then," he grinned.