“Is there something wrong, My Lord?”
“No.”
He got up and brought her one of the usual gold trays, with fruits, meat, and cheese. Cassandra was a bit lost though and ignored the food. She tried to think of what could be wrong.
“When did you get back, My Lord? I meant to wait for you, but I fell asleep...”
“Late in the night.”
“Did you get any sleep at all?” she asked, worried.
“I did.”
She frowned. She couldn’t even tell if he had slept beside her, she was too exhausted herself. Suddenly, she thought of something else.
“Is your dragon back yet?”
Kairen immediately frowned slightly.
“Not yet…He will be here soon.”
Was the problem with Krai then? Cassandra couldn’t help but worry about its absence. It didn’t seem usual for the dragon to leave, and go so far away and for so long, without its master. Did that explain Kairen’s odd behavior this morning?
Probably no one else but Cassandra would have noticed anything was different with the Prince, but she was sure. He even seemed a bit…uneasy. She grabbed a bit of food, eating in silence, lost in her thoughts. Kairen didn’t say a word either, watching her eat, sometimes taking some meat as well.
After a while, a little knock was heard on the door.
“Your Highness? May I come in?”
Nebora walked in as soon as Kairen gave permission, bringing in hot water and soap for Cassandra. Kairen got up and left without a word, leaving his concubine even more confused than before. She turned to Nebora.
“Nebora! Do you know what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. His Highness is acting…odd.”
Her friend frowned, turning her head towards where the Prince had just left.
“Odd? How so? Come, I’ll help you bathe.”
It was weird to have her own friend help her take a bath, but Cassandra didn’t say no. She had gone to bed quite dirty last night and this was more than welcome. She got into the bath, where Nebora poured the hot water, and started washing herself.
“I don’t know, he seems uneasy.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Cassie. His Highness isn’t like usual? I couldn’t tell the difference. But the dragon isn’t back yet. Maybe it has to do with that. We saw it leave in the direction of the palace, didn’t we? Perhaps something happened there? I guess we won’t know until it comes back. Oh, I’ll wash your hair too, give me that.”
She let Nebora tend to her and help her wash her long brown hair, trying to relax a bit. Maybe she was just worrying too much and it was nothing. Yet she couldn’t shake off this feeling that something big was about to happen.
“He retrieved our stuff, by the way.”
“His Highness?”
“Yeah. He came back late last night with the chariot and everything in it! I already took your herbs to the storage, as we had discussed. Oh, and he even killed some snow leopards! It’s awesome, do you know how expensive their fur is? We can make you some great coats with that!”
Cassandra didn’t feel much about getting a snow leopard coat, but she was impressed by her Prince once more. He had managed to kill several of those beasts all by himself and carry their cart back home? The War God was truly worthy of his title!
Once she was done bathing, Nebora picked a new red dress for her and insisted that Cassandra wear some jewelry. After a bit of arguing, she was made to wear some little ruby earrings and a gold hairpin. Nebora even helped her apply a bit of lip balm and scented cream on her neck.
