Chapter 27: The Tour I
Chapter 27: The Tour I
Marrok and Versha exchanged that long, slow look again, then glanced at Rin, and finally turned back to me as if we were actors about to begin the first scene of a very strange play.
"Shall we begin the tour, my lady?" Marrok asked. His voice was soft, but the kind of soft that still had authority—like velvet with a steel core. It made the heavy doors feel less heavy.
I stood, smoothing the front of my dress with exaggerated care. After the whirlwind of the previous days, the ball, the proclamations, the escape that failed miserably, part of me wanted to crawl back into the bed and pretend I’d never said the words that ruined my life.
The larger part of me, the one that fed on curiosity and too much caffeine in a past life, was very curious to see more of this castle. So of course I said, "Lead the way."
We started on my floor—the private wing. Marrok explained, that this level had only two rooms: mine and one opposite. I glanced around. I’d never noticed a door directly opposite my suite when I first stepped into the corridor. Now I looked at it properly: a seam in the stone, a rectangle of darker shadow, nothing ostentatious.
"How did I not notice there was a door directly opposite my room?" I asked loudly.
"That’s because that door appears and disappears," Versha said, folding two hands and angling six others into a flourish. "It is very tricky. It opens only when it desires to be seen."
I stared at the neat seam in the wall. "So it’s a door with attitude."
Marrok gave a small, almost imperceptible chuckle. "It is the King’s room."
The words landed with the weight of a title. Even shouted in a corridor that already felt important, the King’s room hummed differently. My mouth tried to form something witty and ended up doing nothing useful at all.
"You mean... Zorathys’s room?" I asked, because apparently I was still determined to flinch.
"Yes," Rin said.
I was tempted to open the door just to see if it was truly Zorathys room. I started moving towards it when Rin called out to me, it was only then that I noticed how far she stood.
"My lady!" She called out aghast. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to open the door."
Martaok and Versha shook their head, horror on their faces. "You must not." Marrok said to me harshly.
"You must never!" Rin said.
"Why?"
"One time someone opened the door to the King’s room and we never saw him again." Rin told me. "I mean, it was a very delightful and honorable kill but it was also scary."
"It’s a rule to not open the King’s room whenever he’s having a nap." Versha said to me.
I paused. "So you mean..." I gave them a look, "Zorathys will kill me if I open the door to this room while he sleeps?"
"He doesn’t play with his sleep, rightfully so." Marrok added.
That was enough to control myself and retract myself.
"It seems we must see the other places first." I told them.
Marrok nodded. "True but before that, I just informed you, there is a door in your room that leads directly to the demon King’s room."
"Let me guess, it will only show itself when it wants to also?" I asked them and they nodded.
I could only imagine what more awaits me in this demon realm.
I nodded. "Good to know." Then I swallowed and forced my face to remain neutral. I didn’t want to look as fragile as I felt.
After that, they led me through the Grand staircase as we descended.
The stairs curved with lazy, inevitable grace. The banister hummed faintly when I touched it—little electric sighs of stone acknowledging contact. The air grew slightly denser as we moved down, like walking into a room that had been exhaling in slow breaths for centuries. Rings of red-gold light softened the edges of everything.
Marrok led us into a different wing: the guest wing. "This area houses the visiting suites," he explained. "It is rarely used. The Lord seldom receives guests who sleep under our roofs; they prefer to go back to their homes even if it is the middle of the night or sleep in inns."
"Why?" I asked them with a frown.
"Have you seen the king?" Rin asked me.
"If course she has seen him, they are married after all." Versha told her.
"Engaged...we are not yet married." I told them.
"I don’t see the difference." Versha said but before I could even speak to explain, they moved in with the tour.
"We keep the suites ready nonetheless. It is a sign of courtesy to be prepared even for implausible visits even if they’ll never happen." She told me.
I peered into the nearest guest chamber. It looked less austere than the private suites—warmer colors, fabrics that suggested ease, a bed that promised a proper night of sleep rather than a ceremonial nap. I realized, not for the first time, how carefully every surface here had been considered: the height of the pillows, the density of the curtains, even the angle at which portraits watched the door.
We moved through the wing, and Marrok gave me small notes here and there—what the small alcove was used for, who once slept in the farthest bed, which portrait was due for a cleaning if the weather turned humid. Versha delighted in local legends, like which gargoyle had once hoarded a boot collection, and Rin added practical bits about which windows were good for fresh air and where pigeons preferred to sleep when they visited on official letters.
We continued walking until we reached a room that made me catch my breath. Who’d have thought a dining room could be this beautiful?
It was larger than any dining room I’d seen, even larger than the one in Aelthryn but that wasn’t the only place it had Aelthryn beat, the hall was more beautiful too.