Trinket (Reverse Harem)

A Hot Bath & A Hot Mess

 It shouldn't have surprised me that Ormiss had had a house in Haven. He was the Lord-Regent, after all.

But it still felt eerie to be here, with things draped in fabric and dust, smelling like no one had been here for a long time. Which they hadn't, because Ormiss had gone back below and the hippocamp had written off land dwellers when the Princess had disappeared.

He'd graciously let me into it, and had given me the key from his assortment of necklaces. He'd pressed it into my palm and not said anything, his expression unreadable. Was he sad? Had he made peace with my choice? I hadn't been able to tell.

"It is yours for as long as you want it," he had told me. The others had hung back, with Asund lurking in wolf-form just inside the door but the others outside in the summer sunlight and salty air. "I will make all the arrangements for servants and food and such."

I'd frowned. I'd wanted to tell him that's not necessary, except it was necessary, because I was broke. I'd just said, "Thank you."

And now I was here, in a rather grand house close to the Temple, in Haven, and not a clue what I was going to tell anyone or do here.

He'd turned and left with the rustle of necklaces and a swirl of obsidian-and-garnet hair, and closed the front door behind him.

The furniture was like a bunch of ghosts all draped in fabric. My insides quailed as I explored the house. It was pretty similar to Korr's, arguably more grand, though, and decorated throughout with seashells and pearl mosaics.

It shouldn't have surprised me that Ormiss had had a house in Haven. He was the Lord-Regent, after all.

But it still felt eerie to be here, with things draped in fabric and dust, smelling like no one had been here for a long time. Which they hadn't, because Ormiss had gone back below and the hippocamp had written off land dwellers when the Princess had disappeared.

He'd graciously let me into it, and had given me the key from his assortment of necklaces. He'd pressed it into my palm and not said anything, his expression unreadable. Was he sad? Had he made peace with my choice? I hadn't been able to tell.

"It is yours for as long as you want it," he had told me. The others had hung back, with Asund lurking in wolf-form just inside the door but the others outside in the summer sunlight and salty air. "I will make all the arrangements for servants and food and such."

I'd frowned. I'd wanted to tell him that's not necessary, except it was necessary, because I was broke. I'd just said, "Thank you."

And now I was here, in a rather grand house close to the Temple, in Haven, and not a clue what I was going to tell anyone or do here. I hadn't gotten that far in this grand plan of mine.

He'd turned and left with the rustle of necklaces and a swirl of obsidian-and-garnet hair, and closed the front door behind him.

The furniture was like a bunch of ghosts all draped in fabric. My insides quailed as I explored the house. It was pretty similar to Korr's, arguably more grand, though, and decorated throughout with seashells and pearl mosaics, and other things that I recognized from the hippocamp palace below the ocean.

The second floor was up a grand staircase and split into three large rooms, one of them clearly had been Ormiss'--it was just in how it was decorated and arranged that told me it'd been his when he'd been in Haven. The other didn't seem to belong to anyone in particular. There was something about it that said it's just here for appearances. The remaining one had been the princess'.

I didn't know how I knew that. Maybe just logical deduction that she'd obviously needed a place to stay when she'd first come topside to meet the Lord-Raven. It would offend hippocamp sensibilities for her to be compelled to live with the Lord-Raven immediately.