Love your Enemy (Ruby Rose fanfic)

TWO (Iselen POV)

"To be honest, after 20 years working here I still find some corners or closets I'd never seen before..."

"Great..." I mumble discouraged before opening my eyes wide in surprise. We're in a small but gorgeous living room, decorated in yellow shades with a hardwood floor that shows a geometrical pattern copying the coffered ceiling, and one on side of the room there's a big bay window that overlooks the garden. Near it, there's a square table with a blinding white tablecloth and several pieces of delicate china painted with exotic birds in blue, green and red. Mr. Fraser pulls a chair for me and I sit down while hearing the rain drops hitting the glass.

"I can offer you coffee, tea, chocolate, orange juice... toasts, butter and several types of jam, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, roasted tomato, potatoes, pudding and mushrooms. Do you want to try porridge? Of course, we also have smoked salmon and kippers... this is Scotland after all, and several types of cheeses, fruit... If you want one of those avocado toasts that healthy people eats nowadays, benedict eggs or French pastries like croissants, you only have to tell the cook and she'll get it for you tomorrow."

"I haven't eaten porridge since I was ten years old and grandma made it for me... although she added chunks of chocolate, nuts, blueberries and things like that..." My butler smiles amused for a second before going back to his serious, professional face. "Tell Mrs. Dunn that I'll eat whatever she puts on my plate as long as there's some fruit too... and I'd like some tea, please, with sugar and a dash of milk."

I still don't have enough trust in my employees to tell them that one of the consequences of my failed mission has been nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder and doctors have forbidden coffee and hard alcohol so I can sleep better. I'm not that concerned since all soldiers have suffered this once in their lives and I'm strongly determined to get through it. The butler comes back with my tea and a kitchen helper carries a tray full of food that smell delicious, since I'm hungry I'm pretty sure the cook won't complain about how little I eat this morning.

"Mr. Fraser, do you know if Kirsty has finished working in the kitchen?" I ask half an hour later leaving the cup on the china plate with great care.

"Yes, I guess..." Calum seems confused and I smile amused. "I want her to be my guide through the castle, I don't want to bother anyone while they're working but I've assumed that she has a break now that breakfast is over... I don't expect her to show me all the rooms, this place's massive, but I'd love to climb to the top of the tower and then I need to memorize the route from my bedroom to the entrance hall; I don't want to get lost every time I fancy a glass of juice and a donut. I'll see the administrator later in order to visit the garden and stables... if it stops raining... and if it doesn't, we'll go out anyway. This is Scotland, after all."

*****

"Here, Kirsty. Take my jacket."

"But Your Grace..."

"No, it's my fault, I should've told you that you'd need it to come here. Don't worry, it's only for five minutes and, besides, it has stopped raining... Tell me what I'm seeing." Grey clouds swirl above us and cold wind whips the top of the tower but I'm used to this: I've spent countless sleepless nights in the army and weather was even worse.

"Well, from here you can see... the whole palace actually, roofs and chimneys, and beyond... the river and the artificial lake, it's part of the estate too and supplies water to the stables tanks that are very close."

"And what about that small roof?" I point at a round grey-coloured building near the lake.

"It's a gazebo built in an ancient 'Greek temple' style, your great-great-grandfather insisted on it... My grandma told me he used to hold the best summer parties in the garden after the harvest and invited the whole village and employees, he had beer and tons of food, games for children..."