Lost in the Castle

~21~

I took a huge gasping breath and sat up straight, my heart pounding painfully with fear, my forehead clammy with sweat. It had only been a dream.

Katerina was sitting next to me on the bed, a damp cloth in her hand, eyes worried.

"What's wrong?" we both asked at the same time, talking over each other.

"Is he back?" I asked, beating her to the next question.

"No, my lady. Are you well?" she enquired, touching my forehead with her cool hand.

Her touch and the memory of my nightmare made me shiver, and I collapsed back among the soft pillows and warm blankets tangled around me.

"I'm fine, Katerina. I only had a bad dream."

I could still recall it. All alone, I stood at the top of a dark winding staircase. The stale, damp, and cool air in its well was drifting around my face like a black fog, making all the hair on my body stand to attention. There was... something, or someone at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for me, but I couldn't reach them. I was too scared to move, to descend into the black abyss. The stone steps were extremely narrow and slippery, I couldn't see how long they were, nor where did they lead. I clung to the newel post for support, but one of my feet slipped anyway, and I screamed...

Katerina looked at me, an eyebrow raised in a silent reprimand. "You scared the young lord. He came to wake me up in the middle of the night saying he heard you screaming. Repeatedly."

Oh, great. Have I just been screaming all night? "I'll apologise to him as soon as I see him. Where is he?" If he had been where he was supposed to be at night-- in his own chamber at the bottom of the corridor-- he would not hear me scream.

"He and the Captain are in your husband's library. I sent Clara to bring you some breakfast. And if you miss your wolf, he dashed out as soon as I opened the door. Gone hunting, I would say," Katerina informed, as composed and precise as ever.

"How late is it?" I asked, still half buried in my pillows, impressed by her cold efficiency.

"Late enough for you to get up and have your breakfast. You did not eat much yesterday..."

I wasn't hungry at all. A tight knot settled in my stomach, and I knew it would not go away until Vlad came back home. But there was no way she would give me a choice-- if I refused to eat, she would most likely feed me.

Sighing, I resigned. I would let her win this battle.

"Could you get me a dress then, please?"

"Won't you choose it yourself?" she asked.

"No." I couldn't care less what I would wear today. "Any dress will do."

Both of Katerina's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and I knew I did something very 'unsamaresque'. It obviously wasn't like me, not to care what I wear. But I didn't care.

She pressed one of her hands to my forehead one more time, then shook her head and left, muttering something under her breath.

I sat up again, soaking up the lingering heat trapped in my blankets, steeling myself against the coldness of the chamber. Finally, I stood up and walked across the room, pausing by the fireplace.

It was a dull and grey morning, the snow still falling heavily outside. The windows, choked and blinded by the infinity of fluttering snowflakes, were giving the room a somewhat lifeless, muffled atmosphere. It was silent and peaceful like a tomb, just as it had been the previous night. Suddenly, both the place and my situation in it seemed bizarre-- me, standing in this castle waiting for a husband I didn't know I had until a few days ago. Feeling sick with worry for him, missing him like crazy.