A Sprinkle of Stardust

Chapter 38 - Regrouping

Morloy sighed. "I haven't been able to contact her, but I have told Lord Dundor where we are if she's looking for us. You'd better get comfortable."

There would be none of that. Every second that passed drew Lyrani closer to the moment when Nash's curse would be out of her hands. Even now, Rayn might be planning something too terrible to contemplate.

But running into battle too quickly, too carelessly, would do more harm than good.

Lyrani and her friends were safe for now. She had time to think because wherever they were, Rayn wouldn't know to look for them here.

Lyrani looked around the room again. What it lacked in sophistication it made up for with a childlike charm. She had never seen any place like it.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Morloy looked down at his hands clasped on his lap. "My family home."

"Oh, Morloy." Lyrani laid a hand on his shoulder.

She would never forget the little boy who had wandered into the meadow where she and Dessie were playing tag all those years ago. He'd had big eyes and skinny legs. The girls had immediately asked him to join their game. Jacden had come into the clearing later. He hadn't been impressed with the newcomer at first, but he had come to love him as a brother.

Morloy had just lost his family in a carriage accident and had come to live with his aunt, who worked for Lyrani's parents. She had brought him to Esch Manor with her one day, and it had been the beginning of fourteen years of friendship.

Morloy was tall and strong now, and his eyes were the right size for his face. He had mentioned the family home he had inherited a few times through the years, but he had never returned until now.

"It's good to be back. It's like nothing has changed." Morloy's eyes rested on the pink stone-studded jewellery box on the windowsill. "This used to be my sister's room."

Lyrani squeezed his hand. She wasn't sure what to say.

She knew loss, but not as intimately as he did. She had let everything go, but it had all been wrenched away from him.

A cheerful voice broke the silence. "I hope you're both hungry!"

Dessie hurried into the room, balancing a tray with pancakes, muffins and cups of tea in one hand and a stack of brown square plates in the other with the nimbleness of someone accustomed to juggling rolls of fabric and piles of order forms.

Lyrani eyed the deep blue flecks in the golden pancakes as Dessie set the food on the bed. "Are those cornflower pancakes?"

Dessie nodded. "They're not from Rosebud, and I didn't have syrup, but I hope you like them anyway."

Stomach rumbling, Lyrani stacked three onto her plate. Between Morloy, Dessie and the pancakes, she couldn't stay downhearted for long.

She'd be much worse off on her own. Perhaps she'd even be dead.

"How did you find me?" Lyrani asked.

The question had been on her mind since their escape from Vlitavia the previous afternoon. Dessie and Morloy had come just in time and to the right place. They couldn't have done it on their own.

Morloy set two muffins on his plate. "I heard that you and Trelle were arrested, but Lord Dundor's hands were tied. ECISI had to lie low. Since you had been caught, any newcomers to Vlitavia would be regarded with suspicion, especially since the king's birthday celebrations were over. No new guests should've been arriving, so no agents could've been sent in to rescue you."