The interior of the large manor house was much like the outside. Sturdy, refined, and reserved. It didn’t scream opulence with unnecessary filigree, elaborate carvings, or expensive hardwoods. Instead, it whispered comfort.

  Despite the stone flags of the floor, almost every inch was covered in thick rugs in dark colors. Pale wood polished to a high sheen paneled the inner walls, reflecting the light of the silver lamps and what came through the windows. Paintings hung on the walls of pastoral scenes, while the scent of sun-warmed fruit and flowers filled the sturdy home from the windows.

  “You know, with how dark it was on the outside, it’s surprisingly bright on the inside.”

  “There’s a reason for that,” Kassandra said with a smile as she followed after her parents.

  The three lamia diverted slightly to run their scales over a stiff brush to remove dirt from outside, and I followed suit by scrubbing my boots over it as well to be safe. That got me a nod of thanks from Tian as the wolf kin butler followed at the rear of the group and closed the doors.

  “Yes, and I am proud of you for maintaining it that way as well, my dear,” Kassandra’s father said, shooting a smile over his shoulder. He diverted his attention to me and explained a moment later. “The manor and the grounds are capable of providing shelter to the entire population of the village in the event of a disaster. Twice, raiding parties of bandits have attacked and each time the standing guards have pushed them back, while opening the grounds to those displaced in the attack.”

  “I want to expand the walls,” Kassandra said conversationally. “They are pretty and keep the animals out, but if we ever get another dedicated attack on the manor, they won’t do much more than slow down attackers. I’d like to turn this into a proper keep…”

  “Make sure to get permission from the queen first, dear,” Kassandra’s mother cautioned. “Queen Gemma might not take it too well if a minor noble decides to build themselves a castle, and less so if this plan of yours is set to start before you take your title officially.”

  “Rieka?” Kassandra asked pertly, turning a winsome grin at her friend. “Do you think your mom would mind?”

  Rieka snorted in amusement and rolled her eyes.

  “I don’t think I can or should speak for my mother, not even on something like this. But if I had to put odds on it, I think they’d be good on you getting approval.”

  “That’s good enough for me, at least for now,” Kassandra said with a satisfied nod. “I’m not planning on it for a bit yet. I want to make sure the expansion plans for the orchards and the town are underway. That will help me figure out if I need to expand the manor grounds further too. No point in securing this sanctuary if it can’t hold everyone.”

  “It would be pretty tight if everyone from town tried to pack in here already,” Jane murmured as we were led into a sitting room that followed the same pattern as before with a focus on comfort rather than opulence.

  The furniture was an even split between the round, backless couch that Kassandra had in her room at Juneau, and regular wingback chairs all arranged around a large hearth that protruded from the wall and into the room.

  At the moment, a bed of coals glowed in the hearth and made the room a bit warm for me, but all three of the dwarf lamia’s let out contented sighs as they wound into the room.

  “Please, make yourselves comfortable,” Kassandra said, gesturing to the chairs and couches. “Tian, would you bring us some tea and snacks? I have a feeling that my parents will want to catch up for a while before letting us get settled in for the night.”

  “Dinner can be on the table within the hour if you would like, miss?” Tian asked, his wolf ears perking upright as he waited by the door.

  Kassandra didn’t answer immediately, she instead glanced to her companions one at a time before her eyes rested on me last. I shrugged indifferently, since I wasn’t that hungry at the moment.

  Over Kassandra’s shoulder, I saw her parents exchange meaningful glances, but I wasn’t sure what the exact meaning of those looks was.

  “Dinner would be good, but tea and some light snacks to tide us over till then would be best,” Kassandra said at last and Tian nodded before exiting through the double doors neatly.

  “Should we get the official introductions out of the way?” Kassandra’s father asked, pausing in front of one of the rounded couches.

  “Yes, that would be best,” Kassandra said with a sigh before drawing herself up to her full height. “Mother, Father, these are my friends. You already know Princess Rieka Coldeye, but this is Shayla Valo and Jane Carsan, two friends of mine from Juneau that are part of our group for summoning class. And this is Liam the Traveler, my summoned companion and guardian.”

  Each of them bowed respectfully to the older couple, but I just nodded to them the same as I had the queen. A gesture that they both noted, but neither reacted to, either positively or negatively.

  “Liam, ladies,” Kassandra continued, gesturing back towards the couple. “These are my parents, Viscount Matthias Silverscale and Viscountess Tori Silverscale.”

  “Pleasure to meet you all,” Matthias said, but I noticed the man’s eyes never left me as he studied me carefully. “We look forward to getting to know you all better. Any that my daughter calls her friends and allies are people we wish to know better.”

  “We aren’t going to be able to spend the entire time catching up,” Kassandra asserted as everyone took their seats. “We do need to practice to refine our skills and prepare for what is to come.”

  “That is also entirely understandable and expected,” Matthias said with a grin. “Your spell range is still exactly where you left it in the back gardens. I’m sure your companions would be able to practice there too.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Kassandra said with a sigh as she settled onto one of the rounded couches.

  Rieka, Shayla, and Jane had all selected wingback chairs near the fire to be able to converse politely. Rieka was the only one of the three that looked relaxed, while Jane was clearly tense as all get out right now. Shayla looked merely nervous.

  Wanting to reassure the two nervous ones, I turned to head over and take the chair closest to them, but Kassandra called out to me.

  “Liam, come sit with me?” The tone she used was polite and still a question, but I had a feeling that it was more of a plea.

  So, like a dutiful protector and lover, I diverted my course to the large couch Kassandra was curled up on. She patted the cushion on her open side, opposite where her tail lay spread out.

  So I promptly sat on the other side, scooting back so that her tail was coiled around my hips like I normally would. I felt her tense against me, before she took a quiet breath and relaxed. Tentatively, her tail wrapped around my waist like she normally would and Kassandra leaned into my side.

  From the blush on my dwarf lamia’s cheeks and the looks from her parents, I was pretty sure that there had to be an additional meaning to sitting like this. However, Kassandra didn’t ask me to move and I liked having my Nugget wrapped around me like this.

  “It’s good to finally meet you both,” I said to break the silence that fell between everyone now. “Jonas warned me that I might be running into you two soon.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Matthias blinked at me in surprise, but Tori immediately broke into a grin.

  “I should have known that the old schemer might try and warn you. But from the look on my daughter’s face, you didn’t pass along the warning to her,” Tori said with a light laugh, one hand rising to cup her own cheek. “You’d better be careful about keeping secrets from her, our little Kassandra doesn’t like being kept out of the loop.”

  “From the holes I can feel her eyes burning in the side of my head, I could tell,” I responded, doing my best to keep the amused atmosphere going. “I didn’t warn her because there was no guarantee. Jonas just happened to mention something about you asking to meet your daughter's friends and someone stalling.”

  I shot Kassandra a wide-eyed look and she just kept glaring.

  “Oh you are playing a risky game, Liam the Traveler,” giggled Tori.

  “Naw, I know she’ll forgive me. Eventually.”

  I made sure to stage whisper the last part rather loudly, which set off another bout of laughter and got smiles from my other ladies.

  With the ice officially broken, the conversation began to flow more naturally as the two parents sought to finally get to know their daughter’s friends some more.

  <><><>

  Dinner was a boisterous and fun affair. Despite the fact that Kassandra’s parents were of the peerage, I quickly grew to understand that at home like this, they were like Kassandra in that they didn’t put on airs.

  It took less than twenty minutes of talking before Matthias and Tori insisted that we should use their given names, at least while in private.

  By the time that Tian returned with the tea and snacks, the Silverscales were happily prying into everything they could about Kassandra’s time at school. At first, Shayla and Jane were hesitant to get into too many details, clearly worried they’d offend the noble duo. But after a bit of time passed and Kassandra’s continued protests that they were being nosy, the two saw the opportunity to tease Kassandra back.

  So bits and pieces of various stories—everything from being caught daydreaming in class to Jane admitting that she’d caught Kassandra staring at my butt during the competition—emerged as the parents gathered potential blackmail material on their daughter.

  Rieka only encouraged it, dropping hints that would get the older couple asking just the right questions to embarrass Kassandra, but never enough to direct them towards something that would be awkward or wrong.

  Such as the ‘special time’ that I had shared with Kassandra and Rieka some time ago, something that I decided I needed to arrange again as soon as possible.

  For my part, I did what I could to keep Kassandra from bursting into flames of embarrassment or indignation. Whenever I felt like she was getting a bit too wound up, I’d help her turn the tides on one of the other girls and tease them back, or distract one of the parents with an anecdote or suggestion from Earth.

  The fact that I was a human came out during the walk to the dining room, something that they were apparently already aware of but hadn’t really sunk in for the couple until that point.

  Kassandra had been distractedly talking about how annoying it had been to have the summoning instructors constantly asking her to pepper me with questions about humans, as if I would know intimately the details of human life from Cortha when I was from a different realm entirely.

  “…forgetting the fact that Liam, despite being human, hasn’t ever spoken to one of the humans from our world!” Kassandra had grumbled sulkily, slithering along at the head of the group while I walked at the rear. Well, as much ‘at the rear’ as I could get considering the extra length the Lamia were sporting.

  “That is… both understandable and silly,” Tori said, glancing back over her shoulder at me questioningly, her nose wiggling in thought. “Why would they expect Liam to know that sort of information?”

  “I expect it was more to do with his status as a Traveler, since the information regarding those in the academy library is very limited,” Rieka explained. “Those stories are even more convoluted than the ones surrounding humans are. Though we might have a clearer picture on some of the legends soon.”

  “Well, as long as the stories of humans peeling the flesh from people’s bodies to eat at night are not true, then I think we should be fine,” Matthias teased, giving me a pointed look and raising his eyebrows in question.

  “Naw, I don’t peel people’s flesh. I do eat folks though,” I replied with a completely serious face and let my Shape-Shifting mold my teeth into serrated fangs like a shark’s.

  “Don’t tease him too much,” Kassandra chastised me sharply, turning to shoot a pointed look over her shoulder at me.

  “Yes dear,” I responded automatically in deadpan.

  The undignified snort of laughter from Tori broke the tension in the air and my girls also broke into laughter as well.

  “You have far too much practice with that statement,” Matthias said while fighting back a grin of his own. “Far, far too much practice to respond that quickly like that to my daughter.”

  “With all due respect, Matthias?” I offered as we settled in around the oval table in the dining room. “She’s your daughter. You should know exactly how much trouble she is.”

  Mattias gave me a smile of understanding and nodded in agreement.

  The dining room was like the rest of the house, simple and straightforward. But unlike the sitting room, even the lamia had chairs with backs, though they only had arms on one side. So this ended up with each of the lamia sitting on one hip while their tail flowed off the other side to coil around the chair itself.

  I had wondered how we’d be seated and which of Kassandra’s parents would take the head chair. With the Coldeye Queendom being what it was, I had no idea which would be considered the dominant gender.

  But, to my surprise, Kassandra actually took the head position at the table with her parents sitting on either side of her.

  I suppose they take it seriously that this is ‘her’ house and property then maybe? She’s the lady of the manor and all that. I remember her mentioning that she had to manage the property and all that, I thought, pulling the chair out for Rieka and helping her to sit without thinking.

  “Thank you, Liam. That was very kind of you,” Rieka said with a grin.

  “Aww boo,” Jane grumbled, having already taken her seat without thinking.

  “I’ll get you next time, Jane,” I promised her with a smile while pulling out Shayla’s seat.

  The moth woman thanked me with a soft smile before settling in, her wings folding carefully out of the way. She’d been quiet for most of the conversation, her natural shyness taking over around strangers, even if they were Kassandra’s parents. I’d made sure to pay close attention to her and ensure that the moth woman didn’t look too out of her depth.

  To make it up to Jane, I crossed over and settled down next to her, getting a happy smile and bounce from the mousy scholar. I’d barely sat down fully before Kassandra rang a small bell that had been sitting at the corner of the table next to her, and a trio of servants with carts flowed out of the kitchen.

  I’d never really had ‘fine dining’ like this before, so having someone laying out plates and whisking away the used ones was an odd experience. The closest I’d gotten was the few times we’d eaten at an upscale tavern, but those were usually just lots of food brought out all at once for us to eat as much or as little of as we wanted.

  The food was great, but rather small portions. It started out with a simple potato soup and green salad combination, then a small serving of roasted vegetables with a sharp flavored sauce, followed by small individual roasts with a selection of breads and herbed butter spreads. Dessert was several fruit pies that had Kassandra cooing happily about the yaaqua that had been grown in her orchard.

  “I’m so glad that the trees are healthy! I need to speak to the head gardener tomorrow and see how the expansion is going. I know it’s a bit of a race to get the saplings in and acclimated before winter, but the sooner the better,” Kassandra mumbled around the mouthful of brilliantly blue fruit, somehow managing not to stain her skin with the bright color as she ate.

  “When I checked on them a week ago, they were coming along well. The fields were a bit more rocky than expected, so they were delayed in that. But that meant that they could use the stones unearthed to set up a low wall for the orchard. Not enough to keep animals at bay, but it should be enough that the local children know to stay out,” Matthias explained, taking a small bite of his own pie. “Mmm, when are you going to start wine production, dear? The sooner we can get it aging, the better it will sell.”

  I took my own bite of the sweet treat, humming happily at the bright and sweet flavor. It reminded me of berries and citrus at the same time and I could definitely understand Kassandra’s love of the fruit. Swallowing, I added my own opinion to the pile.

  “You could make a great syrup with these too. It’s pretty sweet to start with, and I bet it would taste great on pancakes.”

  “Pancakes?” Shayla asked quietly, her antennae wiggling curiously as she took a small bite of her own.

  “They are sort of like flat, doughy cakes. You cover them in butter, syrup, honey, or fruit.”

  “Oh, I think I’ve heard of those in the city. Syrups and honey are a luxury item, so it’s not something that is widely used. Though I think smearing flat bread with jam is becoming popular in some places too,” Tori suggested with a soft smile. “Hmm, making syrup with the fruits might make for another good export you could look into.”

  “I’ll have to ask around, it’s not something I have a lot of knowledge on to avoid being taken advantage of,” Kassandra admitted, cutting another bite of her pie. “It’s the same reason I haven’t started with wine making. It’s a rather large investment to make up front without an immediate payoff.”

  “But something worth considering now. You’ll need to get a warehouse built to age the wine in, and it would be best to do that while the village is expanding,” Matthias interjected. “I’m still curious as to where you got the infusion of funds. You’ve been making quite a few purchases and moves lately to grow your property, and while they all make sense, I do worry that you might have been taken advantage of by moneylenders.”

  Kassandra’s thoughtful look at her father’s suggestion turned to a soft smile and she glanced my way. I returned the smile with a wink as she answered her father.

  “No, no moneylenders. I know better than that. I just made an investment a few months ago that is paying off handsomely.”

  Next chapter is going to be a spicy one, just as a fair warning.

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