Abducted [W&W Book 3]

Chapter 26

Ildri left her belongings and made her way directly to the kitchen.  On the way she passed Missus White.  The housekeeper made a tight nod in her direction which was, for Missus White, a particularly friendly gesture.  Ildri continued until the heavy door stood before her, and she pushed it open.

"Ildri!" chef cried as soon as she looked up, and the normally unflappable woman rushed towards her and enveloped her in an embrace.  Chef's hug was surprisingly strong for such a delicate looking woman, and Ildri squeezed her back.

Chef pulled back and Ildri thought that her eyes looked unusually bright.  "Oh, Ildri girl, I was so afraid that you were dead.  I knew that you would never have left here willingly."

Ildri shook her head and smiled.  She loved chef so much, she imagined it was almost like the mother she barely remembered.  It felt similar.  She felt bad that chef had worried so but at the same time there was a feeling of relief and even satisfaction that her presence had been missed.

"Ildri's back?" came another voice.  Kallie walked in through the door and looked around and Matt followed behind her quiet but his shy eyes missing nothing.

"Y-yes," he agreed.

Kallie's brother Damani followed.  "Ildri!  You're back!  Did you see the scoundrel who abducted you?  Tell me who he is and I will avenge you."

Kallie wrinkled her nose and scowled at her twin.  "Damani's just started learning magic," she said, disgust evident in her tone.  "He thinks he's a wizard already."

"I am," Damani said.  "Lady Theresa says I am gifted."

"Lady Theresa is a nice lady, she would say something like that," Kallie said dismissively.

"Just you wait, Kallie, I'll--"

"Don't you dare, Damani.  I'll--"

"P-please don't fight," Matt pleaded over the twins bickering.

Ildri smiled in amused in spite of herself.

"Now," chef began to say, but she was interrupted by the kitchen door opening again.

"Is Ildri really back?" Hanna asked loudly.  She was followed by another upstairs maid named Rose.  Rose was an older woman who had been working at Wildwood for about as long as chef had.

"Ildri!" Hanna said happily.

Ildri had only known Hanna for a little more than a year, but they had become friends quickly.  Hanna was a nice enough woman but when she felt troubled she had a tendency to become overwrought easily.  She was working at Wildwood to help save her family and while Ildri felt sympathetic for all the pressures that faced Hanna, there were times that she felt jealous of the maid.  Ildri knew that her friend's life was hardly easy, but she at least had the family that Ildri so dearly craved.

But for all that, Ildri was pleased to see Hanna.  Rose, on the other hand, had likely come to hear for herself the freshest gossip in the castle.  She could always be counted on to tell you what was happening, but she also would tell everyone else your business.  Normally Ildri did not mind her, but this day she did not know how she felt, and she certainly did not want everyone else to share in her odd uncertainty.

"What happened to you?" asked Rose, confirming Ildri's suspicions about her reason for being present in the kitchen.

Ildri did not want to share what had happened with Ty with anyone, especially not that woman.  "The king told me not to speak of it," she said, glad for the excuse.

"The king?  You met the king?"

"Yes, well, mostly I just talked to his advisors," she said.

Kallie piped up, "Is he handsome?"