- Influence
- 13,483.00
Dusk drew all the heavy curtains in her manor one by one, despite the summer heat. Normally she kept the sheer curtains drawn to obscure any sightlines that assassins might use for a shot, only drawing the heavies in winter, but today called for extra secrecy. She didn't bother to light the candles in most of her rooms, in part because she rarely used them, and in part because there was only one where she would be hosting company today, that being the eastern drawing room. Dusk rarely used it, mostly because she couldn't enter it without imagining Julia Freedom sitting in the same chair where she'd once hosted Dusk, back when she'd been living under the name Dawn Mistrunner. It was a shame that the guilt rendered it so untenable, because it was actually quite nicely decorated, a pale green wallpaper atop white-painted wood panels running the first three feet up the wall, and pale-cushioned sofa, couch, and chair set gathered around a fine maple coffee table, each either embroidered or painted with golden ferns. It was, sadly, the only room in the house that was in fit condition for hosting guests, largely because Dusk could never bear to throw out anything from it. As if preserving one room could make up for how you betrayed her.
Dusk prepared a full tea set in the kitchen and fetched a bottle of wine up from the cellar, picking one of her finer bottles, a '37 from a vineyard in Eastisle where a newlywed Talinn and Dusk had taken their honeymoon in the villa overlooking the endless row of vines. She'd kept two whole boxes of wine, which she'd sparingly touched over the years, largely reserving it for special occasions like major anniversaries and when her children had each reached the age of majority. This occasion, which would begin the ascent of her once rival and now dear friend to a position of power to rival Dusk's own, surely qualified for such. Carefully Dusk poured the bottle into a crystal decanter, letting it aerate as she waited for her guests to arrive. This would be the first time she'd ever had guests in her home, and, aside from her nerves, she was eager to welcome them both in.
Dusk prepared a full tea set in the kitchen and fetched a bottle of wine up from the cellar, picking one of her finer bottles, a '37 from a vineyard in Eastisle where a newlywed Talinn and Dusk had taken their honeymoon in the villa overlooking the endless row of vines. She'd kept two whole boxes of wine, which she'd sparingly touched over the years, largely reserving it for special occasions like major anniversaries and when her children had each reached the age of majority. This occasion, which would begin the ascent of her once rival and now dear friend to a position of power to rival Dusk's own, surely qualified for such. Carefully Dusk poured the bottle into a crystal decanter, letting it aerate as she waited for her guests to arrive. This would be the first time she'd ever had guests in her home, and, aside from her nerves, she was eager to welcome them both in.