“No?” Anwyn started to walk away, keeping her eyes on the backs of the practicing troops. “Well, maybe that means you should be.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The morning of King Harold of Anglia’s coronation was overcast and cool, but the window out of Carys’s room overlooked Dafydd’s garden where flowers of bright red and yellow burst from the ground, giving the appearance of sunshine even where none existed.
A light knock came at her door.
“Come in.”
A maid entered the room and immediately moved to tend the fire in Carys’s hearth. “Good morning, Lady Carys.”
“Good morning.” Carys couldn’t remember the woman’s name. In Dafydd’s London house, there were far more servants than in the castle in Sgain. She’d been in London a few days, and she was still seeing new faces every morning she woke up.
“Carys?” A sleepy voice came from town the hall.
“In here.”
“Okay, this is so weird. I’ve never spent this much time out of sunlight before.” Laura wandered into her room after the maid, yawning and scratching her head. “Growing up in Baywood, I thought I could exist without it, but this is on another level.”
“I know.” Carys turned away from the windows and leaned on the small table as the maid finished with the fire and rolled a cart with steaming trays into the room.
“Will you take your breakfast in Lady Carys’s room, Miss Laura?” the maid asked.
“That would be great. Thanks.” Laura plopped down in the chair across from Carys and watched the maid bring the cart over. “You know, I’m going to go back to Baywood eventually and I’ll have to make my own breakfast every morning, and it will be tragic.”
Carys smiled. “If you want Cadell to deliver a charred deer carcass to your front step daily, that can probably be arranged.”
“Tempting as that is” —Laura rolled her eyes— “I will pass.”
Carys sat down and lifted the teapot the maid set on the table. “Just water?”
The maid nodded. “Freshly boiled, my lady.”
“You’re wonderful.”
The maid’s cheeks dimpled with pleasure.
They waited for the young woman to leave the room before Carys hurried to her knapsack and dug for the tiny tubes of instant coffee she’d smuggled into the Shadowlands.
“Come on, come on,” Laura urged her. “Don’t hold out on me. They brought fresh cream.”
“You know what the Shadowlands has taught me? Honey in coffee is surprisingly delicious.” Carys brought two instant coffees to the table and handed one to Laura. “Your daily fix, my lady.”
“You’re not a dragon rider—you’re a goddess.” Laura tore the packet open with her teeth and poured it into the delicate glass teacup on the table before she added water. “Oh, sweet, sweet coffee.”
Carys was just as eager to get her caffeine fix. She poured the steaming water over the dried coffee before she handed the teapot to Laura and stirred.
The distinctive aroma of roasted arabica filled the room.
Nêrys. Cadell spoke in her mind.You have brewed coffee.
It’s not good for dragons, Cadell.
Coffee is not good for dogs. It has no detrimental effect on dragons, and you know it.
“Cadell wants to poach our coffee,” Carys said.Next time you should bring your own.
The dragon had discovered a love for very strong coffee after moving to Baywood. It was a love that Carys could appreciate, but that didn’t mean she was sharing.