I plucked the final bag before he could and closed the lid of the compartment. “Can I have a tour of this place or do we have to rush straight to dinner?”
“We have to get you to your chambers before we can even think about dinner. Did you expect to appear before the king dressed like that?”
I groaned. “What is wrong with what I’m wearing now?”
“Dagmar has her work cut out for her,” he murmured, bustling away while balancing his pile of parcels. “Follow me.”
I hurried to keep up. “Who’s Dagmar?”
“Your handmaiden.”
“I don’t need a handmaiden,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Nevertheless, you have one, and you will treat her with respect,” Samir said over his shoulder. “Dagmar will not be shunned by anyone. The sooner you accept her guidance, the better off you’ll be.”
I blew the hair out of my face and frowned, but said nothing.
The guard also acting as my chauffeur nodded to the pair of buildings across from us. “Those are the servants’ and guards’ quarters, the laundry house, the smithy and the training grounds, and Thistle Pub. The king allows his off-duty staff to enjoy a meal cooked by someone else and a stiff drink, although, there is a limit to everyone’s alcohol consumption.”
I hadn’t noticed the latter three buildings but I could see them now that he pointed them out to me. The laundry house was a smaller, dome-roofed building tucked away behind the living quarters while the training ground was a roped-off rectangle of earth with the smithy’s building stretched out along the side. The pub appeared to be the same size as the guards’ quarters but only one story tall.
“As you can see, the stable and the barns are over there. The white marble building by the steps is the chapel, and the brick building next to it is the school.”
“The king allows his staff’s children to live here as well?” I asked.
Samir smiled, puffing out his chest. “Our rewards for life-long servitude are comfortable homes, the best education for our children, the honor of worshiping our Heavenly Masters in the king’s chapel, and two to three days leave a year.”
“The king’s family lives here as well,” I assumed.
He nodded. “As you probably know, King Torvald’s mother died while giving birth to him and his father was executed. He has several half siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, a maternal grandfather, and a paternal grandmother. All of whom live in the upper ward along with the king and his counselors. You will be required to learn their names and memorize their faces in the future.”
“If he has half siblings, does that mean he has a stepmother?” I dared ask.
“King Tatsuo took many servant girls to his bed in the years after his wife passed away,” Samir said. “He forced them to take herbs that would prevent them from becoming pregnant, but only after he fathered two sons and a daughter. We don’t acknowledge the mistresses as royalty, but King Torvald has allowed them to stay here. Those two women, Ladies Bodil and Helka, along with their children, Prince Raoul, Prince Haskell, and Princess Evie, are the only members of the king’s family with permission to enter his personal home. Remember that.”
I frowned. So far everything being said collaborates with Viggo’s descriptions of our sovereign…
My escort nodded to the buildings in the upper ward as we ascended. “The golden building is the king’s home. That glass building is where the counselors meet weekly with the king and with any other Holgarians who have an appointment. That marble building is the keep. It also holds the throne room, the kitchens, and the Great Hall of History. Our country’s most prized and historical possessions are there, and heavily guarded.
“That gray stone building is the garrison. That two-story brick building is the hospital. Next to it are the craftsmen workspaces, where the royal seamstresses, chandlers, cobblers, woodworkers, and the like create. That jade building is the home of the royal family and the counselors. The designs of all these buildings are kept by Master Philo. I’m sure he will loan them to you upon your request.”
In the midst of the buildings in the upper ward was a magnificent spring. It was large enough to hold a school of fish and a family of ducks. Lily pads and flowers dotted the clear water’s surface. I ran over to the edge to watch the fish swim. It smelled and looked so natural, but clean also.
“Is this manmade? It’s beautiful.”
Samir sighed, apparently irritated by my curiosity. “No, that was here when the first royal family built this place and is only touched by man when it needs to be purified of animal feces.” He jerked his head toward the king’s golden home. “Come now. Dagmar is expecting us.”
The structure wasn’t entirely made of gold. The walls were constructed of bath stone and it had an ordinary tiled roof. The high, round archways were lined with gold, along with the windowpanes, the stone porch railing, and the decorative columns. Above the porch was an exquisite balcony where small tables and lounging chairs were arranged by an open hearth. A smaller, more private balcony was constructed on the side of the mansion, overlooking the wall and the sea beyond. Connected to the house and off to the side of the stone porch was a short, rounded tower. On the other side of the porch I could see a nook, with white curtains.
All around the house were bushels of roses and little white flowers, perfectly pruned and taken care of. I didn’t have much time to admire them, unfortunately, because my escort snapped at me over his shoulder when he realized I was lingering by the porch.
The oak front door had been opened by a tall, wiry woman with curly white hair pulled back by a leather cord. She wore a plain brown dress with a white apron, like all the other servants I’d seen, along with working boots. Her brown eyes were narrowed as they examined me, her lips pressed firmly together.
I tried to smile. “Dagmar, I presume.”
“So this is the great Lady Isa the master has spoken so much about,” she grunted, unimpressed.
I blinked. The master? Does she mean the king? What could he possibly have to say about me? We’ve hardly spoken!
Samir dropped my parcels and bags inside and came back out. “Good luck.” He paused briefly to bow in my direction. “And good luck to you also, Lady Warrior. This is going to be an adjustment for us all.” Then he hurried back to the lower ward and was swallowed up by the night.
Chapter Fourteen
Dagmar shut the door behind me, took my arm, and dragged me to the staircase. I caught a glimpse of a long hall with moss-green walls, and several landscape paintings and portraits of people I didn’t recognize. The floor was made of dark wood but a rug stretched down the length of the hallway. As Dagmar towed me up the stairs, I noticed three alcoves in the wall that held labeled busts. One was of Torvald’s great-grandfather, the other his grandfather, and the third was of King Tatsuo.
Dagmar led me past the head of the stairs and to the right. The hall stretched far in both directions. A wooden table and mirror with small portraits along the table’s surface sat before me, separating eight doors on either side. Dagmar kept me from seeing the faces in these portraits with a yank.
“You will have time to explore your new home later,” she said before I could protest. “The master has his dinner at seven sharp, and we will not keep him waiting.”
“Why do you call him ‘the master’ instead of king?” I asked.
“Because he was my master before he became king.” Dagmar opened the fourth door on the left and pushed me into the room. “Undress, bathe, and meet me in the next room on the right in ten minutes.” Then she slammed the door in my face.