"Personally, I'm enjoying the chance for a warm fire and a real bed, and a room we don't have to share with half a dozen other people." Jonmarc chuckled. "Nice to be able to pay for it, too, instead of having Carroway barter for food or having to muck out stables."
They reached Dark Haven twenty-one days after leaving Shekerishet. Given the deep snows, they had made excellent time. The forest was long behind them though the vyrkin remained, loping at the same speed as the sleigh along the edge of the road. In the moonlight, it was difficult to tell whether the same pair of Vyrkin always accompanied them or whether many shared the duty, but each night when Carina and the others reached a stopping point, the vyrkin howled, as if searching for their fellows.
"There it is. Dark Haven." Jonmarc pointed to the manor as they reached the top of the hill. Carina leaned forward to get a better look at her new home. In the bright moonlight, she could make out the main rectangular shape of the great house, surrounded by smaller dependencies. Two square towers rose a storey higher on each of the front corners. Light shone from the windows in the front of the manor house. Even in the moonlight, the dark stone building seemed commanding and ominous.
A cheer went up as their sleigh glided into the main courtyard, and Carina was surprised to see dozens of people waiting by torchlight for their arrival. Jonmarc grinned and stepped from the sleigh, reaching up to give Carina a hand down. The small crowd clustered around them.
"May I present Lady Carina Vahanian," Jonmarc said with pride, and Carina felt her cheeks color at the round of cheers. There was nothing scripted or staged about their welcome, and from the casual banter between Jonmarc and the well-wishers, Carina was sure the gathering was as spontaneous as it was authentic. The crowd pressed forward to get a better look at their lord's new bride. Those closest to Carina shook her hand in greeting and murmured blessings. While Jonmarc was completely at ease, Carina struggled with her healer's magic that wavered between recognizing the mortals that glowed warm in her senses and the curious emptiness that marked the presence of the vayash moru. Carina had never been around so many vayash moru at one time, not even in Riqua's crypt, and the empty feeling was strange to the point of discomfort.
Jonmarc looked happier and more at ease than Carina ever recalled seeing him. He took her hand and ascended the broad outer staircase to Dark Haven's main entrance. "Welcome home, Carina," he said, and turned to kiss her. Silhouetted in the doorway, the kiss was a public declaration, and the crowd cheered even more loudly.
Gabriel followed them up the stairs, along with a man and a woman Carina did not recognize. The man caught up with Gabriel as they reached the entrance hall, and Carina got a better look at both him and his companion. Both were clad in black, with dark hair, although the woman's hair was streaked with gray. They lacked the pallor of the vayash moru, and her healer's senses told her they were mortal—though not entirely human. The man was close to Jonmarc's age, with shoulder-length dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard. The woman's angular features were attractive, with a beauty that spoke of a blend of the local bloodlines. Carina met the woman's violet eyes, and for a moment, the image of a large wolf came to her mind.
"This is Yestin and his partner, Eiria," Gabriel said as both the newcomers made perfunctory bows. "You've seen them before on our journey."
Carina gasped. "The vyrkin. Of course."
Yestin grinned. "You kept quite a pace to follow. I think I ate twice my weight in deer meat trying to keep up!"
"Since Mikhail is with Tris at Shekerishet, Yestin is Gabriel's second," Jonmarc explained.
Eiria smiled at Carina, and Carina noted that she lacked the vayash moru's long eye teeth. "You're most welcome, Lady Vahanian. News of your abilities has preceded you. It's been a very long time since Dark Haven has had a healer of your skill. The villagers are anxious for you to settle in."
"I'll be glad to do what I can once I get unpacked," Carina murmured, surprised at the unexpected fame.
"Of course. And we need to recover from the journey as well." Eiria rubbed her hands together, and Carina saw that they were badly chapped. "Snow is hard on the paws."
"May I?" Carina reached out to take Eiria's hands. In a moment, the red, raw skin healed beneath her touch. Yestin was unabashed about seeking the same favor.
"Thank you, m'lady," Eiria said. "You do us a great honor. Many healers won't touch our kind."
"I would show disrespect to the Lady to withhold my gift," Carina replied. Yet there had been something different in that touch, something Carina meant to ask Jonmarc about privately. But before she could think on it further, Laisren joined them.
"Good to see you again, m'lady," Laisren greeted Carina, remembering her from Tris's training in Principality. "Lord Gabriel asked me to arrange a real party for you tomorrow night, but there's something of an impromptu gathering in the great room. Warm food and mulled wine for you mortals, and fresh goat's blood for the rest of us. Come on!"
They followed the distant sound of music. She could easily spot the original sections of walls from those that had been recently repaired, and she marveled that so much had been done in just a few months. Many of the furnishings were old, and Carina guessed they were original to the manor. The newer pieces were functional, although their form spoke of the work of local craftsmen, and Carina was sure Gabriel had a hand in their selection. Tapestries lined some of the walls to keep down the chill, ornately patterned but without the common scenes of courtly tales or long-ago battles. Notably absent were the paintings of ancestors that decorated most manors. Dark Haven's decor was well-made and functional, but as without ostentation as its lord.
While the entrance hall and the rooms at the front of the manor had large windows, the great room was windowless. It took Carina a moment to realize that the manor house had been built to accommodate its mix of mortal and undead residents.
Carina was overwhelmed by the crowd of people, and noticed immediately that, unlike at most functions in a noble house, the guests at this impromptu party did not appear to be visiting nobility. They were trades people and prosperous farmers from the nearby village, as well as vayash moru, vyrkin, and the manor house staff. In the corner, three musicians who looked as if they'd been called on short notice from the village tavern struck up a lively round of pub tunes. True to Laisren's word, a spread of hearty food was set out on the long table: meat pies, mincemeat, rum-heavy fruit cakes, sausages, cheese, and fresh baked bread. The room smelled of spiced wine and mulled cider. For the vayash moru, a generous number of flagons filled with goat's blood clustered on one end of the table, along with platters of raw meat for the vyrkin.
"Let me introduce you to Cathel,-" Jonmarc said "The finest silversmith in all of Dark Haven. He made your shevir."
Cathel was a blond vayash moru who wore his long hair back in a neat queue. He gave a low bow and kissed the back of Carina's hand. "It was a privilege, m'lady."
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Carina said.
"Over the course of several lifetimes, one hopes to refine one's skills." Cathel drifted away into the crowd, and Jonmarc introduced Carina to a short man. His waistcoat was made of good cloth, but it nearly burst its buttons at his belly.