Summer slipped out of the bed as quietly as possible, padding barefoot across the floor and into the next room. For all her knowledge of how knights and lords lived, she hadn’t expected to encounter any servants — in fact, she’d been thinking she might go and make breakfast. So when she rounded a corner and nearly walked into another man, she shrieked in startlement.
Hastily, he reached out and covered her mouth. “Hush, mistress, you will wake the master.” She glared, and he removed his hand just as quickly. “I assume he’s still asleep.”
“Who are you?” she hissed.
“My name is Rafael, mistress. I’m Sir Isaac’s manservant.” He gave a small dip of the head. “I took the liberty of arranging your things in one of the bedrooms.” Taking her arm in a firm grip, he guided her some distance along a hallway to a smaller, simpler bedroom. “Now I must go and wake the master.”
Isaac awoke to the most peculiar of sensations, one that he couldn’t put into words as such, but he knew that whatever it was that had caused him to awaken, caused his stomach to churn uncomfortably. Sliding out of the bed, he was about to stand up when the door creaked open, and as he was about to question Summer on where she’d run off to so quickly, Rafael entered the room.
“You scared her, didn’t you?” he stated by way of a friendly greeting, chuckling under his breath at his manservant’s agreement. He hadn’t wanted one, of course, but it was Prince Derek’s order, insisting that if Isaac wanted so badly to live alone, and away from the Palace, then he should at least have someone to look after him.
“I’ve placed her in the bedroom at the far end of the hall,” Rafael said stiffly. He didn’t come out and say that he didn’t approve of the two sharing a bed, but then Rafael had always been able to indicate his desire for Sir Isaac to be a little more aware of his status without words. “I have sent your armour to the blacksmith for polishing and your sword for sharpening and cleaning. His Majesty sent to say the Princess desires to meet your … guest. After breakfast.”