The next morning Régine scolded me for being restless the night before. I could tell by the heavy, dark rings underneath her eyes that she had not been over-exaggerating. Belle was silent at breakfast. I could tell both of my sisters were devising some sort of punishment for my actions the previous night, although they hadn't said as much to me.
In the meantime, I was preoccupying myself with Yvain Lalumiere's arrival and his promise to take care of the fawn.
The Picouxs had gone to a meeting at the white stone house across the ravine. It was owned by one Thierri Imrich, a wealthy man who seemed to be in charge of most matters in Dusek. Cosette was still sleeping deeply upstairs.
"He will be here soon, dearest," Régine said as she kneaded the dough for tonight's bread. "Yvain Lalumiere might be an obnoxious man, but he keeps his promises."
The panes of glass I had been staring out were covered with a thin layer of frost that glittered beautifully in the sunlight that steadily melted its edges.
"Like his promise to court you?" I asked.
Belle gave a chuckle and flipped the page of her novel. Régine didn't have as affable a response, but I heard a thud from the front door and ran out of the kitchen.
"Eh! Beastie! Are you going to let me in or not?" Yvain shouted.
"I'm coming!" I yelled back and jumped off the stool I had been perched on.
"Don't forget your cloak!" Régine shouted as I disappeared into the hall. The front door slammed behind me and a clump of snow fell down my dress causing me to shriek.
Yvain didn't even try to hide the smug grin as I approached.
"Careful Beastie, snow monsters lurk around every corner." He laughed and ruffled my hair. Yvain was so large he could palm my entire head. And he was wearing a different hunting jacket this morning.
I flicked my eyes over his ostentatious outfit. "You wore white gloves?"
"I like white gloves," Yvain countered quickly, his eyes straying to the kitchen window where Régine stood.
"Of course," I whispered under my breath. "How will you carry the fawn?"
Yvain tussled his golden curls as he tugged on a thick rope clinging to the clumps of snow by his feet.
"By sleigh, of course." The smug grin on his face was getting wider as he pushed a wheel-less cart in front of me that effortlessly slicked through the snow. "It's beautiful!" I exclaimed and crouched knee-deep in the snow.
Yvain seemed glad and unnerved by the praise. "It's nothing new, just an old one we kept in the attic. You're acting like you've never seen a sleigh before—"
I ran a hand over the polished brown wood and glossy bottom. "We never had snow in the city."
"Oh," Yvain muttered. Suddenly he was grabbing me underneath the arms and yanking me to my feet. "Well, get up— you're acting like a child."
I gave him a funny look and quickly ran inside for my cloak while Yvain waited hesitantly in the doorway.
"You're allowed in," I called from the other room as I ran to the fawn in the corner of the den to carry it out.
"Father will be away until afternoon, let's see the fawn settled before he gets back. Understand?" Yvain said in his rumbling, sour voice.
I elbowed him resentfully in the knee when he failed to get out of the doorway. "I understand," I said and bundled the blanket around the fawn's long thin legs, the small coils of tendon twitching beneath sandy-brown fur.
"I'll be there for you by noon hour, stay out of trouble until then," Régine called from the window, waving as Belle smiled behind her.
I waved back to my sisters who closed the window once we headed off to the Lalumiere's land.
"At least your buck got along last night," Yvain smiled passively as he began to drag the sleigh by the ropes, "you dressed up the hoof very well."
I averted my eyes and walked beside the sleigh. I didn't understand why he was changing his demeanour so frequently. First, he would be condescending and then compliment me.
"My father will be furious if he finds him in the horse stables so we must be as cautious as possible."
"Why would your father be mad?" I asked softly after catching the hint of anger in his voice.
The hunter’s burly, broad shoulders shrugged to his earlobe before sagging listlessly back into place. "He doesn't like children or deer running around the stables."
I tromped behind him, carefully placing each step in one of the footprints he had left behind. "I won't run, I promise."
"Won't matter." Yvain looked straight on ahead of us and shook his head. "He doesn't like 'em."
"Your father won't like me?" I asked.
Yvain's eyes widened this time as he looked down at me. "He just doesn't like children in the stables, that's all I meant." His voice was a bit weak and he ruffled my short hair again and smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be done quickly, I promise. I can even give you a tour of the mansion if you like."
"That would be nice."
Yvain began sizing me up which was unnerving because he was so much taller. A grin of amusement emphasized his pearly teeth. "I have a sister about your age. Granted, she's a bit more proper than you, but I suppose a merchant's daughter wouldn't have much time to learn etiquette."
I refrained from sneering.
"–and Father loves her, I'm sure he'd find it acceptable if you both became friends."
"I don't know..." Based on my years of solitariness I wasn't very good at being friends with other girls... or anyone who wasn't imaginary. Cosette was an exception.
Yvain nudged me with one elbow. "She'll find you absolutely charming for a beastie. You can meet Emeline when we're finished, eh?"
We passed a large wrought-iron fence against a backdrop of emerald spruce, and I would have been greatly disappointed if anything less than a castle lay beyond the tree tunnel at the front entrance.
"It's so big," I said, dumbfounded.
The Lalumiere's house blocked the sun. It was built of black stone and thick wood planks painted a regal blue. It had one large, double-doored entrance which we did not approach.
"You should see the chateau we have in Simanek. Biggest cage you've ever seen."
I broke from mansion's spell. Through Yvain's eyes the walls of the Lalumiere mansion seemed almost ominous.
Inside the stables which were left of the mansion there were countless stalls, most of them empty except for the one containing a large black beast that began snorting the minute we entered.
The sleigh clattered on the cobbles stones and Yvain dropped the rope in front of me. "Be careful. Cesaire may bite." He pointed at the black stallion that was now knocking itself hard against the gate and spooking my fawn.
"You're not that terrifying." I snorted back at it.
I heard a laugh come from Yvain, but as he drew to the entrance and the pure bread stallion continued to act like an ass, I spotted a boy who hadn’t been in the stables seconds ago.
Lem’s summer green eyes sparkled like champagne bottles, and his black hair tickled the bridge of his curved nose.
My heart was palpitating in my throat as Lemra crossed toward the stable, and Yvain caught sight of the wild look in my eye.
"What's got into you?" he asked.
" I–I'm feeling very faint.” I pretended to fall limp against the stable. “Cou-could you fetch some water?"
The tall, sandy-haired man left with a peculiar look on his face as I peaked from behind my droopy eyelids to make sure he had gone.
"That was close," I hissed at Lem and pushed myself off the stable door as the boy crossed towards me with a grin teasing his thin lips.
My foot stamped into the stone floor so hard that it stung. "I could have been hurt last night."
I had been in serious danger, if not from the snowstorm, then whatever had killed the deer.
"Leave. Before he gets back."
The boy stood still, toeing the floor with his black boots. 'I wanted to see you.' Lem flashed an apologetic grimace.
Maybe if I really wanted him gone, Lem would have disappeared by now. Despite the dangers of the night and the nagging from my sisters, parts of me wanted to believe, to be young.
I wedged the numb tips of my fingers between my cotton leggings and glanced wistfully at the exit. “I missed you." I crouched low beside the fawn.
Lem’s dark eyebrows twitched as he pointed to his chest, his chin and then me as he knelt beside us. 'I missed you, too and I like the deer,′ he patted his chest and splayed his fingers above his head for antlers.
"You can name him if you like."
He pointed a finger into his chest out of disbelief and the boy grinned as he brought a hand to his chin and pondered.
Lem raised a finger and used it to spell ′S-Y-L-V-A-N'.
He grinned back at me and a warm blush tinged my rosy cheeks, a smile squished beside them. The iridescent flecks of green in his eye shimmered between the long strands of black hair and a smile captured the boys features as he leaned forward.
Just then a pair of feet scraped against the stone floor as Yvain crossed outside and I lowered my voice.
"Will you come back?" I asked.
A boyish grin full of excitement stretched his lips further as Lem pointed to his eyes, then me, and winked once before vanishing from sight.
'I will see you later.'
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