Page 8 of Thomas
Thomas sighed and dropped his shoulders. “Yes, please. Thank you.”
Lord Ashford turned, and Thomas followed him down the long hallway. As they moved through narrow corridors and up a gently winding staircase, Thomas was grateful for Lord Ashford’s steadfast silence. That he could be left alone in his misery to wonder how in the world he’d fallen so far off course from the life he’d envisioned for himself.
Chapter Three
Thomas had his own rooms.
A small, comfortable sitting room just outside his bedchamber—for what purpose, he did not know. A sizable bedroom with a beautiful four-poster bed, and an attached bathroom with both a standing claw-footed tub and separate shower area.
It was luxurious and he was beside himself. Even as the eldest child, his personal room at the castle hadn’t been nearly as generous. Best of all, that warm, curiously comforting sensation flowed in the air here as well. Not as powerfully as in the sitting and banquet rooms downstairs but still faintly present.
This is Lord Ashford’s essence, Thomas contemplated, sitting on the tufted sofa in his antechamber and absently caressing the velvety material with his palm as if it were a beloved cat. There had been other vampires around them, but an enticing scent had radiated brightly from the lord of the manor, like the fragrant center of a freshly bloomed rose.
Lord Ashford had dropped Thomas off here and hastily dashed away a couple hours ago. After that, Mira had entered and helped him unpack and settle his things. She had babbled on and on about how nice everyone seemed thus far, and thatthe entire estate was charming, well lit and clean. The heavy insinuation being, “Much better than the antiquated, clammy and shitty cave we used to live in.”
Thomas hadn’t responded to her at all, and she didn’t seem to care.
It irritated him deeply—that she spoke to him with such alacrity and ease, as if the whole starvation and imprisonment thing had never happened. As if their relationship hadn’t been forever destroyed by the fact that she, along with his younger father, siblings and everyone else employed by their estate, hadleft him to rot in a dungeon beneath the castle for three months.
Thomas had felt relieved when she finally left him alone. He’d kicked off his shoes and climbed atop the bed, which had felt to his achy muscles and bones like scaling a giant cloud. He’d slept for a short while, comfortably and peacefully.
Now, he wondered what he was supposed to be doing with himself. With the days being shorter, the sky was already darkening beyond his windows. The expanse was still shrouded by an opaque gray murkiness, but much deeper now and swished with violet from the setting sun.
A soft knock at the door snagged his attention. He brushed the thighs of his pants as he stood from the couch, the gesture useless in addressing the wrinkles acquired from his short nap. He briefly detested his overall shabby and pathetic state. “Yes? Come in.”
The door opened and the manservant from earlier, Lennon, stepped inside. “Good evening, Sir Thomas. Are you feeling rested? I tried knocking earlier, but I believe you were asleep.”
“I was,” Thomas confirmed. “I’m feeling better now, thank you.”
“Better” being a relative term. He hadn’t been choked nor humiliated within the past few hours, so that was a marked improvement in his general state of being.
“Wonderful. Would you like a brief tour of the estate before dinner?” The older man smiled. He was cleanly dressed in a gray blazer, white shirt and black slacks. His skin was bronzed and aged around the corners of his mouth and eyes. Permanent laugh and smile lines.
Something about him mirrored the welcoming and gentle air of the home, and it made Thomas feel strangely at ease. “Yes, I’d like that, please.”
“Follow me, your grace.”
Lennon guided Thomas around the rooms of the upper floor first, which mostly consisted of tastefully decorated guest bedrooms with minimal clutter—a watercolor landscape portrait framed on a wall, a healthy potted plant set on a table nearest to the window. No coats of arms or suits of armor. No beheaded animals mounted on plaques—a favorite of Thomas’s elder father.
Thank God, Thomas thought, pleased with the overall aesthetic of the home.
“And… where are Lord Ashford’s chambers?” He should know, shouldn’t he? Thomas had no underlying objective in gleaning this information, but it was odd that Lennon hadn’t mentioned it.
“On the lower floor, in the westernmost corner of the estate,” Lennon replied. “I’ll point them out to you when we pass by.”
Thomas nodded. Strange, though, that they were set so far away from each other. Were they not supposed to be attempting to secure a mated bond at some point? What good would it be for Thomas to be tucked upstairs on one side of the estate while Lord Ashford resided downstairs on the opposite side? Like two boxers in their respective corners, refusing to fight.
Not that he cared, anyway.
Down the curved staircase and on the lower floors, Thomas was shown a new, larger banquet room for the purpose ofhosting ten or more guests, the small sitting room where he and his fathers had sat earlier, Lord Ashford’s office (a closed door that Lennon made no attempt to open), the kitchen, a hallway of rooms for the estate’s serving staff and a quaint library.
Here, Thomas paused the tour and lingered for a moment. The space was smaller than what he would have expected for an estate of this size and grandeur. When Thomas said as much, Lennon chuckled brightly.
“Ah, yes, Lord Ashford much prefers these more intimate spaces and had this room redesigned when he became the administrator to the property,” Lennon said, watching as Thomas scanned the packed dark-wood shelves lining the walls. “I suppose you’ll learn more about his unique preferences as time goes on… and he will learn yours, of course.”
“Of course,” Thomas said distractedly as he pulled a particularly old-looking tome from the shelf. It was a classic—leather-bound and well worn around the edges. “May I borrow this one?”
“You are welcome to use this space as you please, my lord. The estate is your home from today onward. We do wish for you to be contented here.”
