“Please, step inside from the rain, my lord. My apologies for not being able to greet you at the door.”
‘My lord’, that’s what she was called now. No one ever called her ‘my lady’. It took a while for her and everyone else to acclimate themselves to it, but the citizens of Volk loved their traditions.
And tradition called for a companion to be addressed as ‘my lord’.
A shadow passed overhead and the loud buzz of an airship engine made her look up before stepping inside the foyer. It cleaved the grey sky like a large, fat, sword. The sharp sound of carriage wheels on cobblestones, the neigh of horses and the loud clatter of machine vehicles disappeared once the door was closed.
The interior of the house was as unassuming as the outside, Madame Eleonora does not like to advertise her girl’s profession. The lady of the house chose gas lights rather than the modern electricity; she said that the warm light of gaslights flattered the complexion more. Kiera much preferred electricity because the other option made her brown skin looked sickly.
She might have left all her feminine trappings, but that did not mean that she no longer had vanity.
The furniture was tasteful in both style and function, as well as the wallpaper and the hand-woven rugs on the floor.
“Nonsense, Weatherby. And I wager I can guess what it was that kept you busy.” She said as she handed her slightly damp great coat, her hat, her leather riding gloves and her riding goggles to the butler who in turn passed it to the gawking footman. She lifted a hand to sweep her cropped hair away from her face; they curled around her head like a dark halo, dropping raindrops on her dark fine coat.
She saw the footman’s eyes dropped to the ring she wore on her left hand; shimmering gold and red ruby blinked in the gas lit room.
It was a smaller replica of the ring that her Guardian, Lord Aristo wore on his left hand, a symbol of what he was: a Guardian, which made her…
…ah, there it is, Kiera smiled to herself as the footman’s eyes widened, she could tell that he finally realized who and what she was; Lord Kiera, the only woman ever to be chosen as a Companion.
Copyright © 2012 by D.F. Jules
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