The flame flickered and cracked as a puff of orange embers erupted outwards as Annette threw a fresh splint of wood into the fireplace.


    I raised my cup and pressed it against my lips before tasting the honeyed tea on my tongue. The girl in front of me watched me dip the honey into the brew with a bit of hesitation, not a sign of remembering what had happened in the chapel. Nor a sign of caring at the odd looks other students gave Iris when they arrived.


    Before arriving here Lady Siri was wearing a face too ugly for her soft, seraphim face. Her elven companion to who she no doubt complained seemed to be the only one who viewed the incident as nothing too special, her permanent frown softening while whispering to Siri''s ear.


    I had few encounters with the elf and yet at that moment, I had even fewer doubts that the maid seemed a perfect match to the emotional high-noble, managing to calm her down for long enough for her busy mind to clear away her thoughts.


    Speaking of the elf, I had almost forgotten that she was here as she remained as still as a statue throughout Siri''s long lectures. She stood far away from the table we all sat at, her back almost pressed to the wall behind her. I glanced at her and saw the elf''s purple eyes flinch trying not to meet mine. I couldn''t quite put my finger on it but if not for her moving to brush the flower braided into her hair, my mind would have skipped over the tall elf as if she was nothing. My attention shifted, attracted to the movement across from me like a moth to light.


    I noticed Annette making a face at me from the corner of my vision as I stared at the high noble fidget in her seat, her tea untouched, facing her maid with a pleading expression.


    The elf shook her head left and right slightly causing the Blackworm heiress to pout at her, filling her cheeks with as much air as she could. Two lilac eyes buried into me with a questioning look and I shrug in response.


    *Sigh*


    The elf walked toward her ward with an inconspicuous smirk and a knowing look in her eyes. Without a word spoken, the elf crouched beside the firmusian noble before reaching toward the table.


    "You do it." The elf raised a spoonful of honey into the air but Siri pointed her finger at her maid.


    "Me, Mistress?" Iris''s spoken voice spoke infinitely more about her shock than her stoic face which barely moved.


    Wait, she fully expected to have to feed Siri, in front of everyone? How shameful... but if that is the case how often do they do that in private?


    The elf gave me a glance which seemed to hold an apology before, she placed the spoon in her mouth emptying its contents. Without swallowing the sweet gold she took a sip of the bitter tea essence before sheepishly standing up her face cold and professional as one could be with an overly sweet blob inside their mouth and yet I thought I noticed a look of bloody vengeance in her.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    What was the purpose of this? Was it to humiliate her maid? Siri never struck me as someone who would enjoy such a thing. She would have eaten Aoife alive if that was the case and she wouldn''t have waited until everyone but me and Vilkas left. Maybe Siri let Iris be her food tester for tonight? Unlikely...


    I let my mind wander trying my best not to tap my chin as I thought.


    "Did she eat too much sweets before you got her?" Vilkas leaned closer to me and whispered as Siri purred like a kitten, her eyes fluttering innocently with amazement as she mirrored her maid in the way she drank her tea. Her eyes lingered on me for a split second too long.


    "No." I answered in a whisper before turning around. "Lady Siri you seem more lively than ever before, are you excited about something?"


    "Am I?" The pale ball of seemingly endless energy cocked her head to the side.


    "Yes, usually you want to be returned to your quarters at this time of the day."


    "I don''t feel like doing it today." The high noble bit into a cookie which suddenly appeared in her hand before greedily reaching for a deep red jar left behind as a tribute. "Grrrrr." The muscles on her slender arms strained as she grabbed the lid which remained motionless.


    "Would you like me to open it for you Lady Siri?" Iris offered and the noble stood up not caring about her rank. "Here you g-!?" The towering woman toppled like a falling timber as Siri pushed her making her fall on the padded chair Siri chose to sit on.


    "Much better." With a pearly smile radiating pride worth her illustrious lineage, the girl sat down on Iris''s lap before she could stand up. With smoothness, Siri took hold of both elven wrists and pulled them forward using the two elven arms like a warm blanket under which she melted and softened like butter.


    Siri is showing off Iris to us. I thought as the high noble resembled a fox brushing against a favoured tree, her smushed cheek going up and down Iris''s forearm in a wild and unorthodox show of public marking. So she does care about how people see her servant. Or is this about how she complained I treat her like Iris? Hmmm, Siri is a chaste woman whose favour people seek so a show of affection is so much more, it''s a statement. Maybe she took this opportunity to show us the pecking order of our clique, she did specifically sit down on the head chair something she refused to do in favour of lounging on the sofa.


    Looking again at the assembled people, I happened to be facing Siri while Vilkas and Aoife sat left of me, Vilkas being the closest to me. Did she predict how we would sit?


    "Lady Siri, you look rather lovely right now," Her two glowing eyes sparkled brightly as I spoke and I couldn''t suppress the smile which crept on my face as I seemed to have decrypted her message. "But I think you should have asked your maid first before doing this."


    "Grumble, grumble, grumble," Blackworm puffed air into her cheeks as she looked at Iris. "She wouldn''t allow me to, she is very annoying right now because of you." She said causing all of the eyes in the room to turn on the woman behind her.


    "Siri, does that mean you and Iris are even more casual while away from the public eye?"


    Even if the cold-bodied mage couldn''t see it, I definitely saw the face Iris made and it was one of soul-piercing vexation aimed at me. A good servant would have stopped this conversation and pulled the girl out of the room and yet the feeling of having my throat slowly crushed disappeared as soon as Iris focused her eyes on the shorter woman below. Apparently letting her painfully open and casual ward decide on what should happen next.


    "She is less annoying when others aren''t around, doesn''t call me silly names."


    "Less?" The knife-eared woman caused the mage to cringe as she touched her nape. "Fine, Siri I won''t say your titles. But only if we are around these people." Quickly the maid''s voice turned cold again as she spoke to the high noble making the cryomancer look at her for a moment before without any reason nodding energetically as if trying to compensate for the moment of stillness before.


    "So calling you Siri is fine and what do you prefer?" Vilkas suddenly chimed in, receiving a harsh glare from Aoife for his casual tone.


    "Yes," The girl replied immediately with eagerness I never heard before, even shocking the elf. "Good Sandwich."


    "I''m not a dog, Siri." Vilkas stared at the singular and small cherry, the noble fished out from a basket at her feet and I couldn''t stop myself from giggling.