LXVI

Inanna made a point of taking her time.

She noticed Silas was quiet, reserved, and a little distant.

She also noticed he hadn’t taken his eyes off her.

She made her way slowly around the table chatting effortlessly to everyone, this time it was Inanna who commanded attention and certainly received it from everyone in the castle.

Silas could see how much she was adored. She was resilient and made the very best of her situation.

Silas knew she would prefer to live at the temple, healing full time but she knew this was her path for the time being and made the decision to enjoy it.

It seemed she had settled right in.

“Welcome home Sire” she said as she began pouring his wine.

“I hope your trip was a great success and Winter is not baring any scars from battle”

She looked at him briefly and he at her, he said nothing and gave even less.

She moved on.

The banquet certainly didn’t have the same tone or energy as the first one she had attended.

Silas had definitely changed, she sensed it would take a little longer for him to thaw out.

He was still making himself scarce, and this really did alter the energy of the entire castle.

When Silas was up, so were the people and when he was down, so were the people.

Inanna just kept on her way, dabbling in the garden, occasionally riding the horses.

He was surprised to see that she had stayed.

He kept his distance from her – however they had bumped into each other from time to time.

While he was away Inanna had come and gone from the castle through the main gates, at any time she pleased. Now he was back it was a different story.

If she wanted to heal she would either have to ask his permission or sneak out.

Master Mitchell and Old Tom had shown her a back entrance in the boughs of the castle where she could come and go undetected,

Now that Silas was back in residence she would have to resort to sneaking around.

She loved it down in the boughs of the castle.

It was cold and damp, a little mysterious – it felt like she was on an adventure when she was sneaking around the place.