Tap! Tap!
The sound of footsteps echoed inside empty hall as Alaric made his way to the guest wing.
The corridor here was narrower, more intimate, dark wood panels instead of stone, paintings of long-dead Rithvale ancestors watching from gilded frames.
The guest chambers were at the far end. Not the grandest rooms, those were reserved for higher nobility, but respectable enough.
Carved oak door with brass fixtures.
Alaric pushed the door open without knocking.
And when he entered.
He saw Selene sitting in one of the high-backed chairs near the window, a leather-bound book resting in her lap. She'd changed out of her formal gown into something simpler, a dark green robe.
The room had a four-poster bed with heavy curtains, writing desk by the window, wardrobe that probably cost more than most people's houses.
Everything in deep blues and golds.
"Came back from your little exploration?"
She set the book aside and studied him with those calculating eyes.
