Dimwater's Dragon by Sam Ferguson Page B

and protect her. How was it that the monsters seemed to have found her now? Or was it truly the dagger they sought?
    Lady Caspen closed and locked the window. She took in a deep breath and calmed her nerves. If they were after the dagger, then surely they would stop coming around the manor now. If it was possessed by some evil enchantment, then the scent of its magic would no longer taint Caspen Manor.
    Lady Caspen heard a scream from down the hall. It was one of the servants.
    She rushed out and nearly threw herself down the main stairs, but when she reached the entryway she saw her husband standing with a perplexed look on his wide-eyed face holding a poker from the fireplace. To his right, Hilda, the maid, was standing on top of a chair and flinging her fingers about as she nervously chewed on her lower lip.
    “What is it?” Lady Caspen demanded.
    Lord Caspen pointed with the poker to a rather large rat cornered against the wall.
    Lady Caspen was so relieved that she broke out into a soft laugh and turned to go back up the stairs. Her husband could deal with a rat, she had wards to finish that would ensure no more monsters came to the manor.
    “Are you feeling better?” Lord Caspen called out after her.
    Lady Caspen shook her head and continued back up to her room.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    A week after the incident with the vampire, Lady Caspen found herself in the south parlor offering tea to the very man who had come to rescue her from the vampire those many years ago. Janik was a handsome man, albeit now disfigured. His left leg dragged behind him stiffly, and his left hand was curled backwards at the wrist like a fleshy hook. Perhaps that was why he wasn’t asking for Kyra’s hand himself. Instead he was negotiating with Lord Caspen to arrange the marriage between Kyra and Janik’s younger brother Feberik. If Janik was handsome with his dark hair and green eyes, Feberik was more so with eyes the color of the sky and dark brown hair with streaks of reddish blonde running through it. Feberik was large, and much wider at the shoulder than most other men. His black silk shirt only barely managed to cover his chest and shoulders without ripping at the seams. His smile was soft and kind and his voice was so deep that it almost resonated inside Lady Caspen’s chest when he spoke.
    He was a fine catch for any woman, Lady Caspen knew, but it was highly unlikely that he would be suited for Kyra. For starters, although he was several years younger than Janik, Feberik was still twenty years older than Kyra. It wasn’t highly unheard-of for matches to be made with such differences in age, but Kyra was anything but the average young woman and she was not going to like it one bit. Still, Lady Caspen kept her mouth closed knowing that in this instance her silence would serve Kyra better than any protest she could offer.
    Janik scooped a small teacup into his right hand and brought it up to his lips. “I do love mint tea,” Janik said just before taking a small sip.
    “Yes, my wife has a way with mint tea.” Lord Caspen reached up to push the gold rimmed spectacles higher on the bridge of his nose. He then flattened the front of his shirt with his left hand and brushed a pair of crumbs off his left leg that he had somehow inadvertently dropped while eating a biscuit. “I must say that just last week we had several suitors come by,” Lord Caspen said in his nasally voice. He shook his head as if doubtful an arrangement could be made and then he leaned forward placing his empty teacup on the mahogany table before him. “The offers that were presented were, substantial.”
    “More substantial than rescuing your wife?” Janik asked.
    Feberik put a hand on Janik’s shoulder, and even from a distance Lady Caspen could see that Feberik was squeezing his brother’s shoulder to quiet him.
    “Of course we have an offer to make as well,” Feberik said.
    Janik slipped out from under his brother’s grasp and nodded. “Yes, of