For a moment, all Selene could see was her maidservant Renata in her baggy grey dress and hear her stutter as she spoke. She gripped her throat with one hand, her heart beating rapidly at the vision. Where was Renata now? Who was taking care of her? “I shouldn’t have left her. I shouldn’t have left any of them,” she whispered, staring into the distance.

“My lady, are you all right?”

Selene blinked, bringing her vision back into focus.

“Yes, just . . . remembering,” she said through a thick throat.

The young maidservant stared at her with big brown eyes. “I brought you clean clothes and will place them on the table here. Do you need anything else?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

The girl walked across the room and laid the clothing near the folded linen. “Would you like me to have your other clothes washed?”

“No. They did well for traveling, but I think they have served their purpose.” More than served their purpose. She never wanted to wear them again. She couldn’t help but catch the girl’s look when she picked up the black clothes. Not the usual traveling attire for a lady of a Grand House. She wondered what the young woman was thinking.

“Yes, my lady,” the maidservant said a moment later and bowed again before turning for the door. Then she paused and looked over her shoulder. The girl had such a fresh, young expression to her face. She couldn’t be more than fourteen or fifteen springs. “Are you—are you really Lord Damien’s new wife?” she said, her face growing red.

“Yes.” Selene raised her hand from the water and looked at her wrinkled fingers as if to assure herself. “I am.”

“Welcome, your ladyship,” she said hurriedly. Before Selene could respond back, the servant girl was gone.

She stared at the door, her heart moved by the girl’s words. Welcome.

Her first welcome here at Northwind Castle.

It wasn’t much, but it gave her the courage to get out of the bath and step into her new way of life.

The same servant girl met her outside the bathing chamber. She was shorter than Selene, with a constant smile to her lips, reminding Selene of her little sister Ophie. She already liked her.

“This way, my lady.”

Selene followed the young woman along the hallway. The long dress that had been provided for her was loose, but at least it was clean. And she liked the simple lines. The undergarments were also loose, and she wondered whom they had belonged to before her.

They passed several doors before the girl stopped before the second-to-last one. At the end of the hall was a large arched window. Already the sky was growing dark outside, bringing night swiftly along.

“Here is your room, my lady.” The servant girl opened the door to a bedchamber half the size of Selene’s at Rook Castle. It contained typical bedroom furniture: a four-poster bed with a coverlet of light blue, changing screens with pictures of the sea embroidered along the front, a wooden chest, and a matching wardrobe. A small stone fireplace stood opposite of the bed. One large arched window graced the far wall. A door of grey wood stood near the bed.