Dark Lord of Kismera: Knights of Kismera by Tamara H Hartl Page A

pushed his hair off his face and had pulled both arms up and under his pillow.
    “I’m up, Mom. Now go away,” he grumbled, voice muffled by the pillow.
    “You have five minutes and then I will be back. Lady Ki has asked me to braid your hair proper, and then down to breakfast with you, lad. Move it now.”
    Eyes still closed, he pleaded, “Give me ten, okay?”
    “I will give you ten then, but not a moment more young man,” she said firmly.
    He heard her leave and roused himself. With a jaw-popping yawn he rose and went behind a screen to use the chamber pot. With a moments’ reminiscing of modern plumbing, he finished and hurried to dress.
    He started to shave with the straight razor Estelle had provided, standing at the mirror, soft leather breeches riding low over his lean hips. Estelle entered the room at the same time he nicked himself for the third time.
    “Would you like me to do that for you, my Lord?” she asked.
    “Ouch! Damn,” he swore softly. “No, I got it. I need to figure it out sometime, I guess; might as well be now.”
    “I cannot believe a lad your age never shaved himself,” she said, hands on hips and head cocked like a small bird.
    He looked at her quizzically, raising one brow. “What?” It dawned on him what she was thinking. “Oh. I’ve shaved myself since I was a teenager but the razors I used were different.”
    “Well, after you get through carving yourself, come sit down so I can do your hair,” she ordered. “Lady Ki has asked me to be your maid and will have my eldest son’s mate be maid to her now. I am thinking she does not trust the other young maids with your virtue. The way those little hussies talk sometimes. Humph!”
    Drace finished without much more damage and toweled his face dry. He came and sat for her. “I heard mention of that ‘talk’ myself,” he added. He gave her a comically lewd wiggle of his eyebrows. “Maybe I like older women.”
    Estelle snorted with laughter. “Come now boy, I do not have the stamina anymore for the young bloods.” She returned his comical look with her own. “Now if I were several summers younger, that would be different story.” She began brushing his hair.
    “I remember my mother doing this for me before school every morning when I was little,” Drace remarked to her, looking at her in the mirror, “Of course she always kept my hair cut short. She said no son of hers was going to look wooly.”
    Estelle said nothing at the brief look of loss that crossed his face as she gently worked through a sleep tangle. She ran a hand over his hair without the brush to let him know she understood.
    She quickly did a slender braid on each side of his head that pulled his hair away from his face to behind his ears. She pulled a big needle and some yarn from her apron pocket, pulled all of his hair back and sewed the lot of it into a tight queue.
    She came around to survey her work. “Now you look like a proper fighting man!” she exclaimed.
    Estelle found a loose fitting shirt and tossed it to him. “Best hurry now, my boy. Lady Ki has already had breakfast and is gone to the training field to exercise her horse. I will see you later in the day.”
    She hurried out with his thank you, and left him to finish dressing. He used the little frayed twig and some mint tasting salt she had given him to brush his teeth, and then headed to the main hall, wondering what this day would bring.
     

     
    The daily r outine changed to include Estelle braiding him ‘proper’, breakfast, and then exercising Pride. Afterward, he trained with Ki and Cearan, expanding his handling of weapons to include the dagger, battle-ax, and spear. He even spent time with Ka’Ril, learning the long bow, proving to have some natural talent with it. He gained basic handling of each weapon and was told by all his instructors that he would become proficient with more time and practice.
    There had been no more intimate moments with Ki, but every once in awhile