Free Spirit Binder by Meghan Ciana Doidge

but it was the polite thing to do when being addressed. Unless the addresser was some sort of deity-on-earth according to her mother. Then it was rude.
    The second guard, a corporal, was better mentally shielded than Davin, and wore his rank as his mental identifier instead of his name. He answered her question. “No, my lady. They were hovered in, but seemed physically unharmed, if that is your concern.”
    “Well, they wouldn’t be physically harmed, would they?”
    “No, my lady.” The Corporal had the decency to sound chagrined.
    “Will they be woken?”
    “Yes, my lady. At sunrise for breakfast, and then exercise, if they choose.”
    “Very well. I’ll check on them then.”
    “My lady?”
    “None of your concern, Corporal.”
    “Yes, my lady.” He’d met her eyes momentarily when he was startled, but he quickly dropped them.
    “Thank you.”
    “Just doing our duty, my lady.”
    “Yes. There is a lot of that going around.”
    As she turned to head off to bed, Theo beckoned to the carpet, which, currently sulking in the corner, pretended to ignore her. Though she was quite mentally exhausted, she realized the guards might be able to provide some details relevant to her kidnapping and where she’d been for the last ten years.
    “You were trained by my uncle Dougal before you were assigned here, were you not?”
    “Yes, my lady,” the Corporal answered. “Not by him directly, nor in his Elite Guard, obviously, but he oversees all the guards. I was head of my class last year, and I specifically requested assignment to the Apex.” The corporal grinned, very pleased to be able to express his pleasure at getting his choice of assignment.
      “And you, Davin?” Davin started a bit, perhaps by her use of his name, and stumbled over his answer. “I … I … came in the fall, my lady. Very pleased to be here.”
    “Have either of you met me before?”
    “No … no, my lady. Not until you returned four days ago. We were assigned to your guard, but … ah …”  
    “Then I slipped by you without you noticing and almost got myself killed?”
    “Um, yes, my lady.”
    “Sorry about that.”  
    The corporal straightened uncomfortably at her apology. “We failed you, my lady, not the other way around.”
    Theo sighed, and let the matter drop. “When you were training in the Midlands, you never saw me there?”
    “No, my lady. Should … should we have?” The corporal seemed confused by her question, but answered readily enough. Davin nodded, vehemently, in agreement.
    “No, I guess not. Thank you for your time.” Could Dougal have kidnapped her and kept her segregated for ten years? How large was the training facility? Even if she’d only been among the Elite Guard, could Dougal really enforce such loyalty that no one spoke of her presence there? Perhaps he’d some how cloaked her identity? She was disappointed at the guards’ lack of information, but also aware that she should still try to be polite. “Will you work though till morning?”  
    “No, my lady. We should be seeing our relief at midnight. One hour.”
    “Sleep well.”
    The Corporal’s face flushed with pleasure and Davin bowed his head as if in reverence. “Thank you, my lady. I am sure we will now.”
    ∞
    She wandered, not at all hurried, back to her rooms. The carpet pretend to not follow her, though it showed up in her room right before she slipped into bed, and she found it curled at her feet by morning.
    Her thoughts became heavy and muddled each step she took closer to sleep. She fretted about the missing ten years, her increase in power, and what her mother was hiding from her. She fretted about the ultimate fate of the men in the dungeon. But, mostly, she fretted about Hugh. She wondered if he was going to sleep in the stables, and why. She wondered if it was easier for him to not be in the castle, to not be near her. Why did he stay at Hollyburn, if she was such a bother? Why had he come at all? It wasn’t