CHAPTER 8
The summer days had grown hot and so had the castle. Outside, the steam rose up in clouds from the nearby rivers and blanketed the area in humidity. The heat and steam was such that the stone walls could not protect against it, and thus the castle became like an incubator. The staff spent their days half-dressed and going about their work lazily, as the heat had sucked out their zeal.
The worst place to be was the kitchen, by far, so much of the cooking was moved outdoors when possible. The coolest places to be were the hallways in which Peytra was finishing the archways. One set led into the grand ballroom, where the high ceilings gilded with cool gold and marble chilled the air – it was the most pleasant of places to be. Since there wasn’t as much food to prepare as people we
