Chapter 44: The Clock Tower

Talia's sleep was punctuated by the half mark, and then the full mark, and then the half mark, and then the full mark.

Each time the clock tower went off, she woke up, hug the sleeping boy a little tighter and then fell back to sleep. Judging from the snores that came from various women around her, the serving maids slept well.

It was quite warm inside the room, with that many bodies within one small room, but that wasn't what kept her up. It was the dang clock tower.

Who in heavens thought that it would be a good idea to keep a clock tower on the top on an inn where guests came to sleep? Were they nuts?

She fell asleep thinking about asking the Duke to bribe the inn to halt the clock tower if they could not leave the next day.

Morning came with the bonging of the clock tower announcing the six o'clock mark. The women all rose at the same time since this was their normal wake-up call.

To Talia's disgust, they all looked refreshed and cheerful, looking none-the-worse-for-wear even though they had been lying on the floor the entire night.

How was it possible for them to sleep through all that bong bong bong bong bong of clock chimes?

The supremely efficient women cleared the floors of the rooms within ten minutes and trooped back to the rail cars to clean up and change into work wear.

Talia cleaned and dressed Devin and then quickly washed herself before changing into clean clothes. By the time she was done, Anna and Portia had returned from the barn.

They had been two of the stronger women who could handle the less sheltered area of the barn. They had volunteered to go with the rest of the hardier staff to the barn, giving up their space beside Devin and Talia to weaker more fragile women.

"How was the barn?" Talia asked as they came in, smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh, Milady, it was quite warm in there!" Portia gushed. "We slept all night long on the bales of hay that the men had spread out for everyone."

"I'm glad to hear that. How was the Grand Duke?"

"Milady, he slept like a king." Anna laughed. "His men built a nice bed of hay for him and spread furs over it. You and Devin could have joined him and it would have been just fine."

Talia nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, they could be in his palace tomorrow and this would be a nice little side note that she would remember fondly when she got old and frail.

'Are you awake yet Darling?' Talia heard the whisper of the Grand Duke inside her mind.

'Yes. Anna and Portia just came into my room.'

'Were you able to sleep?'

'I did okay. I heard you slept well.'

'Like a log.' She heard him laugh gently.

'If you are hungry, we can breakfast in the dining room of the inn.' Cedric offered. 'Most of the people who slept on the floor of the lobby have moved onward.'

'Whenever you are ready. Devin and I will be waiting for you.'

'Stay in your room. I will come to you.'

She acknowledged him and they mentally disconnected.

"Anna, Portia." Talia called out to the two nursemaids.

"Yes, Milady."

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"Do you know why the inn was so crowded with people? Is there some local event that is going on?"

"Your Grace, it's not a local event, it's a local figure."

"Local figure? Why would a local figure need to stay at an inn?"

"Your Grace, it's because they got stuck in the same blizzard that's keeping us here. The Duke of Voltaire arrived about half a day before we did and took up most of the rooms."

"I see. Do we have any word on whether the blizzard is still blowing?"

"As far as we have heard, the blizzard is quite strong and continues to inundate the city of Faria, Your Grace."

"Hmmm." Talia pursed her lips. "Does that mean we're stuck here for another night?"

"It could be another week, with the speed at which this blizzard is moving." A voice called out from the doorway.

"Cedric!" Talia turned to him with a bright smile.

He moved into the room and dropped a kiss on her upturned face.

"I was going to ask you if you slept well, but I can see the answer for myself." He reached out and touched her upper cheeks. "You have dark shadows under your eyes."

He looked around the room. "Was the room too cold? Were there too many people in the room? Did Devin kick you too many times at night?"

"No, it's fine. Everything is fine."

Cedric narrowed his eyes. "It's not fine. Tell me the truth."

Talia sighed. He was so observant, she couldn't hide anything from him if she tried.

"The room is fine. The women are fine. Devin is a very good boy and he only kicked me once, but it didn't bother me."

She rubbed her tired eyes. "It's the clock tower."

Cedric's eyes froze into hard amber stones.

"Hmmm." He thought about what she told him for a moment. "Well, let's get you and Devin fed so you will at least have something in your stomach. I'll see what I can do about that clock tower."

Talia nodded gratefully. If they were going to have to stay in this inn for a week, maybe he could offer them some money in exchange for shutting off the clock for the duration of the time that they needed to remain there.

Cedric reached down and picked up Devin. Then he held out his hand towards Talia.

"So we need to stay here for another week, you think?" She mused, reaching out for his hand.

He shrugged. "From what I can sense, the storm is a slow-moving one that is just sitting over Faria and not moving very quickly. It's dumping a lot of snow onto the city. It could be four days to a week."

Talia nodded. As long as nobody got hurt in this terrible blizzard, it would be an adventure they would look back on and laugh about.

"Don't worry too much. I know Andre well and I think I can get him to give up a few rooms for us."

"Andre?"

Cedric nodded.. "Andre Kossova, the Duke of Voltaire."

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