"Neither. You're the one carrying the egg and this is my house." Akiha kept flopping between treating Katina like a guest and like a nuisance. Then again, most guests tended to be nuisances.

"Follow me," she said after dropping the goose off in the kitchen. She lead Katina up to the west wing where her room was, and let her into the girl's anteroom. It was the same as Katina remembered except the fire in the fireplace wasn't quite as big. It was still, to a normal person, a bit too warm in the room.

Remember that bear skin rug? "I swear, if you get anything on my rug, I am going to kill you. So whereas, I tolerate shoes in the mansion, I will not in here." She moved a few things around, gathering up clutter which really wasn't even clutter, but Akiha was a bit of a neat freak.