Ivory Snow

By her third day staying on the farm, Ivory had had enough with lying in bed. Even though Dean had said she could start moving around on the second day, Adam had put his foot down and said no.

“Snow’s body needs to heal, which will happen best if she is resting, reserving her strength.”

Well, she wasn’t listening anymore. Adam would just have to get over himself.

As soon as the sun was up, Ivory snuck out of bed. She tiptoed down the hall, being especially careful as she passed Adam’s room, and down the stairs. She turned the corner, hoping she remembered correctly, and it was the way to the kitchen. She hadn’t actually been allowed downstairs since Adam was at the market. He was such a bossy butt.

Ivory came to an abrupt halt and stifled a scream when she saw two small figures blocking the door. Fitz and Gabe.

During her long convalescence, she learned that her conclusion of Gabe’s age was correct. Fitz happily told her that he was nine years old. Eric was ten, the twins were just a few months older than she was and Brian was fifteen.

Fitz grinned ear to ear, knowing they caught her. “See, I told ya she would sneak out this morning!”

Gabe shook his head at his dopey brother. Fitz was always over excited and silly. He wasn’t the smartest in the bunch, but he sure tried to act like it. When he wasn’t staring off into space anyway. He was such an odd pup.

Ivory bit the corner of her lip, thinking quickly. “If you promise not to rat me out, you can help me make breakfast.” She wasn’t sure about them, but personally, she was already tired of oatmeal.

Both pups grinned from ear to ear and nodded their heads enthusiastically. Guess she wasn’t the only one then.

She rubbed her hands together, very pleased by this. “Alright, first things first. Do you guys have any chickens on this farm?” They both nodded again. “What about cows?” They were practically jumping while nodding that time. She laughed softly. “Then go get us as many eggs as you can and some milk! Wait, do you know how to milk a cow?”

Fitz rolled his eyes. “Duh. We live on a farm. But Charles is already up and milking them. We can sneak the buckets from him though. If he catches us, we can act like we just be trying to help out.”

Ivory wasn’t sure that would work but nodded and waved them off. She winced as the door slammed behind them.

Inhaling deeply, she stepped into the kitchen, her smile grew as she took it all in. There was no place like home. Or a kitchen in someone else’s home, in her case. Ivory got familiar with her new surroundings, searching for pans, bowls, spoons, and how to get the fire going.

Thankfully, there was already a small fire burning in the pit. That would save some time. She found a rod and pushed the logs around, building the fire up. She gave a small hiss as the movement pulled on the bruises on her back.

Next thing she knew, a much larger hand was covering hers and pulling the rod back.

“What do you think you are doing out of bed?”

Ivory cursed silently to herself. She should have known he would already be up. There probably wasn’t even a point to her being quiet in the hall either.

“What does it look like? I’m making breakfast. There are thousands of foods one can eat, besides oatmeal.” She snapped at him.

Adam grumbled at her. “True, but that is the easiest thing to make.”

“For you maybe. But I can make a ton of things just as easily. And we made a deal. I told you I would do the cooking.”

Adam shook his head gruffly and grabbed her arm. “When you are better, yes.”

Ivory pulled her arm back, taking him by surprise. She was sure he wasn’t even using a tenth of his strength, trying not to hurt her. He also wasn’t expecting her to fight him. He had another thing coming if he thought she was going to be easy to order around. Princesses may be polite, but they were also expected to run a kingdom one day. Nobody pushed them around.

According to her mother anyway.

Ivory folded her arms across her chest, trying to hide the grimace from the flash of pain.

Adam pointed at her face. “That, right there. You are still hurting. You need to rest longer.”

Ivory was skilled at hiding her immediate reactions to the comments of others. It was something she’d always been able to do. He seemed to already be able to read her. Was she ever going to be able to fool him?

“No, I need to move around.”

Footsteps could be heard moving around upstairs, they were about to be joined by the other brothers.

Adam stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You need to heal first.”

Ivory’s voice cracked as she whispered back. “Physically, yes. But I need to move around. I can’t lay there trapped in my head anymore, Adam. Please. The kitchen has always been my safe place. I need something normal. I need to get out of my head. Can’t you understand that?”

Sadly, that was something he could understand. It was why he’d taken to letting his wolf run before dawn every morning.

“Hey, Snow’s up!” Dean cheered as he walked in. He took one look at the two of them and froze with only one foot inside the kitchen.

Adam glared at Ivory. And Ivory pleaded with her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Dean asked slowly, warily.

Adam stepped back, his eyes still on hers. “Nothing. Your sister has decided to make breakfast this morning.”

Ivory grinned from ear to ear and jumped on Adam, wrapping her arms around his neck. She gave him a swift kiss on the cheek, laughing at his grumble.

“Thank you!” She released him and turned to the male pups walking in. “I expect all beds stripped of their sheets and blankets before you are allowed to sit at this table. If you don’t do it, you eat oatmeal. Again!”

Adam chuckled as Dean, Brian, and Eric grumbled and stomped their way back up the stairs.

Ivory lifted an eyebrow and looked at him. “That means you too, mister. Shew!”

His grin melted into a scowl faster than it took Brian to fall asleep, something she realized he did a lot. Both of them. Adam didn’t complain though, he just went upstairs.

Ivory was setting a pan over the fire, to begin heating, when the back door opened. A whistling Charles walked in, carrying a bucket of milk, followed by Gabe, who carried another.

“Next time, just ask for the milk. Fitz is not so great at sneaking around.” Charles laughed as he and Gabe set their arm loads down.

“I’ll remember that.” She laughed as well. It was hard not to. Charles was always in a jovial mood. You couldn’t help but laugh with him.

“What are you making?”

“Omelets. But first, you need to bring me your bedding and wash up. You were just in the barn, and you should always wash up after being in the barn.”

Charles gave her a face that said he had a bad taste in his mouth, only she was sure the problem had nothing to do with taste. Guess she found something that he didn’t find funny.

But she sure did.

Gabe quietly went off to his and Fitz’s room to start the chore. He was back by the time Fitz came in, proudly carrying a basketful of eggs.

True to her word, she set the two pups to work, cutting various vegetables she found in a bowl on the counter. Fitz told her they had a small garden in the back that their mother had started. They each took turns weeding it and caring for it.

By the time she finished making them omelets, stocked full of vegetables, all the males were sitting at the table. She wasn’t sure who had set the table, but there were plates, cups, and forks lined up nicely. All of which looked to have been made from wood and polished.

Not one word from the brothers was said as they ate. She had never heard this house be so quiet when everyone was awake. Even the night was broken with the sounds of snoring little boys. She was sure it was mostly Eric, his allergies were awful.

Still, Ivory found the sounds to be comforting. She never liked how quiet the castle was. You couldn’t hear anything through those stone walls. Everyone always felt so far away from her.

As they finished their breakfast, each male carried their dishes to the sink. Ivory walked over to wash them, but Adam stopped her.

“One of the pups will wash. You’ve done enough. If you want me to allow you to be up and doing things today, you will rest in between. And if I’m not mistaken, you plan on washing linens today as well?”

Ivory frowned at him. This again?

“I am perfectly capable of washing dishes and linens in the same day.”

“I’m sure you are, but I don’t want you to push yourself too much. Dean says your stitches will be ready to take out today or tomorrow. Please, try not to overdo it.”

Ivory sighed. “Fine. Let me at least get the sheets in to start soaking, then I will go lie down for a bit. Deal?”

Adam nodded. “Deal. Brian will show you how the wash bin works and how to pump the water. I doubt your royal hands have ever done that before.”

Ivory scowled at him, wishing with all her might that she could deny it. He knew it too. The jerk turned and walked away laughing.

“Come on, Snow. I’ll help you.” Brian kindly offered through a yawn. “I’m a little jealous you get to go take a nap. I have to go clean the horse stables.”

“I’d offer to help, but I doubt that would be allowed.” She mumbled.

“Nope. But in a week or so, if you still want to, I’d be happy to teach you. We have to start the harvest soon and we can use all the help we can get around here. Especially if Adam is going to be gone.”

Ivory nearly tripped over her own feet. She was wearing a pair of Eric’s pants, and one of Fitz’s shirts, but they were still too big. So, when she stopped suddenly, surprised by Brian’s words, she stepped on the corner of the pants.

“Adam’s leaving? Why?”

Why did she care? He was such a grump and always bossing her around, she should be happy he was going to be gone. Instead, she was scared. She felt safer with him around. Besides, he was the only one of her protectors that could shift. He stood the best chance against a wolf attacking.

Not that that helped her father any, but he hadn’t exactly gotten a chance to fight back either.

“A local Baron, who owns the land next to ours, requested his help with their harvest. We have enough males that we can manage ours on our own. And the extra money would be helpful getting through the winter.”

He turned back to see why she stopped and grew concerned.

“Don’t worry, Adam won’t say anything about you, and you’ll be plenty safe with all of us here. You’re family now, and we protect our family.”

Ivory was too touched by his heartfelt words to say anything, so she just nodded.

Brian showed her to a back room that held a large washtub. It was made of wood and polished, as was everything else. And looked large enough for four of the males to bathe in at once.

“Our father built this for our mother after the twins were born. On really hot days, she would throw all us pups in there and let us swim around.” Brian’s voice took on that tone that said it was both a happy and sad memory.

Probably a happy memory that had been tainted by the loss of his parents.

He cleared his throat. “Anyway.” He stepped toward a metal pipe that was hanging over the bowl and placed one hand on a lever on the back.

“Just pump this up and down a few times and the water will start to pour out. When you have enough, lift the lever all the way up, like this. It cuts off the flow of water. I’ll do it today, or Adam will have my hide.” Brian smirked.

Ivory swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. She watched as Brian filled the tub. Then they both picked up the linens and pushed them under the water.

“The bar of soap is on the counter there. For when you’re ready. You should probably get upstairs and lie down now, before Adam comes to check on you.”

“All the more reason I should just get started on the washing.”

Brian laughed again. “Adam can be grumpy, and a bit bossy. But a lot was thrown on his plate when our dad died last year. He had to step up and be the adult of the family. Without him, the Baron would have bought all our land and made us servants. All under the pretext of trying to help us out. It’s not an easy job. Even as a pup he was serious and easily angry though. All the stress just made it worse. Try not to give him too hard of a time. He has a bigger heart than he lets on.”

When he put it like that, Ivory couldn’t help but feel grateful for Adam letting her stay. She was probably just adding to his stress and worries.

Ivory obediently went back to her room and noticed someone had changed her sheets as well. She didn’t think she would fall asleep, she figured she would lay there like a good little Princess for a few minutes and then get back to work.