Kian woke to Aislin curled around him, and her long, thin fingers tangled in his hair. He was used to it, they had been raised as brother and sister, when her mother died she was two years old and had come to live with his family for a few years. He did not understand that at their age it would be considered improper to be sleeping in even the same room, they had been doing it for years and no one had told them not to. He woke her by untangling himself from her grasp.
Aislin sat up and yawned loudly, stretching her thin arms above her head. Kian had already undressed and was washing in the water basin, when she silently tiptoed back to her room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Aislin dressed quietly and efficiently, Kian’s mother had taught Aislin to dress herself when she was six, so that she would not have to rely on anyone for her necessities when she went back to her father’s house.
Kian guided her down the stairs and into the dinning room, although she really needed no help. On her second birthday she and her mother had taken the carriage to town when the carriage tipped over, Blinding Aislin and killing her mother. That was when Aislin had become a big part of Kian’s life.
When they entered the breakfast dinning room a great shout erupted.
“Happy tenth birthday Aislin!” Aislin’s close family and half the house staff where waiting for her in the room. Aislin sat at the head of the table, with Kian to her right and her father to her left. Ewan Temes whispered in his daughter’s ear.
“Happy birthday! My girl is ten years old.” She shied slightly away from him, but a smile stayed on her face, her blind green eyes looked at the spot where Kian sat.
Throughout the birthday breakfast Aislin was handed all sorts of Presents, from rich neighbors to family members to poor servants, who had scraped together what they could to buy the special girl a gift.
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