Chapter 131

The men coming to teach me were testing Master Damien's patience. They did not treat me with the respect his family was due. Anyone else that demonstrated this obvious disregard would usually receive a sound beating.

My owners arrived at lunch and Master Kein escorted my tutors out. Everyone tried to keep Master Damien distracted until the men were gone, his temper was threatening to burst out of control.

"We have a surprise, Ciara," Christof said lightly and that made Master Damien smile.

They did have a surprise for me, one they had been carefully hiding all morning. I hadn't sensed anything about it from them. Only Christof had seen the surprise and he was making a point not to think about it. They wanted to see my face when I saw what they'd gotten me. Christof presented me with a brown bag and I looked curiously at him.

"Only I looked at it," he explained grinning, but I still didn't know what it was. Christof was very good at keeping secrets. Usually th