The vampire spared Noctis a withering glance at his comment. He definitely needed a Word with Russell later. A cheeky slave with a cutting wit could sometimes be a real pleasure, but the boy was far over that horizon and deep into clear insubordination.
At Carrick's nod, the house slave left the room, soon returning with a pot of tea and some slices of buttered fruit loaf to keep the two going while their meal was prepared.
Carrick wandered back to the window while the tea was poured. "Smelled wrong? Why, what would normal snow smell like?" He cupped a hand against the glass again. Even though it had begun as rain, from what he had gathered, it had frozen abnormally quickly. The gardens were already under several inches of snow. He began to wonder about his horse, whose coat was clipped for the summer and who wouldn't do well in weather like this.
"When you've finished in here, get someone out to the stables and have them unpack the horse blankets from the hayloft. Marron will need a heavy rug. And have them light the stove in the stables if they haven't done so already."
Luckily the stables were equipped with an old-fashioned iron pot-bellied stove to keep both staff and animals warm in the winter.
Thinking of animals, he realised that Leo was still upstairs. He couldn't expect the werelion to make it all the way back to his forest home in weather like this. It seemed he was going to have three unexpected guests for the night...
Carrick returned to the sofa at the question about clothes. "If I had a slave boy with a body like yours, do you think I'd ever leave the house? No. I don't have anything in your size. But you can have my dressing gown while your clothes go in the dryer. I'm sure my stable boy has something spare for - " he'd forgotten Noctis' name already. "you."