| |
Lottie’s directions proved true. At the bottom of the stair, I spied the glass and metal doors that could only be the atrium. The corridor was lined with windows, on the right I could see the misted forest rolling on beyond the fields. The distance was hidden by a now much denser fog. That I could not see beyond the forest frightened me in a way I didn’t understand. I felt dread to think I had been sleeping so close to that shadowy forest and I quickly turned my attention to the left side of the corridor.
Through the windows, I could see the gardens with many rows of trimmed lush hedges, some were square or rectangular and others spherical or tapered cones. As I approached the doors to the atrium, I spied a table of women through a break in the hedges. They were sitting at a round glass table beneath a flowery canopy. The fog must have rolled back into the forest because their side of the castle grounds was bathed in warm light. I was mesmerized by the light on their gowns, the breeze billowing in their lace sleeves and gossamer skirts.
“Amia.” I skidded to an abrupt halt in front of a very tall, very thin man with very white skin. He wore an over coat of white satin with silver buckles and blue braiding on the collar and cuffs, his blue satin pants had a lustrous sheen. I stared down at his silver shoes with thick navy heels, the sparkling buckle and then I looked up at his face. He stared down at me with distinct dislike, his nostrils curled as though the mere sight of me offended him. I was mystified by his severe dislike and stared back into his beady blue eyes. “You are late,” he said. “Didn’t Minda find you?”
“Yes...” I answered. His mean little eyes flashed dangerously and I dropped my gaze. Belatedly, I added, “Master Deric.” He snapped his fingers and I hesitated before following him through the glass doors and into the atrium.
“Very well,” he pointed to a white washed cart stocked with a delicate porcelain pot and porcelain plates stacked with small round cakes. The plates and pot were painted with pale pink roses and rings of gold, very pretty and obviously fragile. “Take this to the dais in the roses and pray your mistresses do not notice your tardiness. I will bring the water once it has boiled sufficiently.
“And when you greet your betters, you are to curtsy and show them proper respect.” The dangerous tenor of his voice made me wince at my lapse in etiquette.
I quickly dipped in curtsy with my head bowed. “Yes, my Lord.”
“Do not address the Queen unless she speaks to you directly. You shall be elegant and precise and above all, gracious. If I hear you’ve embarrassed me in any way, it’s the cane for you, is that understood?”
“Unquestionably, my Lord,” I gasped. I gripped the rail of the little cart with trembling hands. The Queen! I was to serve the Queen, oh this was a disaster. I could hardly remember my name and all these rules and now I had to serve a queen! Master Deric cleared his throat and I quickly pushed the cart through the big glass doors and out into the gardens.
The clouds from before had long since left, leaving the air warm with only a subtle bite to the occasional breeze. The rose hedges were dormant; tiny white and pink buds just visible through thorny brambles. A little ways up the walk, I could hear the clatter of porcelain and glass and the tittering of ladies’ giggling. My heart hammered in my chest. The queen! If the kitchen mistress and steward were so awful, would this woman be the same? I thought of the women I’d spied before and wished it had been them instead. I was fascinated by them and wanted to see them up close, to see if their faces were as lovely as they vision they made together under the canopy. I wanted to be one of them.
I hurried to the stone dais and held my breath when I saw the canopy beyond the last row of hedges. Gathered around the table were the women I’d seen earlier. Fresh flowers in an array of colors had obviously been brought out to surround them in sweet perfume. Scattered over the gilt and glass table were porcelain dishes and small cups with thin rings affixed to their sides, glass goblets with tapered legs glistened with water droplets and when the breeze stirred, the table linen fluttered along with sheer white draperies hanging from the canopy. There were seven ladies around the table, and of them all I knew the one across the table, directly opposite me was the Queen. I was certain I had never seen the woman before, even though I could remember nothing beyond waking under that tree, but I knew what she was the moment I saw her.
I forced my shaking legs forward and pushed the cart onto the stone platform beside an empty cart. I looked up and her eyes were on me, considering me with curiosity. The laughter trailed off as I stood staring across at the Queen as obviously curious of her as she was of me and then I remembered myself. I spread the skirts of the white gown and curtsied low.
“Good day, my Queen,” I heard myself say.
“Come,” she beckoned. I glanced hesitantly around at the ladies surrounding her and saw seven other servants ghosting at the edge of the dais, separate but a part of the gathering. I moved to the Queen’s left and curtsied low again. “Your name?” she asked. I raised my head and saw my own amazement reflected in her bright blue eyes. Despite the crinkles around them and the lines at her throat, she was as fresh as a new spring rose. Her long blonde plait was a golden coil in her lap.
“A-Amia, Majesty,” I stammered. Her eyes were round and warm, her mouth was small with thin rouged lips. She was a very beautiful woman but severe for there was a hardness behind her kind eyes.
“Amia,” she repeated, “such a pretty name for such a pretty face.”
“I am honored, Your Highness.” She made a sound in her throat with a vague gesture and I backed away as the other maids rushed forward with platters of cakes and glazed fruit, and fresh linens. I turned to my cart and lifted the heavy pitcher of water, replacing the empty one on the table. There were discarded plates that I gathered as well. As I worked, the conversation rose to a low murmur of frenzied whispers. The Queen was engaging rapidly with a dark haired lady at her right who peered at me with pale green eyes and a perfectly oval face.
“Rapunzel’s Garden!”
The plates rattled loudly in my hands. The lady closest to me with ringlets of gold tied with blue ribbons had shouted out. I stared at her lap with my eyebrows knitted in confusion. “That’s you, isn’t it? You have to be, you’re the new one.”
“F-forgive me,” I started to say.
“Oh yes!” The brunette lady beside the Queen leaned forward and clapped her hands. “The farm that burned to the ground. You’re the farmer’s daughter, aren’t you?”
“I...” The plates were rattling as my hands shook.
“Nikki, that’s enough,” Another brunette but very pale in the shadow of the sweeping brim of her hat, stirred a tiny silver spoon in her porcelain cup. “Can’t you see the poor girl suffers and you’ve so carelessly brought it up.”
I glanced timidly at the Queen.
“You’ll have to forgive my Ladies,” she smiled as she popped a small cookie in her mouth. “But I’m afraid you must assuage their curiosity by speaking freely.”
“Y-yes, Majesty.” I glanced back at the lady, Nikki as she’d been called and tried to think of an answer. “I don’t suffer.”
“Losing your parents in that terrible fire,” the pale brunette shook her head in sympathy, “I’m sure you must have nightmares.”
Baffled, I took the soiled plates to the empty cart and busied myself with my back to them.
My parents died in a fire.
I frowned down at my hands, forcing myself to press against the black emptiness in my mind and feel something but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I said the only thing I could think to say, “I suppose so...” I turned back to the table and they were all staring expectantly. Flushing, I dropped my eyes. “I don’t remember.”
“But you’ve only just arrived, isn’t that right?” said another lady—blonde waves falling around her narrow shoulders and grass green eyes. Her voice was a lazy drawl as she tilted back her head to bask in the sunlight. “My attendant said the wildest thing, that your mother was a savage from the Northern Empire.”
“Was she?” I had a feeling that was undesirable but I glanced at the Queen and she didn’t seem disturbed by the flow of conversation. She beckoned to one of the servants, a pretty woman with a lined face and blond hair streaked with gray. She came forward and bent her ear to the Queen, her very blue eyes peering at me before she nodded and walked away, back towards the atrium.
“The rest of you are dismissed. Amia will stay,” the Queen announced suddenly. I wasn’t the only one surprised. The other servants glanced at one another and then five pairs of eyes glared at me. “Should Master Deric question you, tell him you have my authority to take your leisure.” The others continued to glare viciously at me as they walked up to kiss the Queen’s ring and then they were gone and I was alone with the Queen and her Ladies.
“Such strangely colored skin...” said the lazy blond. “Why you look as though you’ve lived the whole of your life in the sun. So brown...like...”
“Honey.” I startled as another of the ladies, this one in a russet gown trimmed in cream, reached out to touch my bare arm.
“Yes...” the blond drawled. “That’s exactly right.”
“It’s not as dark as the western tribes or as red as the heathens to the north,” Nikki frowned at my arms. “No, not even in Hadryl where our people have mixed with them. You’d think Amia could be the product of such a union but their skin is so much redder, like clay pottery and hers is almost gold in comparison.” Murmurs of agreement rose from the further corners of the table.
“How now?” The Ladies started and there was a great crash of china against the table and wails of delight. “I return home and you’re all lounging in the sun instead waiting anxiously at the gate with everyone else.” The voice had come from directly behind me and startled me worse than the Ladies.
The face that matched the voice was the very picture of the Queen in youth. Their eyes were the same shape, but I could see distinct differences in their features. His nose was longer, thinner; his cheek bones higher, his blue eyes of a calmer sky than the Queen’s. It was obvious they were related somehow. His mouth, large and sensuous could betray his every emotion. He wasn’t as pale as the others, instead his skin was sun kissed with warmth. The wind stirred and rustled the flowers and the breezy air tasted of lavender and honeysuckle. I caught a faint taste of vanilla.
She’d smelled of vanilla, my mysterious she-knight, but I didn’t know her name. How would I find her now?
The man untied his cloak at the neck and draped it over his arm. His eyes never left my face and perhaps it was the sapphire hue of the doublet that intensified the color of his eyes for they shone with the autumn sunlight. He appraised me with heat in his eyes as they trailed down my skin, lingering on my bare flesh. I wanted him to know I didn’t appreciate that heat and let my own eyes trace the shape of him, lingering on the rounded shoulders brought to life in the tight-fitting jacket, the shapely hips in black breeches, and his well-muscled legs and ankles encased in black leather trimmed in fox fur. If his overt masculinity didn’t overshadow the feminine curve of his body, I would have thought he was a woman.
With a slight smirk I brought my eyes back to his and let him know in some silent way that I saw him for what he was and I wanted nothing to do with it. He grinned in a quick baring of teeth and I understood that he enjoyed the challenge. I rolled my eyes skyward.
Only seconds had passed since he’d come into the garden and no one had noticed our exchange, but now he was taking off his hat and I wanted to die.
Red curling hair. It was her—the she-knight! Oh, I could have melted into the stone at my feet and then I saw the blue sash cutting diagonally across her chest. It was trimmed in silver with small diamonds embedded at the top. The color drained from my face. Not only a knight! Royalty of some kind. Stunned, I fixed my eyes on her face and she was grinning, on the very edge of laughing outright. So this was the joke! It all made perfect sense to me now, the mischief in her eyes when we’d spoken earlier. Blood flooded my cold cheeks but the table had come alive now.
“Oh, Destiny!” the Queen shouted in delight, “welcome home, my child. Welcome home!”
Destiny, I thought as we stared at each other. The Queen had risen from the chair and launched herself into the she-knight princess’s arms.
I swooned.
The wall of empty black was a living thing, it fluttered and flexed and spilled and pulled back. It was a cloud of memories of a life I could not remember and in the brief hours since I’d waked, only a few meaningless words inspired that emptiness to release its secrets. In that dark corner of my mind, I could hear my own voice like a whisper in the night.
I’ll go to find my destiny.
I would have laughed if I wasn’t so mortified. I had refused the Princess’s advances! The entire notion was absurd but she stood before me dressed as a man. A princess dressed as a prince! How extraordinary, I mused as I continued to gaze at her. I couldn’t take in enough of her, surprised that I found the idea of a woman dressed as a man so stimulating.
“And who might this be?” she asked as her eyes trailed down my form once more. My skin flushed everywhere her eyes touched me, from my neck to my toes. I fought not to touch my lips. “Have you added yet another to the ranks? Pretty soon all the young women in Lesia will be your Lady-in-Waiting before the season’s out.”
I flushed with wide eyes and dropped in curtsy, head bowed in obeisance. “I crave your pardon, Majesty,” I said, “I am no Lady only your humble servant.”
“We’re so glad to have you back, Your Grace!” I stood near the table as the Princess was wrapped in several pairs of skinny white arms and smothered in red lipped kisses.
“You must tell us of your travels.” They clung to her even as she tried to step away. I couldn’t look at anything else and every time her eyes met mine a stab of feeling pierced my belly. I had to grip the edge of the table to keep from falling over. I felt weak beneath her gaze, faint even.
“What’s all this fuss about?” there was a deeper, rougher voice beyond the rose hedges and another figured appeared. He was about the same height as Princess Destiny, with pale, almost white, blonde hair and dark blue eyes. His dress mimicked the Princess’s though his doublet was emerald green instead of blue. He was as handsome as a Prince could be but also common with the same royal beauty that hung about these people. “So the Queen’s only child has returned. What about me?”
“Now, cousin,” chided the Princess, “you mustn’t be jealous that I receive more affection from these marvelous creatures than you.” The table again erupted in mirth but I could barely smile, dazed as I was.
“Ah, Darling,” said the Queen as she kissed the Prince’s cheeks, “I’ve missed you. Have you looked after my daughter?”
“Actually, Aunt Suzette,” he said as he joined the table, “it has been Destiny taking care of me.”
“He’s only saying that because I beat him.”
Noticing the table was a chair short, I rushed off to the atrium to get another. I returned to find one of the Queen’s Ladies sitting comfortably in Princess Destiny’s lap. When she saw me, she easily lifted the woman and stood. I set the chair beside the Queen and stepped away. Princess Destiny nodded her head to me in thanks and I watched, transfixed, as she whispered something in the Lady’s ear that made her blush. The Princess looked up then and caught my eye. She winked at me and a fist closed around my heart. To distract myself, I went to the cart.
“We meet again,” she whispered. The cart rattled as I shook, I hadn’t heard her come up behind me but I could feel her warm breath on my neck. “Wine for me, please.”
I nodded in acknowledgement of her request. Blushing, I bent down to reach the bottom of the cart. There was an assortment of liquids that I could distinguish by the shape and size of their bottles. The bottle with the wine was narrow and dark green. I could smell the leather of her shoes and a strange combination of wood smoke and vanilla. She stood by the cart as I filled her goblet, smiling at me, her blue eyes twinkling, her back to the table. I knew it was improper of me to stare at her, to look her fully in the eye but her gaze captured me, I couldn’t look away. I could think of nothing but her lips on mine.
“Amia?” The Queen’s voice startled me. I jumped and the bottle slipped from my hand and hit the cart. It didn’t shatter, as I feared it would, and I tried to catch it before it clanged to the ground but the mouth, chipped from hitting the side edge of the cart, sliced across my palm. I winced in fear and pain as the bottle bounced off my hand and tumbled to the stone. Princess Destiny caught it just before it shattered. She corked it and set it on the cart. Shaking, I curtsied, lowering my head so none would see me bite my lip. My palm burned and I squeezed my hand closed to numb the pain.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” I whispered.
“You’re bleeding,” she said suddenly. I could feel the wetness seeping from the folds of my palm and my hand throbbed painfully. I was more worried about punishment than a cut.
“It is nothing, Your Majesty,” I answered softly, “please forgive my carelessness. I am at your mercy.” It was silent for a lifetime and I tentatively looked up at her from under my lashes. A strange light filled her eyes then and I felt my body warm all over. Her lips half-turned in a playful smile and she stepped closer to me, too close. I leaned back despite myself and let out a small gasp as her hand caught the wrist of my wounded hand.
“It was only an accident; no need for mercy,” she murmured as she turned my hand. Her fingers were icy against my heated flesh and I was certain she could hear my heart thumping against my ribs. She retrieved a handkerchief from her pocket and gently dabbed at the blood. “There you are. It’s not as bad as I thought.” She tied the cloth around my hand tightly and patted the back of it.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” I remembered to say. Her eyes were the same color as the sky just before dawn with flecks of gold around the pupil...like stars across the morning sky. I blushed deeper as she leaned in closer.
“You must be new.”
“That she is,” offered Lady Nikki. Destiny turned her head. “I think you’ve startled Amia, Your Grace.”
She looked back to me. “Amia,” she repeated slowly. I loved the way the syllables rolled off her tongue. My skin felt alive where she held it and her eyes were so blue...so fathomless. Her own face was flushed with a radiant glow. She patted my hand and said, “well, I must say, I do have that effect on women.” She released me as the others laughed.
“To get her more accustomed to your effect,” the Prince elbowed her as she passed him, “perhaps Amia should serve as Destiny’s attendant?”
My head snapped up. Attendant? What was that? I was relieved to see the mirth on the Prince’s face.
“Now that you’ve mentioned it,” smiled the Queen to my dismay, “I think Amia would do very well as Destiny’s maidservant.”
“No, I can take care of myself. Four years away from the castle has taught me at least that much. I don’t need an attendant—” The Queen had raised a hand to stop her daughter’s protests.
“Nonsense, all of it,” she said, “a Royal Heir with no attendant. It’s unheard of.” She turned to me with eyes as hard as iron. “Take good care of my daughter, young lady. She’s going to be Sovereign one day soon.” Eyes wide, I curtsied before the Queen. Her Ladies commenced to speak at once, pestering the Princess for tales of her travels, if she had seen the frozen northern sea or if she’d gone west over the desert lands. I was fascinated by her, at the way she petulantly sulked as she glared fixedly at the table, ignoring the questions and flattery. She looked up and caught me, quickly I dropped my gaze and turned back to the cart to busy myself. It was a relief to break the hold her eyes had over me, though I could now feel them on me. The Queen’s servant was standing on the walkway. She beckoned to me and I crossed the small lawn to her shadowed figure.
As I drew near, twin maids hurried down the walk to take my place. The Queen’s servant reached for my hands and pulled me back into the castle.
“My name is Brianne,” she hardly spoke above a murmur. “I’m Queen Suzette’s attendant. As the Princess has never had an attendant before, I’ll do my best to help you.”
“Thank you,” I told her gratefully. She shook her head minutely as she walked in a rapid pace back through the atrium and into the paneled hall.
“Your success betters the monarchy,” she quipped. “You are now Her Grace’s companion, you oversee her chambers, her wardrobe, her meals. You are her lady’s maid, her errand girl. Her wish is your command, do you understand?”
“Yes,” I answered. Brianne turned her head to look at my face as I struggled to keep up with her.
“Very well, we’ll see how you’ll do.” She turned sharply to the right and pressed through a door into a soaring library full of leather tomes and scrolls. The high walls were paned glass, shining with light. Through them I saw what could only be the sprawling city of Lesia. Brianne tugged my wrist to draw my attention and handed over a gilded metal key. “This is the key to Princess Destiny’s apartments. She resides in the east wing. Get whatever trinkets you possess from the maid’s quarters, I’ll meet you at the grand stair to take you to the Princess’s chambers.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I held the key in a tight fist, staring at her with my heart pounding against my ribs. Her hard expression softened and she glanced out of the windows.
“It’s no easy job,” she murmured almost absently, “but the Princess is hardly cruel or cold. Be attentive, become her friend and serve her well. I’ve watched over her since she was a babe.” She closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. “Now go,” she said. “get your things.”