The next day a wooden box arrived for me, delivered by a footman from the palace. He placed it reverently into my hands, ignoring the curious looks of Alle, who had answered the knock on the shop door, and Derda, who had accompanied me. Then he bowed, as though I were a great lady, and left.
At Alle’s urging, I set the box down on the long counter and opened it. Inside, on a velvet cushion, was a necklace of freshwater pearls. No, three necklaces of freshwater pearls. They had been twisted together in the classic fashion, and were held by a jasper clasp. One strand was faintly golden, another almost blue, and the third blush-coloured.
“There’s a note!” Alle was jumping up and down with excitement. “Read the note!”
I picked up the square of heavy linen paper and unfolded it. It was from Prince Luka. I had suspected as much, but it was strangely thrilling to see his small, neat handwriting.
Dear Creel:
The slippers are giving me more trouble than I would have guessed. Sorry. I thought these might look good with your gown, though. Best of luck, if I don’t see you before the ball.
Luka
“What is this?” Derda’s voice was sharp in my ear. She hadn’t even pretended not to read over my shoulder. “You didn’t tell the prince about your slippers, did you?”
“Of course I did,” I retorted. “Luka is my friend, and he asked me why I was upset.”
“By the Boiling Sea!” Derda hissed, grabbing my elbow and giving me a little shake. “Don’t stir up trouble where there’s already trouble in the works! That princess is spoiling for a reason to break off the betrothal, and if this sets her off, there could be war!”
“What?” I gaped at her.
“Don’t pretend to be stupid. If I’d thought you were a fool I never would have hired you. What did you think when you heard of the curfew, and the stories of attacks on Roulaini in the streets? If the younger son takes sides against the Roulaini just because he likes your eyes, the Triunity alone knows what could happen!”
“Should I give the necklace back?” I longed to keep it, but if what Derda said was true maybe it would be better if I didn’t.
“No, don’t offend him. Just stop maundering on about those thrice be-damned slippers!”
“Yes, Derda.” I bowed my head meekly.
“Now, put your pretty gift away and get to work! It’s not the ball yet, and you still work for me!”
I took the box upstairs and hid it under my pillow, thinking that if Larkin laid a finger on it, I would be forced to throttle her. I didn’t think even Derda would hold it against me if that were to happen.
While we sewed that day, the other girls talked nonstop about the necklace. None of them, it seemed, had ever received such an expensive gift. And they certainly had never got a present from a member of the royal family!
“That’s not true,” I pointed out, when Alle said this. “You and Marta both got books from Prince Luka the other day when we met him and Prince Miles shopping.”
“Oh, books are all very well,” Marta said, giving me a sly look. “But I think I would much rather have a triple strand of pearls. To honour the Triune Gods, of course,” she said piously.
The others burst into laughter, while I turned red and hot and applied myself studiously to my work. This dress would have long spears of gladiolus, much like my old handkerchief, running up the skirt.
“Oh, so modest, are we?” Alle waited until Derda had gone into the shop to retrieve something, then threw a spool of thread at me. “It’s no wonder dear Prince Luka fancies you.”
My face went even redder and hotter, if that were possible. Then Larkin spoke, and my blood turned to ice in my veins.
“Perhaps Creel is simply disappointed,” she said in a sly voice.
“Disappointed?” Alle stared at her. “Are you mad?”
Larkin smiled. “Disappointed because she wishes it were coloured glass, and not pearls,” she said without looking up.
“What did you say?” It was hard to force the words through my numb lips.
“What are you talking about, Larkin?” Marta put down her work. “Why would Creel want fake jewels?”
“Not fake jewels. Stained-glass windows, like the patterns she embroiders,” Larkin clarified in her mild voice. “The most beautiful windows to have ever graced chapel or palace, gathered together into one magnificent hoard.” She put heavy emphasis on the last word.
“Have you run mad?” Marta stared at Larkin, not understanding what the other girl was saying. Alle was also staring, mouth open in silent confusion.
“How could you know?” It was all I could say. I was still so very cold, my hands wrapped in the silk of the skirt I was embroidering, crumpling the costly fabric. “How could you know?”
“You’re not the only one who has found favour with the royals,” she purred, and pulled up her grey sleeve to reveal a bracelet of gold filigree.
“Roulaini goldwork,” Marta said, her voice flat. “What did you have to steal to get that? Or was it your reward for giving Creel’s shoes to that horrid brat of a princess?”
“Shardas,” I whispered.
“A magnificent animal, from what I have heard,” Larkin agreed. “Did you know, Marta, that it takes only a few hours to get from the New Palace to Rath Forest, as the dragon flies? Or so dear Princess Amalia has just told me.”
Without thinking I picked up the long shears sitting on the table beside me and, grabbing one of Larkin’s braids before she could flinch away, I cut it off, very neatly, at the nape of her neck.
“What are you doing?” Derda had come back and looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
Looking at the plait in my hand, I thought perhaps I had. I dropped the hair and the shears on the table.
“I quit,” I said in a voice that was surely too calm to be my own.
“Caxon’s bones, girl,” Derda said, hurrying to put her arm around Larkin’s shoulders. The crippled girl was clutching at her shorn hair and weeping. “What have you done?”
“She deserved it,” Marta said staunchly.
“I didn’t do anything!” Larkin said, glaring at us through her tears.
“I will not work side by side with a spy and a traitor,” I said in that same calm voice.
“Mind your tongue! That’s a serious accusation,” Derda snapped.
“It’s the truth.” I thought of Shardas and bile rose in my throat. “It’s the truth.” I glared back at Larkin.
“Larkin has worked for me for ten years, since she was only a slip of a girl,” Derda said in a high, angry voice. “And you, you country bumpkin, come here and in two months you set out to ruin me!”
Without replying, I went to the large clothes press where the gowns in progress were kept. I pulled out the gold gown and wrapped it in cheesecloth. Marta had followed me, and she pulled out a basket full of the roses that I had cut off the gown.
“They’re yours,” she pointed out, her expression daring anyone to argue with her. “Maybe we can find a use for them sometime. And these are yours, too.” She hefted the basket of embroidery silks she had purchased from Derda and the paper-wrapped packet of candles Ihad bought.
Nodding, I went up the narrow stairs to the small room I had shared with Marta and Alle. I packed my small bundle of things: my belt loom, my book, my old country gown and sandals, a wooden comb, a set of whalebone knitting needles, and Luka’s pearls. It was a pitiful summation of my life, made even more pitiful by the fact that it fitted easily into the basket of discarded roses, with room for the candles as well. Marta put my carefully folded and wrapped gown in the other basket, with the embroidery silks, and walked with me to the door of the shop.
“Where will you go?”
“Ulfrid’s inn,” I replied, having just that moment thought of it. The sun was setting, and guardsmen would soon begin enforcing the curfew.
“Finish the gown there,” Marta said, her voice barely above a whisper. Derda was standing a few paces away, glaring. “Go to the Merchants’ Ball, like you planned. I still want to be your partner. You have a true gift.” And she gave me a quick hug.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling awkward, and not just because I had a heavy basket hanging from each hand. I looked over her shoulder at Derda, but could think of nothing to say. I turned on my heel and left.