Twenty

 

The sweet princess with the expressive eyes just wouldn't give up. Again and again, she asked him about his home until he wanted to scream the truth for all of them to hear. The village bathed in blood, the smell of burned bodies and Dokia...Dokia...

Vasco downed his wine and pushed away from the table. He staggered out of the room, clamping his mouth shut to keep the horrors in. Like Gerel, she did not need his nightmares. They were his alone.

Speaking of nightmares, it was time to give in to his once more. He'd worked hard all day before walking up to the palace, and he could scarcely keep his eyes open. But he didn't know where his bed might be – if he even had one.

Vasco headed for the kitchen. Surely someone there would know where he was billeted.

He met Gerel on her way back to the kitchen, carrying a tray of half-eaten food.

"Serving the Lord Steward?" he asked, nodding at the scraps.

She nodded. "He takes his meals in his rooms."

"Too good for the company of princesses?" Vasco said.

Gerel reddened. "Actually, I believe they refuse to eat with him. The Lord Steward is not well liked." She pressed her lips together, as if she wished she could unsay her words.

"What about the princesses? Are they well liked?"

Gerel managed a nervous smile. "They are princesses. The king's beautiful daughters. You can't help but admire them, even if we see them so little. They spend most of their time abed, but when they are awake, they are not unkind."

Not unkind. What a thing to say about someone, let alone her mistresses. Better than not well liked, though. "What of the pale one who is fairer than the others?" he demanded.

"The Princess Bianca? She is our most recent arrival, only a few weeks ago." Gerel's expression brightened. "But I have seen more of her than her sisters combined. They sleep, while she rises early. Sometimes, she even enters the kitchen to ask for things. The way she speaks to you, looking in your eyes like she really sees you, and not just some invisible servant to be ordered about...such a small thing, but it truly sets her apart from the others. She likes to ride or walk down by the lake, and she takes a basket of provisions with her so she can stay out of the house for longer."

Remembering the time he'd seen her at Kun's cottage, Vasco asked, "Where does she ride to?"

Gerel shrugged. "Wherever she pleases, I am sure. She is a princess, and all the land around belongs to her father, the king. Who would dare stop her?"

Who indeed. "Do you know anything about this mystery with the shoes?" he said.

Gerel shook her head. "No more than you. That is why you sleep in the maid's room off their bedchamber, and not one of us."

He had a place to sleep. Vasco grasped at the idea. "Can you show me where?" he asked urgently.

"Of course. I have already placed your things there. You left them in the kitchen." Gerel glanced down. "Let me just take this tray to the kitchen, and I will show you up."

Gerel returned a moment later, beckoning Vasco to follow her.

Tapestries lined the walls here, too, but they were not as grand as the ones outside the Lord Steward's rooms. They looked too old and faded to be the princesses' own work.

The décor didn't improve when they entered the princesses' receiving chamber. If anything, the walls were even more bare here, for the room held only a few benches and little else. The girls did not spend much time here.

Gerel gestured toward an open door at the other end of the chamber. This new room was full of beds – a dozen to be precise. All the princesses slept in the same room, which had a row of small windows, but only the one door in or out. Perhaps they danced around their audience chamber and that's why there was no furniture to speak of. Mystery solved.

"Your bed is there." Gerel pointed at an alcove just outside the door to the princesses' bedchamber. It contained a straw pallet and some hooks that now held his meagre belongings. "You have the most beautiful cloak."

Vasco glanced at Kun's gift. In truth, the thick, black wool was better quality than anything he'd ever owned, but much like tonight's fancy clothes, he hadn't been able to refuse it. He didn't have to sleep in silk, though. But Gerel should go before he undressed.

"I wish to retire now," he said.

It took Gerel a moment before she understood. Then she coloured. "Of course. In the morning, when you wish to break your fast, come down to the kitchen. We have orders to serve you in the dining chamber with the princesses, but they rise so late that you might wish for something earlier." She bobbed on the spot, as if she'd almost curtsied to him before remembering she didn't need to, and hurried off.

Vasco peeled off the black silk fripperies the Lord Steward had made him wear, and donned one of his own worn tunics. Much more comfortable, he stretched out on his bed and almost instantly fell asleep.