| |
At the castle gate, I dismounted and passed Adaleiz’s reins to Gideon, who had offered to make a place for the horses in the empress’s stables. I made my way to our rooms where I found Marlis lounging before an empty fireplace with a book and a tray of tea and sandwiches. With summer on the way, we required no fires to warm the rooms, but the setting was cozy regardless of the time of year. “You almost missed lunch,” she said with her nose still buried in her book. “The tea has gone cold, too.”
I chuckled. “Palace life suits you, Marlis.”
She looked up at me and grinned. “Indeed.” She closed her book, careful to keep a finger between the pages to mark her place. Her expression hardened. “Everything’s all right with you and my brother now?”
I nodded. “He’s seeing to the horses.”
“That means he found you, I guess.”
“Yes, at the circus on the edge of town.”
She sat straighter and blinked. “There was a circus, and no one told me?”
I sank into a seat beside her, studied the selection of sandwiches arranged on the lunch tray, and chose one stuffed with thin slices of roast beef. My stomach growled. “We couldn’t have afforded it before. And now it’s dangerous to be out in the open.”
She wrinkled her nose and turned to her book. “Otokar was just here. He said the empress wants you and Gideon to join her in her private chambers this evening. He said there’ll be games and music. She wants you to meet her sister. I told him you’d be delighted.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. The meek girl I’d met at Lord Daeg’s estate was vanishing, and that young woman had grown a bit of an independent streak. Good. I may depend on her counsel, someday. She had the potential to be my perfect foil. Where Gideon and I tended toward hotheadedness and impulsivity, Marlis was a steadfast anchor—cool and composed—keeping us grounded. “You did?”
“He also said there would be torte.” She peered over the top of her book. “Chocolate torte.”
My mouth watered. “I guess we’ll have to make ourselves presentable. How are you with hair tongs?”
“I used to arrange Lady Daeg’s hair for her.” She cocked her head to the side. “Time for me to earn my keep?”
“If you don’t mind.”
She set down her book again and met my gaze. “Evie, I’d curl your hair for a thousand years if you asked me. You got me and my brother away from Lord Daeg, and I can never repay you for that.”
I pursed my lips and sniffed. “That’s not how I remember it. Seems to me that you made up your mind to leave yourself.”
“I would have never had the courage to do it if you hadn’t led the way.”
“You owe me nothing, Marlis. I don’t hold debts against people I care about.”
“Still, I’ll curl your hair, gladly. I’d do it simply because we’re friends.”
I smiled. “In my experience, friends are rare commodities. I need as many as I can get.”
***
“I’ve noticed they like to eat around here,” I muttered to Gideon as we approached the door leading to Tereza’s private chambers. Marlis had dusted his coat, and he’d combed his hair, leaving it loose to fall over his shoulders. My fingers itched to touch it, to wind a finger through the pale streak at his temple. Instead, I cleared my throat. “Everything seems to revolve around food.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “You’re complaining? After almost starving for the last few weeks?”
“Not complaining, merely stating an observation.”
“Marlis said there would be torte.”
I snickered. “You too, Gideon?”
“What?” A grin tugged at his lips. “I can’t be excited about chocolate?”
“Nothing would thrill me more than to see you excited about something other than berating me.”
He took my hand and folded it into the crook of his arm as we reached the footman who bowed before opening Tereza’s door. Gideon lowered his voice and leaned close. “But berating you is my most favorite pastime.”
“Evie!” the empress exclaimed as we stepped through the doorway. She rose from her seat, a huge sofa upholstered in umber velveteen. Her turquoise gown glowed like a gem against her olive skin. “You look divine.”
I glanced at my simple gray silk dress. “Do I?”
“Of course.” She crossed the room, gathered my hands together, and squeezed. “I am so, em, delighted you are here. Come. Let me introduce you.”
Tereza tugged me forward. A girl several years younger than me, but with Tereza’s coloring and bone structure, rose from her seat and dropped in a neat bow. Instead of the empress’s complicated coiffeur, the girl wore her hair in a thick black braid trailing over her shoulder, hanging nearly to her ribs. Rather than a gown, she wore a pair of elegant black trousers and a velvet waistcoat dyed a deep bloody red.
A girl after my own heart. I glanced at my own dress and frowned.
“My sister.” Tereza gestured to the girl. “Karolina.”
I ducked into a curtsey, but when I came up, the girl’s attention had shifted somewhere behind me, and a furious blush blazed in her cheeks. “Hello, Gideon.”
Tereza huffed, pinched her sister’s shoulder, and stomped her foot. “You’re standing before a queen, Karolina. Show your respect.”
Biting my lips so I wouldn’t gape at them or laugh, I stepped aside, turning to observe Karolina and Gideon at the same time. “I take it the two of you have already met?”
Gideon’s gaze darted away, landing on an empty space unoccupied by curious women. He cleared his throat and tucked his hair behind his ear. “The lady is a frequent visitor at the stables.” His expression soured. “But she failed to mention she was the princess.”
Karolina rolled her eyes. “Where’s the fun in that?” She spoke Inselgrish comfortably, and her Bonhemmish accent was nearly imperceptible.
Tereza’s mouth thinned into a strained line. “You live to, em, torment me. Evie, is this the right word? Torment?”
I chuckled. “Yes, I think, so. Gideon’s purpose in life is similar. He enjoys annoying me as well.”
My companion sniffed and shifted his weight. I ignored him and scanned the room, which was paneled in pale oak and filled with bookshelves, a billiards table, a pianoforte, and a green felted games table. “Is Otokar not joining us?” I asked.
“He will be here shortly. He had work to finish in his laboratory.” Tereza motioned to the room, gesturing at all it encompassed. “In the meantime, which do you prefer? Music, or games?”
I glanced at Gideon, noting how his attention had settled on the felted table. “I’m not much good with musical instruments,” I said.
“You sing, though,” Gideon said. “I’ve heard you.”
My eyes popped wide. “You have?”
“You used to sing to yourself all the time at Fallstaff.” He winked. “You have a nice voice.”
I tugged at the bodice of my dress, which had suddenly grown tight and hot. “How about a game? We can talk and play at the same time.” I narrowed my eyes at Gideon. “And no one will be put on the spot.”
“I adore prist,” Karolina said, already taking a seat at the table. “Does anyone else know how to play?”
Gideon cleared his throat. “It’s typically not a lady’s game.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t care much for the things that are typical for a lady.”
“You and Evie should be great friends, then. You both harbor such similar philosophies.”
Crossing the room, I joined Karolina at the table and scowled at Gideon. I’d heard of prist. It was a betting game popular in gambling dens. “I don’t know the rules, but I’m suddenly very interested. You wouldn’t mind teaching me, Karolina?”
The princess let loose a mischievous grin, wagging her eyebrows as she opened a box packed with a collection of oblong white tiles about the same length as the first two joints of my index finger. Colorful dots adorned either end of each tile. “Sure, I don’t mind. But remember...” She stacked the tiles with expert, nimble fingers. “You asked for it.”
With a dramatic sigh, Tereza crossed the room and dropped into a chair across from mine. “Highly improper,” she muttered.
Karolina dealt the tiles, one at a time, around the table. “Proper is boring.”
Gideon eased into his seat and caught my attention. He raised an eyebrow.
“She’s right,” I said. “Proper is boring.”
Tereza’s sullenness disappeared and she laughed. “Who torments whom, Evie?”
“Well....” I grinned. “Perhaps I can give as well as I can take.”
Otokar arrived after Karolina explained the rules and we had played several hands. He’d brought the promised chocolate torte, and after a momentary dessert break, we returned to the gaming table. The Magician took Tereza’s place, and the empress played tunes on the pianoforte, some old and somber, some new and upbeat. Karolina ordered coffee and digestifs, and we drank and gambled until my head swam.
“Have you been to the circus?” Karolina asked as she dealt tiles for another round. I eyed my dwindling pile of betting chips and my nearly empty brandy and wondered how much longer I could last, both in the game and in sobriety. “I went for the matinee show yesterday with my friend, Kazi.”
“Was it wonderful?” I asked, wishing I had the time and means to attend.
“The aerialists were all right, I suppose.” She scrunched her nose. “No trick riders though. What’s a circus without trick riders?”
“Trick riders?”
She arranged her face into a beleaguered expression, as though my question annoyed her. “Did you live in a closet all your life, Evie? Trick riders, you know, riding a horse while standing on its back, or standing on two horses at once. That sort of thing.”
I blinked at her wide-eyed. “Two horses at once?”
She nodded. “One foot on each horse’s back. I saw it once, at a show in Pisha. I would be a fabulous trick rider, wouldn’t I, Gideon? You’ve seen what Mika and I can do.”
My attention cut to the solemn young man beside me. He glanced up from his tiles, mouth slightly open, brow furrowed. “What have I seen?”
She batted her lashes at him. “You’ve seen how well I ride. Mika and I would make a wonderful circus act.”
In the rear of the room, Tereza plunked a heavy dissonant cord and we all flinched. “Karolina, stop being, em, směšný.” She snapped her fingers at Otokar and he translated: “Ridiculous.”
“Yes, ridiculous.” Her brow and mouth creased into a series of sour lines. “A princess as a spectacle in a common show.” She shook her head and her black curls bobbed.
“I would perform incognito, of course.” The princess raised her chin and sniffed. “No one would know who I was.”
“You talk of foolishness.”
“Sometimes it’s fun to be a little foolish.” Karolina’s gaze settled on my companion again. “Don’t you agree, Gideon?”
He squinted at her as if studying a new animal specimen, and I choked down a giggle. “Some of us don’t have that luxury,” he grumbled.
She rolled her eyes. “How unfortunate.”
Otokar broke in, setting down two tiles and sliding them toward Karolina. “Deal two more for me. I need to win the next hand, or I will be out of the game for good.”
She pursed her lips as though she’d sucked on a lemon, but she took his tiles and dealt out another pair. The rest of the table organized our tiles and made our bets. Our conversation shifted to gameplay, and none of us talked further of the imprudence of princesses wishing to be something other than what they were.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, Gideon won enough chips at the end of the hand to bankrupt Otokar and me. Pushing away from the table, he scratched the stubble along his jaw and glanced my way. He caught me yawning and rubbing my eyes. “I’m calling it quits,” he said.
Karolina harrumphed. “While you’re ahead?”
“Isn’t that the best time?”
“I nearly caught you in that last round.” She pressed her lips into a pretty pout. “You simply don’t want to risk the embarrassment of losing.”
“Perhaps it’s you I’m saving from embarrassment. Another round and I might have taken everything you had.”
“That doesn’t sound like an entirely horrible prospect.” Karolina leaned forward, balancing her chin in her palm, elbow resting on the table top. She contemplated him through half-lidded eyes, and something sour and acidic rose inside me.
Gideon glanced at me again. I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms over my chest, waiting. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Are you ready to go, Evie? Or do you wish to stay a little longer?”
If it meant watching him squirm, I might have chosen to stay. But my eyelids had grown so heavy I could barely hold them open, and my bladder demanded attention. I pushed back my chair and rose on unsteady feet. Karolina’s cocktails swam through my head and stomach like slithering eels, and the room spun. I clutched my chair as I dipped into a shaky curtsey. “If you’ll excuse us, Tereza. I think the late hour has gotten the best of me.”
“Sure it wasn’t the brandy?” Karolina muttered.
I ignored her. Petty girl.
The bleary-eyed empress, who still sat at the pianoforte, smiled at me. Her impeccable posture had slipped, and she slumped over the keyboard. “But you did have fun, yes?”
I nodded. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed like that. Or had cake like that. I could eat torte every day for a year and never get tired of it.”
She gave a tired smile and waggled her fingers at me. “Ask, and I will make it happen.”
I stepped closer to Gideon, who had also risen from his seat. “You’d spoil me, and I’d be good for nothing.”
“Queens are made to be spoiled.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Gideon said, dropping into a graceful, stately bow. The drinks and late hour obviously had no adverse effect on him. He straightened and set a hand at the small of my back. His touch sent an electric current buzzing through me I hadn’t felt since the last time the lightning responded to me. “Your hospitality has been most gracious. Thank you for including us.”
The empress waved off his thanks. “I hope evenings like tonight might become a regular, em, custom. The castle had been quiet for far too long.”
Gideon dipped another bow toward the gaming table. “Good night, Otokar, Karolina.”
The Magician flicked a finger at his brow in a salutatory gesture, but Karolina only scowled and clutched a tile between her fingers as though she meant to snap it in half.
“Good night, everyone,” I said, as we swept into the hallway.
When the footman closed Tereza’s door behind us, I leaned close to Gideon and whispered. “Karolina’s very fond of you, and she’s not at all pleased with me for diverting your attention.”
A dimple appeared in his cheek. “Jealous?”
Perhaps it was the drinks, or the weeks of being cooped up with him on the road and in close quarters that defeated my typical reticence. I took his hand and traced the long line in his palm. He stuttered to a stop in the middle of the hallway, his attention locked on our hands and the path my finger drew across his skin. “What if I said I was?”
His head jerked up, and he gave me a sharp look. “Don’t be coy, Evie. It’s not like you.”
“I’m not a flirt.” I screwed my lips into a sour pucker. “You know me better than that.”
“You’re frank and plainspoken.” His expression softened, and he buffed his knuckles across my cheek. “It’s rare and possibly your best feature.”
“My plain speech is my best feature? You’ve said the words every girl dreams of hearing.”
“Would you rather I speak of your beauty?” He stepped forward, his focus intent. I stepped back, maintaining the distance between us. “Of your figure?”
“I hate it when you tease me.”
Again, he stepped closer, and again I retreated. Ours was a slow, laborious dance lacking rhythm and grace. “You started it.”
I blinked at him and paused. “I did, didn’t I?”
“You never answered my question, Evie.”
As I stared into his granite-colored eyes, I gave him utter honesty. “I was.” Although I suspected he already knew the answer, he flinched as though it surprised him. “And I don’t like feeling that way. Jealousy’s a petty, useless emotion.”
In a blink, he closed the distance between us and leaned into me before I could step away. He kept his hands at his sides, leaving me free to run if I wished. Half of me did wish to flee, the other half wanted him to lock me in his arms. “You’re afraid of losing me?” he asked.
“I—” I swallowed. “I think, more than anything, I realized how much I take your loyalty for granted.”
“Yes, you do.” His voice was low and gruff. “But if you’re not taking me for granted, I’m not doing my job right.” He raised one hand and slowly, ever so slowly, his fingers cupped my jaw. His eyes seemed to swirl like a stormy ocean. “I want you to trust me so implicitly that you never have to think about it.”
For a moment, time froze and the world teetered on its axis. But then my stomach rumbled, an uneasy, noxious flutter. Cold sweat rose on the backs of my knees. I blinked and stumbled away, pressing my hand against my mouth as though it might hold back the contents of my stomach.
Concern flashed across his face. “Evie, what’s wrong?”
I spun and dashed down the hallway, sprinting toward our rooms in the opposite end of the castle. My stomach rolled over again, and bile surged up my throat. I’m not going to make it... not going to make it....
After bursting through the door into our apartment, I stumbled into the lavatory as horrible retching twisted my stomach. I fell to my knees before the toilet, my stomach clenched, and I heaved.
“Evie?” Gideon asked, his tone frantic.
I kicked the lavatory door closed in his worried face and bent over to vomit again. He banged on the door. “Are you all right?”
“Does it sound like it?”
“Let me help.”
“Gods no! Go away. I’ll be fine.” Maybe.
“Evie.”
“I drank too much. Let me suffer in peace.”
“Let me get Marlis, at least.”
“Fine.”
Moments later, Gideon’s gentle sister joined me in the lavatory, patting my face with a damp rag as I emptied the last of my stomach’s contents. Slumping to my rear, I leaned against the wall. “I’m sorry I didn’t add dealing with a drunk queen on your list of lady-in-waiting duties.”
Marlis looked young and innocent in her white sleeping gown and loose hair. She was young and innocent. I vowed to do what it took to keep her that way.
“You’re not the first sick person I’ve cared for, Evie.”
“My nurse, Gerda, used to tend to me when I was unwell, but she was like a mother. You, however....” I let my head fall against the wall, and I closed my eyes. “You’re like a little sister. It doesn’t seem right.”
She made a rough sound in her throat and stroked the damp cloth over my face again. “I take it you had a good time tonight?”
“Up until a moment ago, yes.”
“Overindulged a bit?”
“That’s putting it nicely.”
“I know just the remedy. I’ll send Gideon to fetch the proper herbs.”
“Good. It’ll give him something to do other than pace outside like an anxious bull.”
“He’s worried.”
I pried open one eye and peered at her. “He’s always worried. Tell him I’m not going to die, but I might be a little under the weather for a bit.”
She chuckled. “He won’t let you forget this, you know.”
I grimaced. “Like he needed more ammunition against me.”
After Gideon returned with the herbs Marlis requested, she made a stiff and bitter tea. I choked it down and let her put me to bed. “Good night,” I muttered. “And thank you.”
“Pshaw.” She blew out the candles. “It’s what I’m here for.”
Darkness fell like curtains at the end of a play, and I slept the night through without dreaming.
