“We need to see the queen-to-be,” he said bluntly.
Lady Beata, the most senior of Eloisa’s band of ladies, stepped forward and frowned. “The Domina is with her now.”
“I’m sure the Domina will be pleased to see Lady Sophia returned to Kingswell. After all, today is her Ais-Seann.”
Lady Beata’s mouth flew open; then her bejeweled hand flew up to cover it. The jet and pearl and onyx rings glittered darkly in the lamplight. “I had forgotten.” Her eyes—an unusual dark brown nearly as black as the rings that had won her many admirers in the court—narrowed at Sophie. “Sophie, did you develop—”
“That is a matter for the Domina and the queen-to-be,” Cameron said. “Will you let us pass?”
The queen-to-be’s bedchamber was darker than Sophie was used to, the velvet curtains drawn, the light coming from flickering candles and small oil lamps. Normally there would be earth-light globes brightening the dimness to supplement the candles, but with so many injured, presumably none of the temple priors and devouts, nor the royal witches, were wasting power on such things.
The lighting was brightest around the bed itself, though there were too many people surrounding the bed for Sophie to be able to see Eloisa herself. She could make out the figure of Domina Skey, purely because she was dressed in deep earth-brown temple robes, red hair coiled around her head as she bent over the bed. Everyone else in the room wore black.
Cameron approached the bed, and the Domina looked up. And then right past him, directly at Sophie.
“Lady Sophia,” she said, surprise lighting her face as she straightened. Then her golden brown eyes widened. “You manifested, I see.”
There was little to say to that. Sophie could see a glow around the Domina and a fainter version of that same light surrounding those of Eloisa’s ladies who had some power. She assumed the Domina could see the same coming from her, even if she hadn’t noticed anything herself. Maybe you couldn’t see your own power. She nodded politely. “Yes, Lady Domina.”
“Then we don’t have time to lose,” the Domina said. She passed the glass bottle she held to the nearest lady-in-waiting.
“Sophie?” A weak voice came from behind the Domina. Weak but unmistakably Eloisa’s. Sophie pushed forward so that she could see the princess. She reached the edge of the bed in a rush, almost shouldering the last of the ladies-in-waiting who stood in her way aside to reach the inner circle nearest the bed.
“I’m here, Your Highness,” Sophie said, then bit her lip, realizing she’d gotten the title wrong. But right now her brain refused to provide the correct title for a queen who hadn’t been crowned. She was too busy trying not to stare at Eloisa herself.
Half the princess’s head was swathed in bandages, and any skin that remained uncovered was bruised and swollen, livid purples and angry reds marring the pale flesh. Eloisa’s arms, which were the only part of her on view below her neck, due to the sheets covering her, were also bandaged down to the fingertips.
What had happened to her? The injuries were obviously severe if she still looked so bad after being attended by the Domina. Domina Skey held her position by way of being the strongest of the temple witches. She was also the most skilled healer in the country. And yet the princess looked like she had been freshly beaten.
“Sophie,” the princess said again, and one side of her mouth lifted slightly, or Sophie thought it did. It was hard to tell with the swelling distorting Eloisa’s lips.
“Lady Sophia needs to come with me to the temple,” Domina Skey said firmly. “And you need to rest, milady.”
“Lady Sophia is in my charge,” Cameron interjected.
The Domina looked at him as though she’d only just noticed he was there. And wasn’t well pleased to discover his presence. “And you have fulfilled your charge, Lieutenant. The lady will be safe with me.”
Cameron’s face twisted as though he wanted to argue.
“Let her go,” Eloisa said. Cameron turned to the bed, and Sophie saw his face drop into its stony mask as he studied Eloisa. From which Sophie inferred that he was as horrified as she had been by Eloisa’s injuries. He seemed to have forgotten anyone else was in the room as he stared down at her.
The Domina took advantage of his inattention and beckoned to Sophie. “Come. There are things to be done.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Domina whisked Sophie through the palace halls out to one of the stable yards. On the way, they’d collected a squad of Red Guard, who’d jumped to do the Domina’s bidding when she barked a command to accompany them. The speed at which they did so made Sophie wonder just who was in charge of the palace with Eloisa recuperating.
Time enough to worry about that. Right now she had bigger things on her plate. Like the forthcoming Ais-Seann rites. She turned back to the palace, looking the way they’d come just before the Domina hustled her into the waiting carriage. As the door closed behind her, Sophie realized that she’d been hoping to see Cameron coming after her.
But no. Apparently that had been foolish. Cameron was staying with his queen-to-be. She’d tried to tell herself that it was his duty to do so, but she couldn’t help feeling somewhat bereft. She’d grown used to his presence these last few days, and then there was the inconvenient thing that had sparked to life between them with the ley line and the . . . No, she wasn’t going to think that particular thing when she was rattling slowly over Kingswell’s cobbled roads in a carriage whose only other occupant was the Domina of all of Anglion.