FIVE
WE WEREN’T TWO steps out the office door when a tall brunette and slim blonde stopped us, a duckling trail of maids at their heels.
The ladies were not much older than Melanie and me, but the brunette held herself as though she owned the palace. Her air of assurance faltered only a breath as she glanced from Melanie to me and back.
It was the blonde who spoke first, her voice warm and welcoming. “You must be the two Liadian ladies who just arrived.”
The servant escorting us stepped in to make introductions. “Lady Julianna Whitman, Lady Melanie Cole, this is Lady Meredith Corcoran, House of the Unicorn, Duchess of Lakeside, and Lady Chey Chuter, House of the Sea, Countess of Two Rivers City.”
“Pleased to meet you.” I performed a quick curtsy, and Melanie followed. “Thank you for your kind welcome.”
Lady Meredith, the blonde, stepped forward and took one of my hands in both of hers. “The pleasure is ours. We’re just so happy you were able to make it here.”
A cloyingly sweet scent, like honeysuckle, enveloped me as Lady Chey moved next to her friend and took in our dirty, weary appearances. “When we heard two Liadian ladies had arrived at the gates, I couldn’t believe it. Lady Julianna Whitman. Your presence is indeed welcome here.”
Lady Meredith cast a guileless smile. “You’ll have to attend tomorrow night’s ball, of course.”
Surprise flitted across Lady Chey’s face, but she concealed it quickly. “Of course, Your Grace. I will make arrangements. It will be good for you to meet new people, especially if you’re going to be staying in Skyvale Palace. Do you have gowns?”
I glanced pointedly at my limp bag and the filthy dress I wore. Did it look like we’d brought ball gowns?
Lady Meredith gasped. “Look at them. They’ve been through a horrible ordeal, Chey. Why would you even ask if they brought gowns?”
“Oh.” Lady Chey touched her lips. “I suppose they have nothing at all.”
Fantasies tickled the back of my mind: I could make her perfume come to life and suffocate her, or ask her dress to coil around her and constrict until she couldn’t breathe. Anything to make her stop talking.
“We’ll send a pair of gowns to your quarters,” Lady Chey said after a moment. “I think we’re all about the same size.”
“Thank you.” I pretended not to notice her curves, or the way her emerald dress was cinched to display her cleavage. Years of hard work and hunger had kept both Melanie and me from developing much in the way of feminine figures. We could—and frequently did—pass as boys. “I appreciate your generosity.”
“It’s my engagement ball. It would mean so much to me if you would join in the celebration.” Lady Meredith squeezed my hand and released me.
“We’d be delighted to attend,” Melanie said. “All our congratulations on your engagement.”
Lady Meredith practically glowed as she and Lady Chey offered slight curtsies before turning down the hall, their maids in tow. “We’ll find a russet for Julianna. It will match her eyes. And perhaps a teal for her friend . . .”
Melanie and I exchanged pleased smiles as our guide beckoned us farther into the palace.
We didn’t have to hide the way we gazed around the palace, but if our expressions were wonder filled, it was by design only. I noted statues large enough to conceal me, and ventilation grates where supplies could be hidden. I kept track of my steps and every turn we took until finally the servant produced a key and opened a heavy oak door.
“These will be your apartments,” the man said. “Traditionally, they were kept as quarters for visiting Liadian royalty. We thought it fitting that you receive them now.”
I didn’t respond, just slipped into the large sitting room to get a good look at the silk-covered sofas and chairs, the lace draped across tables, and a half-dozen full bookcases. There were paintings of people and places, but nothing familiar.
“All the furniture was carved from trees cut from the surrounding forest, primarily. The wood panels on the walls are chestnut, like the rest of the palace.” He went on, naming everyone in the portraits and passing along any gossip he knew first-or second-or thirdhand. “Here is the larger bedchamber where the duchess will sleep. The fireplace, you might have noticed, has no back, so the fire can throw its heat into both the sitting room and the master bedroom. For privacy in the summer, there’s a lever that will lower a blind.”
He guided us through the washroom and Melanie’s room. Everything was more spacious and grand than I could have hoped. During our tour, a small army of maids invaded with towels, robes, and baskets of soaps and other toiletries. Skyvale Palace had real plumbing and had been fitted with gas lamps in every room.
“Skyvale Palace is a little over two hundred years old—pre-wraith, like most of the homes inside the Hawksbill wall—which means it was originally built and run using magic. In the last hundred years, we’ve significantly refined the methods of running the palace using new scientific advancements and modern technology, and we also make use of systems that previously used magic.” He finished showing us all the wonders of the palace, and finally left us alone.
I unbraided my hair and indulged in the most delicious bath of my life, lingering until the water grew cold, and then put on a long silver dress to explore while Melanie took her turn.
There were five windows, two of which were actually doors and led to a small balcony; one of those doors was in my room. Thoughtfully, Melanie had already hung our red ribbon in the window: the signal to the other Ospreys that we’d succeeded in installing ourselves in the palace.
I stepped outside and leaned over the edge of the balcony. The air was crisp with an autumn breeze and the scent of turning leaves and the clatter of horse-drawn carriages down wide avenues splashed with red and gold. The private district for Skyvale’s nobility, all wealth and extravagance.
Among the autumn foliage, indigo-coated guardsmen walked the perimeter of the grounds. Two men passed the base of the wide staircase, near the entrance gate.
From here, Skyvale was beautiful. The immense wall surrounding Hawksbill blocked most of the view of the other districts: Greenstone, Thornton, and the Flags. From here, the city had no poor, no refugees, no flashers being taken off the streets.
No children living in a forgotten castle in the mountains.
No deadly wraith rushing eastward.
All that could be seen was beauty, prosperity, and people who’d never known anything beyond their own privilege. Children ran under the white cascade of a fountain far below. Their laughter floated upward.
“This is certainly a nice change from the old palace.” Melanie stood in my doorway, wrapped in towels and a robe.
“More dangerous.” I nodded toward her room. “Get dressed. Dinner should arrive soon, and we’ve got work to do.”
She snapped and thumped her chest, the Ospreys’ salute, and vanished into the other room.
After a maid dropped off a heavy crock of soup and a loaf of fresh bread, Melanie and I settled around the table in the sitting room. We devoured the soup within five minutes, and only when we were halfway through the bread did we slow down. Eating was a competition in the old palace, where the slowest often nursed growling stomachs.
The desk in my bedroom had been stocked with pens and ink and palace stationery, so we positioned a few sheets side by side and started with a long rectangle, a huge rounded bulge at the back.
“This is the palace.” I drew two perpendicular lines for the exterior doors we knew about, including the one we’d entered through. “And the king’s office was . . .” My pen nib hovered over the eastern end of the palace. “Here?”
“Yes.” Melanie broke off a piece of bread and chewed. “And that’s us.” She tapped the western front.
I marked both locations. “What else?”
“There was a glass building near the office, too. I saw it out the window.”
I’d missed it, but I drew a glass house where she pointed. “The king is ill,” I said, adding outlines of the front gardens and courtyards. A circle and spray for the fountain, an immense staircase, and a scattering of statues: I added everything I remembered.
“Yes. Looks like he has been for a while, but I haven’t heard much talk about it. Have you?”
“Nothing.” Which seemed strange, but perhaps his decline had been so gradual no one noticed. Perhaps they thought he was simply growing old.
“This is a good start on the map.”
I corked the ink and wiped the nib clean using a damp cloth. “There’s a long way to go, but it’s unlikely we’ll find palace plans just lying around. We’ll take a walk tomorrow and get a better sense of the layout.”
“And then that ball. Perhaps Tobiah will be there.” Melanie smiled slyly as she placed our dishes on a tray. “I saw the way he watched you.”
So I hadn’t imagined his look.