“Excellent,” said Livia, sweeping forward to greet the small figure. “They sent Ailill.” She shoved the door closed quietly behind him and put her hands on his small shoulders, guiding him over to the vanity.
“Hello,” I said, reaching my arms out to greet him. I hadn’t seen him in so long, and he reminded me anew of Jurij as a boy. He may not have worn a mask, but he was just the same kitten in demeanor.
Ailill’s eyes grew wide, and he buried his face in Livia’s apron.
“He’s a shy one,” explained Livia. “But he’s the most kind-hearted.”
I smiled. “I’ve met him before. At the commune. He healed me after I was whipped.”
Ailill rustled the edge of Livia’s skirt and peeked over. Livia patted him on the back.
“Foolish child,” she said. “Always off to visit his favorite sister.”
I nodded. “Avery. She’s the one who explained to me how things are run here.”
Livia cocked her head. “So the whispers are true. You are an outsider.”
“You didn’t know? Avery said women knew who belonged to the commune.”
Livia freed her skirt from Ailill’s tight grip and gently pushed him forward. “Oh, no. I’ve spent most of my life here in the castle. I’ve never been a looker, but I can keep the place well in order. The present Lordship’s father was the first to take advantage of that.
“Go on and heal her cheek, Ailill. Please.”
Ailill looked cautiously first at Livia and then at me. At last, he extended both palms outward, and I felt that embracing, violet glow seep the sting out of my cheek. When he finished, Ailill stared at me and touched my ear cautiously, bringing some of the glow back to his fingers.
I took his hand in mine and pulled it gently away. “Those don’t need to be healed.” His eyes widened. “Thank you again, Ailill,” I told him. “Avery told me to find you. I’m so glad I did. My name is Noll, by the way. But people here call me Olivière.”
Ailill backed away, knocking into Livia behind him.
“Thank you, child.” She patted his head. “You may go now.”
Ailill nearly tripped over his feet in his rush to the door. It creaked open, and he disappeared, pulling the door closed behind him.
I turned to the vanity to see my unblemished cheek. Livia pinched it, bringing dark color to its surface. I wondered why she didn’t just leave the slap mark.
“You don’t speak to him with reverence,” I said. “Ailill.”
Livia sighed and placed her hands on my shoulders. “Not yet, anyway. It takes a while for the boys to learn to be heartless. For some, like his Lordship Elric, who made his father especially proud as a boy, it takes far less time than for others. Ailill is slower than most. He’s been tormented, and like his father, he had such a fondness for his mother.”
“Avery said she was very beautiful.”
Livia nodded. “She was. She was a frequent ‘guest’ of the castle in her day. All the men were captivated by her, and she bore many children.”
I cocked my head. “Many?”
Livia exerted pressure on my shoulders and directed me to stand. “Very few—only the hardiest—survived long. She bore more daughters than she did sons, and fathers care no more for daughters than they do for livestock. They only take special note of daughters and sisters to decrease the risk of inbreeding.”
That’s disgusting.
We walked across the room, toward the door. “Ailill was the last she bore, and they say she saw something special in him—perhaps a human heart that no other boy could hold on to. It ripped her to pieces when they took him away. Ailill, unlike most boys, was drawn back to his mother. He started sneaking back into the commune for visits almost as soon as he could walk.”
“And none of the men knew?”
We had reached the door now, and Livia spun me around to face her. “It was known but looked at as little more than an annoyance. A weak boy, a boy with too great a heart, a foolish boy—it led to a lot of torment that halted the boy’s tongue. When his father died, he lost all special treatment he had in their shared fondness for that woman. When hearing of his father’s death, His Lordship Elric rode straight into the commune, caught Ailill in the arms of his mother, and ordered her dead by morning. He made Ailill watch it happen.”
I gasped. Livia nodded.
“Be wary how you deal with His Lordship,” she said. “There are few women who do not wish his downfall, but there are none with the courage to play his game and win it. Perhaps you will be different.”
I clenched my jaw. I would do it. I had won before, when I had everything to lose, and I would win again, when we had everything to gain.