“What is wrong with you?” Daselis demanded.
I needed to make sure Daselis didn’t get suspicious. And if I stayed in this room all day, I would lose my mind. “I feel better now. I’ll go attend to the queen.”
“She wants to be left alone. If you’re determined to pace, you can walk outside.”
I pulled on a thick woolen dress and fled, making my way down to the gardens. I kept to the outskirts of the gardens, where the trees were closer together and I could be assured of privacy.
The rest of the day crawled by slowly, torturously, until Daselis came to find me again where I’d been sitting beneath a shady tree, stewing in my worries.
“It’s time.”
I got to my feet, and my head spun once more. Everything hinged on the next few hours.
Daselis leaned close. “I don’t know why you’re so worked up today, but tell me this. Should I inform the servants to stay away from the castle tonight?”
My heart stumbled, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of my neck. Daselis had always seen more than she was given credit for. We stared at each other for a long moment. There was no rancor left on her face. Just a kind of grim knowledge.
“Anyone who doesn’t need to be here should stay away.”
The color drained from her face. It might be reckless, but…
“Do you want to leave here, Daselis?”
I should have thought of her and Erea. Would they be punished when I left? For not knowing what I was up to or—in Daselis’s case—for not reporting her suspicions? I’d been so busy focusing on the prisoners, I’d forgotten about the innocent women who helped me every day.
Shame crawled through my body until I had to fight not to throw up again.
Daselis took a deep breath. “I don’t wish to leave. My family lives in the city.”
“I can get them out too.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re one of the…”
Had I just ruined everything? I didn’t want to hurt Daselis, but I would knock her out if it meant delaying her accusations until after I left. “Please, Daselis.”
“No wonder you’re throwing up your breakfast!”
She backed away a step. The blood was draining from my face so fast I swayed on my feet. But she seemed to shake herself. “I won’t say a word. But…I have a niece. Her name is Hanish. Tell me you’ll get her out, too.”
My knees turned weak, and I managed to take a full breath. “Can you arrange for her to be here? Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes. But you should come with us. Please. You’ll be interrogated once I leave. This could be your only chance for freedom. Tell Erea, too.”
She nodded. “I understand. I’ll think about it. But Hanish will be here. You get her out, and I’ll owe you my life.”
I nodded. “It’s done.”
She looked at me, and her eyes warmed. “One of the queen’s ladies. And how I resented you for it. A social climber, to be sure, but for a reason.”
“Yes.”
“But who—” She went ashen, and I could see her calculating exactly why I would have snuck into the castle. “You’re getting one of the prisoners out. Before dawn.”
The words were so quiet I could barely hear her over the sound of my panting breaths, but I glanced around us anyway.
“I’m getting all of the prisoners out.”
Her hand shook as she pushed back her hair. “Well, then. If you’re going to humiliate the king, you should at least look good doing it.”
I smiled and followed her into the castle.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I gazed at myself in the mirror. My aunt had outdone herself.
The dress was a deep, midnight black, shot through with silver thread, which caught the light. The sleeves of the dress covered most of my arms in sheer fabric, but most importantly, beneath the skirt, my legs were encased in tight leather breeches that fell to my calves. The front of the dress dipped low enough to show off my necklace—and the tops of my breasts—while distracting from the panels at each side, which hid slits in the fabric. Beneath those slits, I had a knife in a sheath wrapped around each of my thighs.
Erea had put my hair up tonight, using long silver pins to keep it in place. The braids wound across one another in a complicated pattern that had kept her busy while Daselis paced my room.
Erea hadn’t yet agreed to come with us. She’d seemed strangely unconcerned when we told her, and it infuriated Daselis.
“They will kill you,” Daselis hissed.
Erea sat on the edge of my bed and bit into her lower lip. “Surely if I explain, the king will know I had nothing to do with…anything.” She slid me a look that begged me to agree. But I couldn’t lie to her.
I sighed. “He’ll use his truth-seekers, Erea.” And because Daselis had explained the situation to her, if Erea did nothing now, she was just as guilty as us. I shouldn’t have told her anything. I should have known she’d prefer to stay here where she was content with her life.
“You’ve seen what happens in this place,” Daselis said. “It’s worth a little inconvenience for three hundred lives.”
“I could use you,” I said. “We need people to help with the prisoners. Especially the younger ones.”
Erea lit up at that. “You truly need my help?”
“Of course.”
“Enough of this,” Daselis snapped. “You have three choices. Either come with us, don’t come and burn when the truth-seekers tell the king about how you knew what Setella was doing, or tell the king and watch three hundred people burn at dawn.”
Erea’s lower lip trembled. I opened my mouth, but Daselis sent me a fierce look.
Erea got to her feet. “I understand. I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t,” I murmured, guilt and relief warring within me. “Thank you.”
I would make this up to her somehow. When I’d first decided I could free the prisoners, I hadn’t even thought of the women who woke me each morning. Who picked out my dresses and did my hair. Of course they would be targeted by the king. The thought made me nauseated once more.
“Don’t you dare,” Daselis snarled at me. “If I have to slap you to put some color back in your face, I will.”
I stared at her. And burst out laughing. Her lips trembled, but she ruthlessly firmed them.
“Time to meet the queen.”
I followed Daselis to the queen’s chambers, where the other women were gathered. Madinia’s expression was a cold mask of amusement, which she turned on me when I arrived. I was so anxious, my tongue had begun to itch, and she looked calm, relaxed, and haughty as always.
“I like your dress,” she said. The first nice thing she’d ever said to me. She’d have to be careful, or the queen’s ladies would become suspicious just from that.
“Thank you.”
Madinia’s dress was crimson, cut off her shoulders and low enough to bare the top of her breasts. She looked like exactly what she was pretending to be—a confident, beautiful woman without a care in the world.
The queen perused me. “Very nice. My seamstress has always done good work, but she has outdone herself for us tonight.”