It occurred to me that was the only cover I could give her—one she was already willing to believe. And so, feeling like a fool, I let her excitement ripple up my throat into a noise I hoped came off as happy. To my ears it sounded like a squealing pig. “You did!” I replied.
Lenka entered the room with her always-horrible timing. I hid the letter at my side and broke apart from Pia, who darted for the door and wished me good night, forgetting her tray in her hurry. When Lenka’s back was turned, Pia winked at me, then exited. Her giggles rang through the hallway.
Lenka pinched her brows and sucked in her bony cheeks. “What’s come over her?”
I backed closer to my furnace. “Oh, she’s always like that.” With a little flick of my hand, I tossed the letter behind the grate.
My maid’s gaze followed the movement, but she couldn’t have seen what I’d done.
I turned around and offered her the laces of my dress. “I’m so glad you’ve come. I’m exhausted.” Overdoing it, I chided myself.
Lenka didn’t say a word, not then, nor during the rest of our nighttime routine. Her aura was no longer irritable, it was closed. She must have learned how to conceal her feelings after all her years of serving Izolda, just as Anton had an ability to when he focused hard enough. I wasted a moment trying to pry Lenka’s aura open, but it was no use. As her wiry fingers jostled me out of my gown and brushed and braided my hair, I wondered what in Feya’s name I was thinking in so readily agreeing to sneak out with Anton. I didn’t even know what he meant to do, and now I’d gotten Pia involved and likely raised the suspicion of my head maid.
I may not have committed to helping the prince with his revolution, but he still held me in a measure of his power. Or perhaps I held him in a measure of mine. Perhaps this secret night together was a way for him to prove his full confidence in me. I only hoped it was worth the risk for everyone involved.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
APPARENTLY, THE ONLY KEY TO MY WARDROBE WAS IN LENKA’S possession. Pia could see no way to fetch it from her, so she brought me one of her spare uniforms.
“I can’t go dressed like a maid,” I said.
“Dressing like a maid will get you to the kitchens unnoticed. I have something else for you there.”
She helped clothe me and we walked together, our chins tucked low as we made our way down the servants’ stairs. Once we reached the kitchens, Pia glanced around to make sure we were alone and ushered me inside a pantry so large it made the convent’s ample food stores seem pitiful. Behind a barrel of pickled cabbage, she pulled out a dark-blue sarafan. The bell-shaped peasant dress would be perfect. “This is also mine, but I think it will do.” She grinned. “I chose the color to help you blend in with the night.”
“You’re having far too much fun with this.”
That drew a laugh from her, not the hardest thing to do. “True.” She helped me change again and wrapped a bright, floral scarf over my head.
“And what does this blend with?” I smirked.
“Nothing.” The apples of her cheeks lifted. “But it will hide your hair and bring out the hazel of your eyes. A good trade, in my opinion.”
I relented to wearing the scarf. I couldn’t deny the part of me that wanted to look pretty for Anton. And since I couldn’t fill out Pia’s dress at the chest and hips, I needed all the help I could get. Her shoes didn’t fit, so I settled on wearing my night slippers and hoped they’d go unnoticed under the long hem of my skirt.
We left Pia’s maid uniform in the pantry so I could change back into it later, assuming Anton would return me before Cook and her staff began their early hours of preparations. Then Pia guided me to the specific kitchen door the prince had indicated. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she whispered.
“That leaves nothing.”
She giggled and gave me one last hug. “Have fun. I want to hear all about it tomorrow!”
“Of course.”
Oh, the lies I’d have to spin!
Pia dashed off on tiptoes, and I was left leaning against the door and wringing my hands in the dark. The air was spiced with soap and blood from the butcher’s tables. The auras of dead beasts drifted around my nostrils. I resolved to touch nothing.
Having arrived early, I waited a quarter hour standing with jittery and restless legs. Finally Anton came. I pressed back into the shadows until I was sure his silhouette belonged to him. The span and angle of his shoulders were a good clue, but it was the profile of his handsome, aristocratic nose that gave him away. A part of me wanted to remain hidden and admire him from afar for several more minutes. Recognizing how deeply I cared for him was a gift. Even if he didn’t trust my feelings, I did. That surety had taken me long enough to discover over the past few months, and now I wouldn’t deny it.
I stepped into a shaft of moonlight from a nearby window. “I’m here.”
The prince moved close to me. I caught his scent of musk and pine as his eyes traveled over what I was wearing. In his arms, he held a bundle of clothing. “You came,” he said, a thread of amazement in his voice.
“Did you doubt I would?”