“Come along, Maxim,” my mother says, ushering the little boy out the door. He watches his father with a bunched brow and suspicious eyes the entire way, making me wonder if the boy isn’t as clueless about his father as he lets on.
The door clicks shut behind me with the resonance of a death knell. I’m definitely getting the cane. My stomach twists with nerves, and I’m hard-pressed to keep my sweaty hands at my sides instead of clutching my aching belly. You’d think after all this time, the fear would ebb, but bravery was never my strength.
Leodin’s eyes roam my face, sizing me up, as always. Now that we're alone, I can feel the anxiety rolling off him, but you'd never know it by his calm demeanor. “The queen has called an emergency meeting of parliament. I am leaving for Ranook tomorrow and you will be coming with me.”
My heart leaps. He can’t be serious, can he? Ranook is the largest city in the entire kingdom of Solstyr. I’ve hardly left the dom, let alone traveled outside of Cairn, the tiny village that lies just beyond Dom Duje’s gates. And while I’m buzzing with excitement, and not a little bit of terror over the prospect, I can’t help asking the question niggling at my mind. “Why?”
Leodin pins me with that glare he’s honed to a sharp point over the years. “Have you ever heard of the queen calling an emergency meeting such as this?”
“No.”
“That’s why.” He pushes out of his chair and begins pacing the room, his gaze distant, the way he looks when he’s deep in thought. “Something is going on here. I feel it in my core, but I will be too busy with parliamentary duties to investigate.” He stops in front of a nearby shelf, his back to me. Picking up a small bottle of a brown liquid, he inspects it, then repositions it on the shelf before doing the same to another bottle, then another. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was trying to avoid looking at me. “That’s where you come in,” he says, finally. “You will watch and listen and report back to me with any information you gather.”
I narrow my eyes at him. He isn’t saying what I think he’s saying? “You want me to spy for you?”
He spins around, meeting my gaze. “Yes. You’re already adept at eavesdropping, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Difficult, no. Dangerous, yes. I don’t know the first thing about spying, and if I get caught, they’ll hang us both.”
“Then you better not get caught,” he snaps. Leodin turns back to his bottles. “Your bags are already being packed, so I suggest you get to bed. We’ll be leaving first thing.”
“Leodin—” I begin.
He glances at me over his shoulder. “It wasn’t a request.” Then he turns back to his specimens as though I don’t exist.
3
Iwish I could say I’m rested and excited to go on this adventure, but that would be a lie. After a night spent tossing and turning while I picked apart every word, every look, every gesture from my meeting with Leodin, I am a wreck. My mind is working at half speed, yet I’m jittery with nerves, and my stomach is both sour and queasy and completely incapable of digesting anything more than a few bites of bread and a sip or two of tea.
Not exactly the best start to my trip.
I need to get myself into this travel dress Leodin scrounged up for me, but I’m quickly discovering that tightening a corset on your own is virtually impossible. I’m too damn stubborn to ask for help, though, so here I am standing in front of my full-length mirror, watching myself twist like a pretzel to reach these stupid laces. It’s a fairly hideous dress—the skirt is too short, and the color is akin to dung left to bake in the sun—but it’s nice to wear something other than white acolyte robes for a change.
There’s a light tap at my door that could only be Mama.
Thank the gods. “It’s open,” I shout.
A moment later, Mama pokes her head into the room. “Need some help?” she asks, eyes on my hands clutching the back of the corset so it doesn’t slip off.
“Yes, please.”
She steps into the room, shuts the door behind herself and crosses to me. “Turn around,” she says, but doesn’t wait for me to comply before taking me by the shoulders and forcing me back in front of the mirror. She grabs hold of the laces and pulls.
And there go my lungs.
“Too tight,” I manage to squeak out.
Mama chuckles. “It’s supposed to be tight. You’ve just been spoiled by those tunics and trousers you acolytes wear.” She tugs at the ties and the whole thing loosens enough that I can breathe again. “Better?” she asks, smiling at me in the mirror.
“Much, thank you.”
Mama finishes up with my corset and gives my shoulder a pat. “You have all your things packed?”
“Yep,” I say, bouncing nervously on the balls of my feet. “Leodin’s minions are packing up the carriage as we speak.”
Mama gives me a weak smile. “Behave yourself.” She tugs at the sleeve of my dress and tips her head toward the door. “Come with me. I have something for you.”
She leads me to her tiny bedroom—her and Leodin have never shared a room as far as I know—then closes and locks the door behind us. “Give me a hand,” she says, crossing to her simple oak wardrobe.
