It was my turn to snort. And to hide my smile. She was not very good at holding a grudge against me for long. I suppose that was the best I could ask for in a maid.
I certainly wouldn’t stop asking her to distract guards for my benefit. Or lying for me.
“Will you make sure the bath is extra hot this morning, Clesta? Please? I cannot seem to get warm.” I was still under many fur blankets and had gone to sleep with an extra shawl wrapped around my shoulders.
“I’ll have to ask a footman for more heated water. It does not run directly to the rooms here. They must bring it up from the kitchens.”
Her complaint could not move me. I wanted pink skin and banished chill bumps before I dressed for the day. “I’m sorry to inconvenience you,” I told her sincerely.
She gave me an assessing look before saying, “The Barstus maids believe that’s a sign of black magic.”
Her words were so out of place that I could not make sense of them. “What do you mean?”
“The chill. They call it the goblin wind. It’s supposed to be brought on by the keepers of the castle.” Her head tilted toward a particularly gruesome-looking hobgoblin statue near the threshold to the bath. “It’s supposed to ward away those that wish evil on the house of Zolotov.”
My body jerked with a shiver, and I picked up Shiksa from where she slept next to me so I could hold her against my chest. “How do you know that?”
“The maids’ quarters are bunk rooms,” she said, sounding righteously annoyed. “They believe your sister is possessed by magic. She has borne the chill the whole time she lived with them.”
“What of the married families?” I asked, ignoring what she’d said about Katrinka for the moment.
“They are not allowed to get married,” she said plainly. “Servants in Castle Bale remain celibate as long as they’re in service.”
I struggled to process both revelations. The first, that Barstus would force its servants to live together on top of each other and not give them their own separate quarters. Or let them get married. It seemed a cruel standard for someone who lived their life washing bedpans and dressing spoiled royals.
The second, that the servants here thought my sister was possessed by black magic.
“Never mind about the hot water,” I told Clesta, quickly jumping from the bed and facing the not-nearly-warm-enough bath anyway. Ravanna also hated being here, hated the chill. Did I believe in being possessed by black magic or haunted by stone statues of demons?
No. Not particularly.
The old way is the true way.
But I did find it fascinating how many superstitions these royal houses clung to. Magic had been banished a hundred years ago, so shouldn’t these castles have moved into a more modern ideology?
I bathed and dressed as quickly as possible. Thankfully Clesta had thought to pack my wool stockings and fur-lined cloak. By the time I was ready for breakfast, I was dressed as though it were the dead of winter. Only none the warmer for it.
The Zolotov sons were sent again to escort us to breakfast. This morning though, it was Anton outside my door. Alexi waited for Ravanna and Andretzo for Katrinka. I was the first one in the hallway, so I had the pleasure of watching Andretzo fidget nervously while my sister dallied.
“I must insist on knowing how Katrinka is being treated in Elysia,” Anton murmured in a harsh tone, pulling my focus from across the hall to the middle Zolotov. He was taller than I was but still scrawny from youth. I was positive I could take him in a fight.
Sparing him only a glance, I said, “She’s treated like a princess. How else would you expect us to behave toward her? She is one of two remaining Allisands. She has anything she desires.”
“She does not desire much,” Anton said defensively. “And she will not ask if she needs something, so you must pay attention to her.”
“Of course, I will pay attention to her.” I tried to keep my tone more even than he had, but I was struggling. Anton Zolotov was not her family, no matter how many years she’d spent in his castle. She wasmysister. I would go to the ends of the realm to protect her. Fight dragons for her. Ascend to the Seat of Power to ensure that her bloodline was secure—and, therefore her own dynasty.
Anton was not convinced. “One spring, she broke her glasses, accidentally stepped on them. Instead of asking Father for a new pair, she pretended she had outgrown the need for them. She had us all convinced until she added salt to her tea instead of sugar. It had been months that she’d been blindly feeling her way around, too upset over the idea of asking for help than simply replacing her glasses.”
My mouth opened and closed as I decided whether to stay annoyed with this boy who clearly cared for my sister or make him an ally. Finally giving him my full focus, I met his gaze and asked, “Truly?”
His lips twitched with an affectionate smile. “Truly.”
“And she does need her glasses?”
“Oh, most certainly. She’s as blind as a two-headed river rat without them.”
I did not know what a two-headed river rat was, but I believed him. She finally emerged from her room and immediately turned the color of a ripe strawberry when she found Andretzo waiting for her.
