Duke Percival pushed himself to his feet with a groan. “Yes? Who is it?”
When the guards posted outside the door opened it to reveal a servant standing there, holding a vase of flowers freshly picked from the greenhouse, Duchess Edith turned toward her and raised her eyebrows in unspoken question.
But Seraphina could only shake her head. The flowers were not for her.
They never were.
At the sight of the servant, Olivia groaned audibly and sank deeper into her chair, as if trying to melt into the floor.
Understanding dawned on Duchess Edith’s features in the next moment. Even so, she still teased, “My, my. I wonder who those could be from.”
“No one,” Olivia insisted, shoving to her feet. With a scowl, she gathered the vase into her arms and shuffled off in the direction of Seraphina’s bedroom, where she promptly disappeared.
The door slammed shut behind her.
Duke Percival stood next to the table, looking unsure as he glanced between his chair and the closed door. After anothermoment’s pause, he called out, “But we weren’t finished with our conversation, Olivia!”
Awkwardly, the servant backed out of the room.
Duchess Edith sighed, a rueful smile claiming her lips. “So much for our family dinner…Sera? Where are you going?”
Seraphina paused in the midst of her aimless following of the servant out into the corridor beyond.Nowhereis what she wanted to say, but she knew her godparents would never be satisfied with such an answer. She needed to concoct a destination even if her true desire was merely to wander the halls while she thought about everything.
The wedding. The pamphlets.
Her future husband.
“I wish to visit the chapel,” she decided on a whim. “And perhaps the library after.”
Again, her godparents shared a look. Something unspoken passed between them.
Tightening his grip on his cane, Duke Percival stepped toward her and asked, “Shall I come with you?”
But she was already shaking her head while making for the door again. “No. Thank you, Your Grace, but I just need to be alone for a time.” With a hint of a dry smile, she bid over her shoulder, “I do wish you luck in luring Olivia out of her cave again, though,” before finally slipping out into the corridor.
Alone. That was what she wanted. That was what she needed. But the moment she stepped across the threshold, the Queensguard standing sentinel there in the hall swarmed around her,hemming her in on all sides. Smothering her slowly with their diligence.
“Gentlemen, please,” she sighed, hunting for Sir Arkwright amongst the lot of them.
The captain of her guard waved them off, and the squad of men in their blue and gold armor fell back without melting entirely away. They remained her constant shadows even as, without thinking, she turned to the right rather than the left as she should have done and set off down the hall. Both the chapel and the library lay toward the left. Nothing at all lay toward the right.
Nothing save for the long trek to the Crow’s sleeping quarters on the other side of the palace.
Seraphina’s brow furrowed as she drew to a pause mid-stride. What was she doing?
“He won’t be there,” Olivia’s voice suddenly announced from further down the corridor, nearly making Seraphina leap out of her skin. Likewise, her Queensguard bristled with warning until her friend stepped out of the shadows pooling between the sconces lining the walls. With a smile, Olivia gave the men a mocking salute.
She must have used the secret passageway leading out of her bedchamber to avoid Duke Percival and Duchess Edith.
Seraphina delivered up to the other woman a flat look. She still hadn’t forgiven her for keeping secrets. And now she was speaking in riddles. “Who won’t be where?”
Rather than answer the question, Olivia sauntered closer, glaring at the knights until they let her draw near. “I thought we weregoing to the chapel and then the library anyway? Which isthisway.” Linking their arms together, her friend tried to lead her in the opposite direction, as if she were a horse on a lead.
Like a mule, she dug in her heels. Olivia was being odd.
Odder than usual, at the very least.
“Who won’t be where?” Seraphina repeated, studying her friend in profile.
