“And Yvlle.”
“Where are you?” asked Demelza, for she could see nothing around her but the trees.
“Down here.”
On the path before her was nothing but a pattern of stones and puddles. One of the puddles appeared to have something wriggling in it. When she looked into the water, the wavering reflections of Arris and Yvlle greeted her. They stood in a library and leaned forward as if she were the one looking up instead of down.
“Well done,” said Yvlle, grinning.
“I cannot believe we are on the third trial,” said Arris. He shook his head in disbelief. “How did Yvlle manage to get the hint to you?”
Demelza frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We tried to wheedle a hint out of my mother for the second trial, and I thought we’d failed, but evidently not if Yvlle managed to sneak you a hint!” said Arris, smiling.
Beside him, his sister groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Demelza scowled. “I had no hint.”
Arris looked shocked. “You didn’t?”
“She didn’t,” confirmed Yvlle.
“But you said last night that Demelza might surprise me,” said Arris.
“And she did.”
“Oh,” said Arris, stunned. “That answer was all you?”
“Surprise,” said Demelza.
At once, the war glow of her victory and whatever smugness she had felt at Heka’s elimination cooled. Forget all her thoughts on what she had previously found infuriating. Now she was plain angry. Demelza stepped around the puddle and curtsied to Arris and Yvlle.
“I appreciate your confidence in my abilities, Majesties,” she said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must return to my duties and interrogate the motives of your future queen. I bid you good day.”
Even though Demelza marched out of their sight, she could still hear them.
“Would you like a pie or a cake to celebrate?” called Arris. “Demelza?”
She pretended as though she had heard nothing.
“Was it something I said?” asked Arris.
Yvlle sighed. “Brother, you are a fool.”
26An Unlikely Ally
When Demelza entered the new residences, she found the interior much changed. A great fireplace draped heavily with moss took up one side of the stone wall, which was nearly invisible from the tangles of ivy and wisteria. A semicircle of strangely mismatched armchairs and couches surrounded the fireplace, while an impossibly soft rug of woven flowers—pink larkspur and fuzzing daisies, cat’s ears tulips and slumber nettle—sprawled across the floor. The ceiling was the leafy canopy of a squat oak, the trunk of which disappeared through the floor. Held aloft in the branches were a half dozen glass windows that allowed sunlight to glaze the room. Nearly hidden by the tangle of ivy and the sprawling oak appeared a slender hallway lit by fireflies, through which Demelza could only assume she would find their new bedchambers. As with all things in Rathe Castle, the chamber defied logic and beauty and Demelza loved it with a ferocity that almost rivaled her love of Hush Manor.
“Demelza!” said Talvi, waving at her from a chair carved of ice. “Come join us.”
Demelza slid off her shoes and let the petaled carpet tickle her tired soles. The remaining contestants had also only just arrived and were each flopped in their respective chairs wearing mixed expressions of exhaustion and delight.
“I’m finding it a bit crowded,” said Edmea, rising from her pink and gilded chaise. “My advice would be for everyone to refresh themselves. For those of you who can, perhaps rid yourself of any mud and grime?”
Edmea shot Demelza a parting smirk before vanishing down the hallway. For a moment, Demelza was struck by how lonely the other girl looked bereft of her usual attendants. Normally, she wouldn’t give Edmea’s comments a second thought, but there were so few of them left that her words seemed to dangle in the air.
Amidst the collection of strange seats appeared an armchair that looked identical to Demelza’s favorite seat in Hush Manor. It was as if it had been placed here just for her.
