To the side of the fireplace, a high-back chair upholstered in dark green brocade invites you to sit and ponder, its wood polished to a deep, glossy sheen. A small table beside it holds a crystal decanter filled with an amber liquid and two matching goblets.
The floor, covered in polished onyx tiles, reflects the room’s splendor, like the surface of a dark lake.
I’ve never seen such opulence before, as if every piece is created by the hands of Elder Raynisse herself.
Still busy taking in the details of the room, I hear the door open too late.
A human girl, no older than fourteen, slips into the room with the quiet grace of someone used to moving unnoticed—her presence a sudden intrusion into the shadowy space. She’s wearing a plain but new cotton dress, and her light brown hair is braided on both sides of her face. She looks like any other normal young girl, and there’s something in her bearing that reminds me of Tayna if it wasn’t for the terrible scar covering half of her face. It looks like her skin melted or was ripped off, and a thick pink band covers it, hinting that she’s lost her eye, too.
“M’lady.” The girl curtsies with a pleasant smile, and I scold myself for staring. “I will be your maid during your stay in the palace. I am so excited to be of service to you, m’lady,” she chirps, puffing the pillows on the enormous bed with the black, silky sheets, “they say you won the first trial and got the Flint!” She looks at me, her single brown eye wide open, glowing. I’m already preparing an excuse to send her away, but her excitement stops me. How often does this poor slave girl have the chance to talk to someone, especially another human?
“Drop the m’lady, I am Talysse. And you are?” I ask while unbuttoning my doublet.
“I am Ayrene,” she squeaks with excitement, and I realize that her smile is infectious.
“Well, Ayrene, you remind me a lot of my sister,” I remark, shedding the doublet and fussing with the buttons of my worn-out lacy shirt, which sports a couple of holes after the Trial. This bed there is calling my name, and I can’t wait to feel the coolness of those sheets.
“Do I?” She gleams. “What can I do for you m—Talysse, m’lady? Should I stitch up these holes? Or draw you a bath?”
“A bath would be perfect,” I agree, realizing that I’m looking for an excuse to keep her around, despite the fact that my knees are giving in from the fatigue.
“On it, Talysse!” The girl folds the silk screen at the far corner of the room and reveals a crystal tub and some copper pipes connected to a strange hearth. She throws some firewood into the opening and opens the valves. “It heats the water.” She points at it proudly. While the water steams and fills the beautiful tub, she fusses with the jars on the shelf above, sniffs, and throws some petals in it.
I watch her, my clothes piled on the floor. “Aren’t you a little young to do all this?” I ask, crossing my arms. The air is filled with the soothing aroma of iris and chamomile.
She dips a finger to test the water and looks back at me, glowing. “I’m fifteen, Talysse. My brother is thirteen, and he’s helping at the stables,” she adds proudly.
“And where are your parents?”
Oh, snap. Should’ve known better than to blurt out a question like this. I immediately recognize that look, that telling silence.
“It’s all right, Ayrene, you’re not the only one who lost her family to the Unseelie.” I walk to her and place a palm on her shoulder.
“To the Unseelie?” Her single dark eye flashes incredulously, and she puffs her lips. “It was a horde of Tainted Ones, m’lady Talysse. They attacked us, Ma put us on a horse, but I slipped. The horse dragged me for a while, m’lady…Talysse. That’s why I have this face. Aeidas saved us. He came down on them with his Shadowblade and took the whole horde all alone. But he arrived too late for Ma and Pa.” I blink, dumbfounded. “Do you know why they call him the Wildling, m…Talysse?” I shake my head. This conversation is becoming far more interesting than anticipated.
“Why?” I ask, dipping my toe in the water. It’s fragrant and hot, a luxury I haven’t had since my time in my parents’ mansion.
“You need help getting in? No? Okay.” She watches me tensely when I ease myself into the water, petals floating on the surface. Elders bless this girl. This is heaven. “They call him like this because he prefers spending more time exploring the Wastelands and working in the palace gardens than in his court.” The memory of the glow in his eyes when he was collecting the glowing spores flashed before me. This…makes some sense in a very odd way.
“I was very young, but Raynar, my brother, was even younger. We set off to the Free Cities with Ma and Pa, but our caravan had just one mage, inexperienced they said. It was over in seconds.” I squeeze her tiny hand, but she pulls it out and starts massaging fragrant oils into my scalp. She continues on telling the story with an even voice, “Prince Aeidas came from nowhere and saved us. Then he brought us here. The court healer worked for nine nights on my face, but she couldn’t save my eye—” I swallow drily, my eyes welling up. Poor young ones, the torture they must have been through. “But I am good, as you see. Raynar, on the other hand,” her voice breaks, “he will never be the same again. He hasn’t spoken a word since that night, Talysse, m’lady, and he is a little bit slow. But he’s a good boy, and he helps. He works at the stables, did I tell you that? He loves sweets. Bring him some if you have the chance. I feel like he’s…forever stuck in that night, Talysse, and this pains me.” Fragrant foam is dripping into my eyes and I am grateful for this, as it hides my tears. This could’ve been me and Tayna.
“I am sure that he knows that you’re safe, Ayrene. Are you happy here?”
“We are, m’lady. We are happy to serve the prince. And he taught me reading.” I whip my head to look at her. She’s not joking. Children cannot lie in the way adults do. And this girl is telling the truth.
“And you’re…free to go if you wish?”
“Yes. But where should we go? We’re paid handsomely for our work, and the prince is treating us fair. We’re safe here. Working for him, we’re off-limits for the rest of them. I cannot bring myself to attempt another trip to the Free Cities.”
I lean into her skilled touch as she continues babbling. “Aeidas, Master Viridis, and Desmond are my friends. They say that soon things will change for good, Talysse. They want to make trees grow back out there; they want to make the nights shorter. But we should not speak of this. See, I’m small and can sneak around unnoticed, so I hear things.” She winks at me. Well, now she sounds delusional—probably, this girl’s ordeal has messed with her head, too. “You have beautiful hair, even prettier than the Fae ladies; no wonder the prince looks at you like this—”
She’s washing the fragrant foam off my hair, yet I still open my mouth and nearly choke.
“Looks at me like what, Ayrene?” I mumble, my eyes still closed.
“Well, rumor has it that you caught his eye, m’lady Talysse, and that they found you after the Trial with no clothes on—” I grab the edge of the bathtub, struggling to get out, not sure if I want to protest, or just be alone. Who is spreading these outrageous rumors? I need to find them and make them shut up. I was completely dressed, and Aeidas—well, he was still bleeding from that nasty bite.
“I personally don’t believe this, m’lady Talysse, as our prince, handsome as he is, has never been in the company of a lady longer than—”
