The ribbons pooled to either side with the smallest tug at the bow. Lilyanna and I knelt over the box as I lifted the lid. A flat circular object with diamond-encrusted fob and buckle was sunk into a velvet pillow. The cap was solid gold, a small indentation present, which opened when Lilyanna lightly pressed it, revealing a glass face and quivering hands.
She cooed, but I sank back onto my heels, my hands clenched in my lap.
“Is this from Clement?” It was just like him to send me a passive-aggressive gift. “This is a timepiece, right? Because I can’t get you anywhere on time.”
“It’s not for telling the time.” She gently lifted it out, her lips slightly parted. “It’s for direction and these are incredibly rare.”
“Well, he’s still an ass. Insinuating I can’t navigate my way round this stupid place. Why don’t you get one?” I glared at the compass in her hand, not wanting to touch it.
She patted my arm. “Because I have you.” She placed it back on the velvet pillow and took the note from my hand, studying the writing. Her face hardened only for a flash, but it took great effort for her to smooth the frown lines embedded on her forehead before she spoke. “It’s not from Clement, it’s from the prince. That’s his handwriting.” She sniffed the paper and wafted it toward me. “And his scent.”
I gagged at the strong rose odor.
She handed the note back, her face carefully plain. “There’s more on the back. He wants you to go to his chambers at sundown. He says, ‘it’s east’.”
“Why?” I glanced at her, but she ignored me.
She reached for the compass again, turning it over in her hands, the glass surface flashing in the firelight.
“Lilyanna, don’t even think about it.” I tore up the note and threw it into the hearth. The paper caught instantly, glowing skeletal white before vanishing in flame. “Why don’t you come as well? You can tell him how much you like your gift. The butterfly. It’s probably worth way more than this, and he handpicked it for you himself, I saw him. This was probably just an afterthought, a taunt for my inability to ferry you around in here.”
My stomach twisted as I remembered how close we’d come to kissing last night. That was probably what he wanted to talk about. Matron had insinuated as much when I first arrived, though she’d thought he wouldn’t be interested in me. In that moment in the alleyway, I’d wanted to kiss him. My mind had emptied, my mission totally erased, but something wasn’t right.
I shivered as the sensation returned of my magic fleeing, hiding deep inside my soul and leaving me empty. I pushed it away. I didn’t need yet another weakness, but I did need to locate his room. I’d wished that just the other night.
Perhaps the goddess of fate was helping me after all.
She dropped the compass back into the box. “No, I should be getting to bed.” She turned and strode toward the bedroom, swiping the butterfly from the checkerboard as she went.
I sighed and lifted the compass to buckle it to my waistband, tugging the sweater down so that the fabric covered the flashy diamond fob. I might as well get this over with, then I could work on soothing Lilyanna’s ego.
I glanced at the glass face when outside her room, but the delicate hands did nothing except quiver. So, I walked down the barren corridors keeping straight until the stone floor ceded to wooden planks and the temperature plummeted.
As I walked, soft scratching followed overhead. Glancing over my shoulder, a thin trail of ash billowed from the ceiling, coating the floor in a perfectly straight line. A trail of breadcrumbs illuminating my way back? There was no way I would trust in following it. It would be easy for it to suddenly veer down a corridor, or for the walls to switch positions and con me into descending into the belly of the castle.
Burned orange light flickered beneath a door up ahead. The wood frame stood as plain as every other here, and yet, I instinctively knew it was his. The magic slunk deeper, hiding away in the furrows of my body. I shoved my hands under my armpits, biting back a shiver and kicked at the door with my foot.
The prince opened it and ushered me in with a small bow. I made it about a foot before freezing, my body locking into position. Some inner warning blared inside me. Clement and Bryn materialized at the prince’s elbows.
“Thank you for coming, Tam. I assumed you found my note?” He wore a black bathrobe, his chestnut hair wet and tousled. Steam rose from his body as if he were a supernatural being. The rose scent subdued, a moist, unplaceable aroma having taken its place.
I nodded.
“I had to postpone dinner this evening as I had a most pressing engagement. I wish for you to extend my apologies to the Lady Lilyanna.”
“Alright. You could’ve said that in your note as well.”
Clement inched taller, sucking in his stomach muscles. I tried not to look at him. Tension rolled off him in waves, threatening to infect me too. A small kernel of disappointment solidified in my stomach. I wished he'd given me the gift.
The prince grinned, his dimples popping. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, I wanted to see if you liked your present.” His eyes dropped to my thigh, probing beneath the hemline of my sweater.
I brushed back the fabric, tugging out the compass so the gold case winked in the glow from the fire. “I do, actually.”
“Good.” He clapped his hands together. “And do you know how to work it?”
Heat crawled into my face, coloring the tips of my ears. “Yes.”
He smiled. “You need to activate it with a tap from a specific stone. The castle is lined with basaltic rock mixed with slate, so you’ll have a constant supply so long as you stay close. And now you know where to find me as well!” He waved an arm behind him.
