She smiled slowly. “The queen would be furious.”
I pulled out a peach. “I could sweeten the deal?”
“What deal?”
Maybe I shouldn’t try making two bargains in one day. I shifted my wording. “I just thought that if you had to deal with an angry queen, a sweet peach might make it more worth it.”
Her smile grew, and she extended a hand. “Reassigning work isn’t remotely treason.” She lifted the fruit to her nose, and her eyes lit up. “Where did you get this?”
“You’re not really helping me,” I reminded her. “I can’t tell you any more secrets.”
She sniffed it slowly. “This will make my whole day. I might walk past the laundry room in a moment,” she added. “A new maid ought to wear proper clothes.”
Chapter 32: Bylur:
My body ached from standing in the same position for two days, but I would not lay down in this filthy place. Like yesterday, a set of soft footsteps entered the dungeon before I could see who they belonged to.
But they definitely did not belong to the queen or her soldiers. There was a short, muffled conversation, and the footsteps came closer. I braced myself for another visit from the noble masquerading as a maid, but instead saw another imposter. One that stole my breath away.
“Auria?” I whispered. “No, that’s impossible.” Daneira must have found out about her and glamoured someone to look like her.
Exactly like her.
That much precision could only mean one thing. She had to have captured her and brought her here too. The thought of her in one of these prisons made me angry, more angry than I’d ever been. It was bad enough to see her in danger, but to know these people were using her, hurting her to get at me—
It was too much. I rushed at the bars and thrust both my hands through one of the gaps. I didn’t care that I wouldn’t be free. It didn’t matter that I was magically bound to the queen. I would not let them have Auria too.
I wrapped a hand around her throat before she’d have time to respond and pinned her back and neck to the bars between us. The goblet and plate she carried fell to the floor with echoing clangs. “What have you done with Auria? Where. Is. She?” I hissed at the Auria-look-alike.
“Bylur!” she wheezed. “It’s me. I swear it is.”
“I won’t be fooled by your magic. If I didn’t have these cuffs on, I would have smelled your glamour the moment you entered the prison.” I tightened my hold, and her breaths shortened. “Now. Tell me—”
“Bylur, please! Ask me anything. No lies. No stealing. Let me prove—”
I dropped her. How would they know of all our conversations about lying and stealing? A light-headed wave of nausea swept over me. What if it really was her?
I shook my head. Impossible. But my thoughts slogged like mud. It had been too long since I’d eaten and drunk and moved freely to think clearly.
Not-Auria stepped up to the bars and gripped them with both hands. “I’ve wanted to see your face for so long,” she whispered, “and I hate that Daneira stole you away the moment it first happened.”
What if…
But how…
Yes. How was a good question. Her story would give me something to judge. “How are you here?”
She chuckled and rubbed her throat. “You wouldn’t believe this, but I asked Dearan and Dedalus to helpme. And then Brielle and Orla and Ivodar helped a lot too. And I rode your horse, North Wind.”
Her voice soothed the aches in my soul, and it just kept going in the way only she did. “He was terrifying, but I think we’re friends now. And I know I can’t get you out right now, but I really wanted to see you. I have some ideas about confronting the queen that I’d like your help with too, that is, if you won’t attack me again.”
She was real. Nobody could imitate the way she talked.
And I’d attacked her.
I slid down to my knees and gripped the bars. “Auria.” My voice came out hoarse and dry. “Forgive me. I thought they’d imprisoned you and glamoured someone to look like you. I… I’m so sorry for grabbing you.”
She dropped to her knees too and reached through the bars, not even flinching at the grime and stench around us. I clasped her hand and kissed the top of her knuckles.
