He blinks and scratches his chin.
I step into a cobalt blue dress and pull it up over my narrow hips, then slip my arms into the long, tapered sleeves and turn my back to Callum. “Just button me up and I’m set.”
As adept as he was at taking the other dress off, he fastens this one just as easily. Once he’s finished, I slide my hands over my hair, hoping to tame any frizz. “How do I look?”
That sparkle momentarily returns to his face. “Beautiful.”
I can’t help but smile. “Flatterer.”
He grabs my shoes and I sit on the bed to slip them on. Callum drops to his knees in front of me and takes over the task, tightening the buckle perhaps a bit more taut than necessary. He glances up at me. “It’s nearly shift change.”
I frown. Not that I have anything against Tiernan; in fact, I hold him in the highest regard. But for obvious reasons, Callum is my favorite.
“I have time to get you to the infirmary and back. Shall we?” He stands, straightening his livery before extending his hand to me.
Glass shatters as I enter the fragrant infirmary, and Alys swears loudly.
“That’s rather foul language for a lady,” I call out with a grin.
Kneeling on the floor beside shards of glass in a clear puddle, the head healer lifts her face to me. A cheeky grin graces her full lips. “When have I ever claimed to be a lady, dear Carys?”
The new apprentice halts in her rush to Alys’s side and drops into a deep curtsy. “Your Highness,” she says with a polite smile.
Another healer whose name I can never remember, pauses in the middle of putting fresh linens on a cot. He bows and I nod to him. The infirmary isn’t huge: eight cots in two rows of four, large windows with drawn curtains, and rows of shelves with various medicinal supplies fill the moderate space.
The apprentice grabs a cloth from a basket on one of the counters that line the wall and returns to Alys’s side. “I’ve got it, Lady Alys.”
Alys hesitates briefly but stands and removes her apron from her full-bodied figure, hanging it on a nearby hook. “Right,” she says in that sunshiny tone of hers. She thanks the apprentice and approaches me, regarding me with grey eyes that stand out beautifully against her mahogany skin. A huge smile spreads across her round face and it’s so contagious that I cannot resist smiling back. “Alright, dear one. Shall we proceed to your room?”
“Yes.” I stare over her shoulder at the new healer’s apprentice. “I wasn’t aware that you were getting an apprentice.”
“Neither was I,” she says, keeping her voice down. “But with the recent disease outbreaks across Mainland, Lord Iywan thought I could use the additional help.”
“Do we have any more information on that yet?”
The apprentice woman is working unhurriedly, her sidelong stare making me clench my jaw to avoid telling her to stop eavesdropping.
“I’m afraid not,” says Alys. “It’s very odd.”
The apprentice is still listening. I want to throw something at her. “You, apprentice girl. Don’t you have other tasks to do?”
“I do, Your Highness.”
Alys tilts her head into my view, brows lifted. “Be nice.” Her voice is quiet, melodious.
“I am.” I flash her a strained smile. “There’s something I need to discuss with you. In private.” This time I keep my voice lowered.
Alys nods. “Briony, I’ll be right back. Please help Vaughn dose out the serums.”
“Yes, Lady Alys.”
Alys presses her hand gently against the small of my back. “Let’s walk.”
As we step out into the hall again, Callum flashes a charming smile at Alys. “You look well, Lady Alys.”
Big flirt.
Alys laughs lightly. “You are too kind, Callum.”
