As I made my way down the slope, I glanced back at the dark forest repeatedly. A strange sense of foreboding underscored with odd excitement simmered under the surface of my skin. A prickle skimmed my entire body, and although I attempted to shake the feeling loose, it clung to me. I couldn’t grasp where it originated, but it dug into my flesh with no chance of escape.
Terym and Orcan, along with the other men, were nowhere in sight. Only the captain, who I now knew as Gensen, waited on the border of camp accompanied by two servants. I dismounted the horse on shaky legs, and he introduced us to the two women.
“This is Wistari and Meline. They’ll be taking care of you while you’re here.”
The two women smiled during their introduction. Wistari appeared around the same age as me, maybe a few years older. Her honey hair pulled back into a tight bun, not unlike the way I wore my own, her polite smile a little strained as she assessed us. Meline had to be at least fifty, her kind round face reminded me of Madame Dee, which tugged on a small thread in my chest. I hadn’t said goodbye to the woman who had shown us nothing but kindness from the moment we arrived in Toreshire.
Wistari and Meline grabbed the bags tied to our horses’ saddles, and once they were clear, Pierce gripped the reins of both mares and offered us an inclined head.
“Thank you for being our guide,” I said before he turned away. He had been by our side since we left Toreshire, and I was grateful for his company on the journey.
“It’s been a pleasure, miss,” he grunted before stalking away, all three horses trailing behind him.
Gensen left us in the capable hands of Wistari and Meline, who led us to our tent. Eleanor immediately pestered the women with questions. “How long have you been here? Where are we? Do you know much about the king? Gods, that smells amazing!”
I chuckled at her endless questions; she didn’t stop to give the women time to respond, moving onto the next question after voicing one.
The farther into camp we traveled, the more attention we drew. Several men and women stopped what they were doing to stare, some whispering to each other or looking us up and down with disapproval. I inched closer to Eleanor, scanning our surroundings and searching for any threat of harm against her. My sister was completely oblivious, taking in the camp with a wide grin.
At last, we reached two identical circular tents, the blue canvas similar to the traveling carnival which passed through Toreshire last year. Meline ducked into one while Wistari held the entrance to the other open.
“We’re not sharing?” I asked, my voice rising slightly at the idea of us being separated, of her being where I couldn’t keep her safe. We never slept in separate rooms, not since our parents died. I had always been there for Eleanor, ready to hold her as she cried herself to sleep or when she awoke from a bad dream. Her presence sometimes kept my own nightmares at bay.
“No, Miss Adelia,” Wistari stated, patiently waiting beside the entrance.
“I’m right next to you, Lia, nothing is going to happen because we’re in separate tents,” Eleanor said before I could protest the sleeping arrangements, her tone laced with exasperation. She had been begging for more independence since her eighteenthbirthday a few months before, so she was jumping at the chance for it now.
I gripped her shoulder before she could enter her tent where Meline waited. “She’ll be perfectly safe, Miss Adelia. No one would dare touch the king’s most esteemed guests. I’m told she’ll be assigned a guard as well. He’s on his way.”
Although the king keeping his word appeased me slightly, I couldn’t trust the men he assigned for Eleanor’s protection entirely. No one could be trusted.
“See. I’ll be fine.” I stared into my sister’s hazel eyes imploring me to let her do this, then I drew her into a hug, squeezing her tightly. The last week had been such a whirlwind, we were on unsteady ground, and the last thing I wanted was to let her go. She didn’t understand and wouldn’t know the stakes until I told her. All she saw was her older sister smothering her.
“Come see me after you get cleaned up. I’ll brush your hair,” I said when I pulled back. Her features softened and she nodded. I watched her enter the tent, not taking my eyes off the entrance until Meline fastened it closed.
Only when Wistari called my name again, did I enter my own. Surprisingly spacious, the tent was much larger than it appeared on the outside. The bed, big enough to fit three comfortably, was covered in lush navy blankets and an exorbitant number of pillows. A beautiful privacy screen stood opposite, a floral design of high detail, hiding what I suspected was a bathing tub, given the steam rising behind it.
How disgustingly pretentious it all was. There were people begging on streets, and the king lived like this while he traveled. I didn’t even want to consider what the castle in Prallues held.
Tucked just in front of the privacy screen, a small round table was set for one, though there were two chairs. “Can Eleanor eat with me?” I asked Wistari when I spotted it.
“Of course, Miss Adelia. Would you like to bathe first? The water is ready.”
“Yes please,” I groaned. After days of nonstop travel, sweat and grime covered every inch of my skin, and I couldn’t wait to clean it off. I followed Wistari behind the flowered screen to find a decently sized tub, the steaming water and scent of lavender inviting me to relax.
Before I could reach for my jacket buttons, Wistari’s fingers were there, plucking them open with fast precision. I stood frozen, utterly flabbergasted while she undressed me. When she went to push the garment from my shoulders, I came to my senses, stepping out of reach.
“Miss Adelia, is something wrong?” she asked, eyebrows drawn together slightly.
“I’m quite capable of undressing myself,” I said, cringing internally at the bite in my tone. She was just doing her job, even if I thought it was ludicrous. Nobles truly were a bunch of conceited pricks.
“If you prefer.”
She waited while I undressed, and I sighed as the dirty clothes fell from my body. I stepped into the warm water, using Wistari’s hand for balance. When I submerged myself, settling back, she took my arm and ran a soapy cloth over it.
I yanked out of her grasp, causing water to slosh over the lip of the tub. Guilt settled in my gut at the alarmed expression on her face.
“I’m sorry!” I rushed out. “It’s just … Do people really expect you to wash them?” Incredulity soaked my voice, and her lips curved slightly in the corner.
