The prints stop. For a moment, I think it’s gone.
A sudden weight slams into my chest, heated jaws closing over my throat as I fall back onto the dirt.
I bolt up out of bed, grabbing my throat and taking a wheezing breath. As I rub my fingers over the skin, there’s a tenderness there.
I have to start humming to calm my nerves the rest of the morning. Especially once I’ve been led to the bathroom by the lady’s maids. They help me bathe, dry me, and slip me into a chemise.
When I finally look at myself in the mirror as the lead lady’s maid brushes my hair, I notice faint marks along the column of my neck.
“Lyra, are you alright?” the lead lady’s maid—Nora, I’ve learned—asks softly. When I look at her finally, she smiles. “Do you still feel ill?”
I force a small grin. “No, I’m quite well, thank you. Nerves, I think.”
She drops her hand from my face, eyes scanning my throat. Gently, she traces the outside of them. “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Not that I recall, why?”
She frowns, cocking her head to the side. “Have you been scratching your throat?”
“Not that I know of…” I whisper.
“Hmm, could be a reaction to the pain medication, then.”
I nod, taking my eyes off hers to my hands in my lap. I’m really trying to accept her theory.
The other two lady’s maids come into the bathroom with multiple gowns to choose from. Nora finishes pinning my hair and helps me stand. All four gowns they present me with are blue.
I shake my head, looking at Nora. “Do you have…anything else to choose from?”
Her gray eyebrows scrunch together. “Why? These are the finest-made gowns. Is there something wrong with them?”
Taking my gaze out of hers, I gently brush a finger over one of the skirts. “Do you have anything in a different color? Something other than blue?”
“Blue brings out the color in your eyes…” she answers. “It’s your color.”
“What do you mean,mycolor?” Dropping my hand from the dress I turn to her.
One of the other lady’s maids chirps, “We do have one other that isn’t blue in the wardrobe.”
Nora flips her attention back and forth between us. “Alright. Let her choose, then.”
The maid who suggested another dress scurries away and returns with a cream-colored one littered with dainty pale pink and blue flowers on the light fabric.
Nora motions to it and the other two blue gowns the other lady’s maid holds. “Lady Bethany will have my head if we don’t have you out of here within the next few minutes. So choose quickly.”
I change into the cream-colored one. The maids sweep me out of theroom into the hallway, where other women are also exiting their rooms to my left and right. Across the crowd, I catch the brown eyes of Marcella, before the others shuffle between us, blocking my vision of her. Once we get to the dining room, we all descend the steps and take our normal seats. Marcella to my left. Aelia across from me, who tosses timid glances at the both of us.
“I’ve missed you two,” she whispers. “I’m glad to see you back.”
We both nod, keeping our eyes down as Lady Bethany circles around to the head of the table.
She clasps her hands, smiling at me and Marcella. “Well done, girls. I applaud you all for your timely arrivals. As a reminder, you are here to compete for the hand of the King. And as our time here goes on, our challenges shall only become more difficult.”
She circles around the table, coming to stop behind us. Leaning forward, she rests her hands on the back of our chairs, her head between us as she whispers, “I trust you two will now adhere to all our rules?”
“Yes, Lady Bethany,” we say in unison, our gazes on the table before us.
“Good!” Her smile peaks with her voice. Then, she straightens and regains her position at the head of the table nearest us. “You two will not mind that I sit here beside you, then?”
