I tore my eyes away from my red palm and looked up. Duchess Hyton stood above me with an upturned golden goblet in her hand. A drop of deep red wine dripped from the goblet’s rim onto my skirt.
I let out a small sigh of relief. Just wine. Just an accident. No one had discovered my secret.
Derrick knelt to help me up, but Duchess Hyton grabbed me by the elbow and hauled me to my feet.
Her blue eyes raked over my dress. “Oh dear, what a mess. We need to get you cleaned up right away.”
“Mama—” Derrick protested, but Duchess Hyton waved him off.
“Hush.” She started to pull me away and looked over her shoulder. “Keep playing, lest your damn father think I caused a scene.”
Before I could help it, I flicked my eyes up to the dais. Duke Hyton was looking right at us and rising from his throne.
Shit,no!I needed to look innocent, needed to hide, needed…
I turned back to Derrick, silently begging him to keep his father away.
Derrick looked from his mother to me.“But—”
“Perform,” Duchess Hyton hissed across her teeth. “You know your role.”
A few voices rang out, demanding that the music return. Derrick swallowed his words as his mother dragged me off the dance floor. His eyes did not leave me as he lifted his violin to his shoulder again. Derrick grew smaller and smaller until he had completely disappeared in the crowd.
As soon as my eyes left Derrick’s, my stomach knotted. Duchess Hyton pulled on my arm with more insistence than just someone wanting to clean a dress. Her feet hit the tile too strongly for her to be pulling some drunken antic.
Duchess Hyton was not escorting me, she wastakingme.
Duchess Hyton kept a strong grip on my arm as she tugged me through the palace halls. I tried to explain that a maid could escort me to appropriate quarters, but she had none of it.
“We have a room ready for you,” Duchess Hyton said as she kept her eyes forward. “Now that the whole palace knows Sir Bloodstone is not joining us, I can finally burn that disgusting giant mattress my husband had put together.”
I hoped the “room” the Duchess mentioned was not a dungeon, but I forced myself to keep calm. I came to the palace with an invitation, I had not performed any sorcery, and I at least appeared completely innocent. So long as I kept my mouth shut, I should be fine.
After climbing three flights of stairs, Duchess Hyton walked me down a hall with blue carpeted runners that I recognized as the royal family quarters. A couple of maids opened a pair of doors and soon I was in a small room with a porcelain tub in the center.
At least Duchess Hyton had taken me to a bathing chamber instead of a cell in the Western tower. The room was paperedwith a pattern of blue birds soaring through pink damask. Fresh white and lavender blooms puffed out of vases like clouds.
Although appearances could be deceiving.
Duchess Hyton slumped onto a cushioned stool near the tub. Her voice was dry as parchment. “She had an accident. Clean her up.”
I pursed my lips. I did not expect company while I bathed, but apparently privacy was a luxury only the poor could afford.
One maid unlaced my dress while two others filled the tub with steaming water from a kettle.
I dared to look at Duchess Hyton again. She took long sips from her golden goblet while peering over the rim at me.
I threw my gaze down to the pink patterned rug. Hopefully the Duchess was just thrusting me into an odd post-Selection Night ritual like Gerond and Myles had done with their kisses.
The maid freed me of my dress and undergarments. I crossed my arms over my breasts and kept my eyes down as I stepped into the tub. The warm water on my skin felt like paradise.
The door clicked open and Brietta walked in. I gritted my teeth and tightened my folded arms. Who else was going to watch me bathe?
Brietta’s hands were tightly clasped in front of her belly as she kept her eyes on Duchess Hyton. “We collected her clothes.”
Two maids appeared behind Brietta and placed my trunk on the floor.
I gripped the edge of the tub but kept my face still. My Nordingaard crystal was in that trunk.
