Cressyda felt a rush of woozy relief.
It was gone.
But her body still shook with the shock. She could not forget that horrible, ghostly face, awful and gaunt. It was different from the creature she sometimes saw in the nursery, which was squat and bandy-legged with talons like long, curved needles. And unlike the shadow that haunted the south turret, which was tiny and slithering with a deep, whistly voice. This creature had looked almost like a woman.
‘Princess?’
She turned to Master Jakespurcia, every muscle in her body rigid,and forced herself to meet his gaze. Her breathing was ragged, each inhale catching in her chest, but she wrestled it into something that resembled calm. Summoning what little composure she had left, she shaped her trembling lips into a smile.
‘I just … I just felt sick, Master,’ she said.
He watched her closely. Something like suspicion flashed across his features.
‘Are you all right, Princess? Did you …seesomething?’
Cressyda did not want to tell Master Jakespurcia about the shadows. Instinctively she knew it was not something that she should share with anyone. Least of all a Master. Besides, she was not sure she could even explain what it was that she saw and heard. All she knew was that it was strange and horrible – it was wrong.
‘I saw nothing, Master.’
‘Are you sure—’
But Cressyda was already hurrying away, her tight, stiff clothes rustling. ‘I saw nothing,’ she called again over her shoulder. ‘Nothing!’
Alinore
ALINORE STOOD ONthe battlements of Syonno Castle, peering down at the thickening crowd below. It was a raucous, swelling mass that filled the cobbled square, pressing against the gates of the castle in the warm spring sunshine. Guards patrolled its edges, their livery dashes of purple in the surge of murkiness. Occasionally a sword was drawn to threaten a particularly disorderly cluster of revellers.
‘It’s horrible, isn’t it?’ said a voice from behind her.
Alinore jumped.
‘Father says they’re all from the lower parts of the city – the Pits. On the day of the Maiden Sacrifice they start drinking from the break of dawn and don’t stop until the sun sets.’
Prince Ottone rested his elbows in the crenel beside her. He was dressed in pearl-studded velvet which she guessed must be in preparation for the midday parade. The garment was very fine yet somehow looked tight and awkward on him.
‘Peace be with Your Highness, Prince Ottone Donolaino ofCalestra,’ said Alinore, hurriedly bending into one of her flouncy curtseys.
‘Don’t bother with that if it’s just me.’
Alinore was not sure what her father would think of such familiarities. It had been a moon since he had left to fight in the High King’s army and in his first letter, received a few days ago, he had reminded her that she was a guest at Syonno Castle and must behave accordingly.
‘I like your curtsey,’ Prince Ottone added. ‘I’ve never seen anyone do it like that.’
‘Thank you. My maid keeps trying to stop me. She says it’s unseemly. But she’s leaving soon so I suppose I don’t have to listen to her.’
‘She’s returning to your home?’
Alinore nodded. ‘She only stayed here to settle me in.’
It would be nice not to have someone always picking and snipping at her, but without her maid, Alinore worried that she would feel lost. So far, she had spent her days at Syonno Castle at the edges of the Queen’s household, trailing the fine ladies from room to room, mostly idle, or penned up in the guest quarters under the supervision of a lady-in-waiting, badly embroidering cushions.
‘Would you like to return home too?’ asked Prince Ottone.
Yes,Alinore longed to reply, but she knew that was not what her father would want her to say. It had been exciting at first, travelling north and staying in a royal castle. But then her father had left to fight with Lord Lassiaro against the Journian rebels, and now she was stuck here alone until he returned.
‘It’s an honour to be a guest of His Majesty King Borto,’ she parroted.
Prince Ottone tilted his head and a slight breeze ruffled the blackcurls that sprang like a mane around his face. ‘I thought I should check on you because yesterday during service in the Sanctuary it looked like—’
