Nelly winced. “Actually, no. There’s just no one else at such last minute’s notice. Also, others are actually useful and important, whereas Head Cook is glad to be rid of me if only for a bit.”
“Oh?”
“I was supposed to be a lady’s maid at first,” Nelly continued. “But I was quickly moved to the kitchens. It turns out I have extremely bad taste, with a tendency toward large ruffles sure to overpower any figure and a love of clashing colors.” Her eyes darted to the door. “I did take the liberty of bringing along an expert. May I admit him?”
A man. I was sure it was against protocol to have a man in my bedroom while I was wearing almost nothing, but at this point, I was desperate. I couldn’t meet the king in this bathrobe. They’d surely find me unworthy of Flame. The easiest thing to do would be to kill me so the tygress would be free to re-Bond with someone they found more suitable. The food I had eaten felt like a stone in my stomach.
At my nod, Nelly went to the door and opened it.
My jaw went slack.
A child walked in, skinny with a sharp triangular face, freckles, and pale green eyes that thoroughly scanned me. Underneath his cloak, his overalls were too short for him and his bony wrists stuck out from under his rough shirt.
“This is Thyme, lady,” Nelly said. “He’s my first cousin.”
“She’s not a lady,” Thyme said. His voice was high and clear.
“How old are you?” I asked, feeling faint. I was done for. My design team consisted of an eighteen-year-old with no filter and a spindly underfed boy. I had no doubt that when I was presented to His Majesty, I would promptly be put to death.
In a bathrobe.
“I am a Rabbit.” His eyes drifted toward the low table, where the remnants of my meal remained.
Born in the Year of the Rabbit. The expert was thirteen years old.
Edith snorted but hid her smile behind her tea. I sighed and jerked my head toward the fireplace. “Are you two hungry? Go ahead and eat.”
Thyme gave me a quick assessing look, then darted to the table and started shoving food in his mouth. Holding up my long robe so I wouldn’t trip over it, I joined him and gestured for Nelly to come over. If I was going to die tomorrow, I might as well feed a couple of famished kids before I perished.
“Thyme, what do you normally do?”
He replied, with his mouth full of egg tart, “I’m an Ambush Cub.”
Which meant he helped with the tygers, was probably an apprentice of some sort.
“And what made Nelly here think you might be an expert in getting me dressed to appear before the king?”
“Six older sisters.” He swallowed and took a gulp of tea out of the bowl he’d poured it in. With his hunger and thirst sated, he eyed me. “Stand up.”
I did as he said. Thyme paced a slow circle around me.
Finally, he spoke: “Large, luminous eyes, clearly your best feature. Fine bone structure. Too thin, but can be disguised with the right dress, perhaps something with a sweetheart neckline, billowing sleeves, and a tight bodice.”
Nelly nodded, eyes enchanted as she watched. “Something nice and bright?” she asked hopefully.
“We must be careful not to clash with her hair.” He nodded, then snapped his fingers. “Nelly, go and tell Lady Harper’s maid the Ambush Master requires the dark plum dress the second daughter wore to the Autumn Harvest two years ago. Say you need their accessories as well: undergarments, shoes, all of it. Especially any glyphs you can squeeze out of them.”
I blinked at him. Nelly scurried out the door. Thyme crossed over to the chests and started rooting through them until he dug out a flat box.
“What’s that?” I asked.
In answer, he pulled a chair up to the window and gestured for me to sit in it. He opened the box, revealing several little jars and brushes.
“Close your eyes.”
I felt him brushing some sort of powder on my eyelids. I stayed still as he applied the cosmetics onto my skin and lips.
I heard the door open and then Nelly’s voice: “Oh, that nasty maid didn’t want to give it to me, but I said, ‘The Ambush Master is going to let his tygers eat you, see if he won’t,’ and then she gave me everything quick enough. Then she said to go ahead and take it all because she’d rather die, she would, than have to lay eyes on me again.”
