“Here.” She took my hand. “Stop nibbling at it. You’re making it worse.” She drew a pair of scissors from her pocket and snipped off the hangnail. A bright bead of blood spread spiderish legs in the whorls of my fingerprints.
“Ouch.”
“Well, better than peeling all the skin off yourself.” She put away her scissors. “I’m to help you dress and then take you to see Milady. She has engaged a lady’s maid for you. A proper one, all the way from Quell, no less!”
“Oh,” I said dully.
She patted my hand. “It’s a good thing. You will have one companion, rather than the rest of us taking turns.”
I gave her a weak smile. She was kind.
“Now, let’s get you ready. Would you like the green today or the puce?”
“I’d like to stay away from anything with a name like ‘puce.’”
“Green it is.”
I entered Milady’s chambers reluctantly when I had dressed. She sat in her armchair, sipping at a cup of tea. A diminutive figure stood beside her in a plain gray gown.
“Ah, Netta,” she said pleasantly. “I have engaged a private lady’s maid for you, to help with your toilette.”
I had spared the other woman barely a glance, so focused was I on Milady—in the same way you focus on a dangerous animal, to anticipate its next move—but now I looked, just as Milady lowered her eyes to her teacup. Familiar bright brown eyes glinted at me from under a white mobcap.
Mieka!
She put a finger to her mouth, warning me to be quiet. When Milady turned back to her, she was smiling again. I didn’t know how she managed to make her sharp, clever face look so bland, but anyone looking at her now would probably have labeled her as being a bit simple. Milady certainly seemedto have decided so, as she spoke to her a little more slowly than she would normally.
“Perhaps … What was your name again, dear?”
“Matilda, my lady,” said Mieka, bobbing a quick, deliberately clumsy curtsey.
“Perhaps Matilda will succeed where the other maids have not. She comes highly recommended, particularly when it comes to the dressing of hair. Which is what we need most, of course.” She stood and reached out to smooth my Hair from my brow. It flinched from her touch.
“Yes, Milady,” I forced myself to say. I even managed an approximation of a smile. Milady took my hand in hers and patted it.
“Excellent. Now, Matilda will accompany you to your chambers and familiarize herself with your things.”
I felt like I would burst as we walked back to my room together in silence, Mieka a few steps behind. My heart beat against my ribs as if it was trying to escape. As soon as we had closed the door behind us, I spun round and hugged her as tightly as I could.
“Mieka.” I could barely get the words out. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Where’s your bird?”
I held her at arms’ length, blinking back my tears. “She won’t let Baldbeak in the house,” I said. “He’s living in the trees outside. Oh, Mieka, what are you doing here? How on earth did yougethere? You don’t know what she’s like. It’s not safe.”
“Hush.” She sat on the bed and patted a spot beside her. “Patrick sent me.”
I froze.
“Patrick? Why?”
“I know you don’t believe me, but he really does want to help you.”
“Mieka,” I said. “He was fostered into my mother’s family. There was some kind of fight, a betrayal … I don’t know exactly what happened, but both Mother and Milady told me that he wants nothing more than to see our family destroyed. How can I possibly trust him? If he really, genuinely wants to help, why didn’t he tell me any of that himself?”
Mieka shook her head. “I don’t know about any of that. But he sent me, didn’t he?”
“I don’t trust him.”
