Drip.
Sixty-four.
Drip.
Sixty-five.
In the pitch black of the dungeon cell, Katin sat with her back against the wall and her legs drawn up before her. There was no light here, and no sound save for seeping water, gathering and splashing onto the floor somewhere. She had counted—drip—sixty-six drips since she’d started. Or since she’d last started over. Sometimes she lost count. Sometimes she fell asleep between drips, and woke to find a blaze of light from the cell door as a meal tray was slid in for her.
Eight meals had been delivered. Or was it ten? Or twelve? Or maybe that was the number of times she’d relieved herself in the corner, where a pipe let in air that was foul, but at least not stale.
Footsteps scraped the stone outside in the hall. Voices spoke, and she would have laughed when she realized she could understand words, if her throat had not been dry, her eyes sore from crying. “Is this it?” came a woman’s voice. What was a woman doing down here? A dungeon is no place for a woman.
“Yes, your highness.” A man’s voice. The door opened, and the light of a lamp dazzled Katin. She threw her hands up before her.
“Oh dear,” said the woman again. “Oh dear, oh dear, what has he done to you? Hush, it’s all right.” Soft hands on her arms helped Katin to her feet and guided her from the cell. Katin did not struggle.
She was taken to another chamber, still within the dark, stained stone of the dungeon, but there were no bars here. Only a table and some chairs, and a cup of water. The cup was pressed into her hands, and she drank. A moment’s clarity struck her. Why would the Caretaker do this to her? To Amira? They had been safe, in their little manse, until that monster had come along. Katin wanted to scream.
Her eyes had adjusted to the lamplight. Across the table from her sat a young woman, perhaps the same age as her. Beautiful, slender, a face that could heap scorn with only a slight twist of the mouth, but that for now looked only gentle and lovely. It took Katin some minutes to calm, and not until the third time she looked at the young woman did Katin realize that a silver circlet sat atop her head, with an emerald centered in it. Katin at last recognized Princess Taya Relindos.
She gasped and fell to her knees. “Your highness,” she croaked, and coughed.
Princess Taya laughed, a sound of warmth and happiness Katin had forgotten existed. “Please, my dear, do not strain yourself. You have gone through quite some trouble, as I understand.” She sighed and looked up at another woman, who must be her vala. The vala was severe, her arms crossed tight, a freckled face below red hair pulled into a bun. “We will take her to my chambers. This is no place for her.”
The vala’s frown deepened. “Are you certain, your highness?”
Taya ignored her and looked at Katin again. “Your name is Katin, yes? Listen to me. I have heard some of what my brother, King Edon, did in Hedenham. I know he brought you back from there. You are the vala of Lady Amira Estaile, is that right?”
Katin froze. Why was the princess here? Had Edon sent her? Edon had interrogated Katin each night when his little army stopped on the road, but she’d played stupid, the same as she had when he’d abducted them all the day after the summer ball. She’d pretended to know nothing of Amira’s power. She’d been terrified that Edon would rape her or kill her, but he had never so much as raised his voice.
Katin had hoped that she’d be turned loose when they arrived in Callaston, maybe sent back to Amira’s manse. But instead they’d gone straight to the palace, and Katin was taken to the dungeons. To await what fate, she had no idea.
And now the princess had come for her. Play stupid. “Where am I?” Katin whispered around a tongue that still felt caked in dry saliva.
“In the dungeons beneath Elibarran,” Taya said. “I think my brother did not know what to do with you.”
“That’d be a first,” her vala quipped.
Taya ignored her. “Katin. I need your help, to undo some of the damage my foolish brother has done. I have little power myself, but I can do this.” She nodded, so certain of herself, and gestured to her vala. “We will take you out of here.”
The frowning vala produced a servant’s dress in roughly Katin’s size. She helped Katin remove her own filthy dress, soiled with days of travel and waste, and put on a fresh shift and the replacement dress. Taya nodded approvingly. “You will pass for a servant until we reach my chambers. The jailer has been paid. He will say nothing of this.”
Katin had so many questions, but she held her tongue. She would not do anything that would delay her leaving this place of black spirits. The vala, who Taya introduced as Juliet, led the way out, guiding Katin up narrow stone steps until they emerged through a wooden door banded in iron. They seemed to be back in the palace proper, and Katin almost cried again when she saw sunlight, real sunlight, filtering in through a high window.
Two guards joined them, appearing out of nowhere and trailing along behind Katin as she followed Taya and Juliet through the palace. The men had faces blank as stone, but their eyes moved ceaselessly, watching for any threat to their princess.
Taya’s chambers were high in the palace, overlooking the gardens. The guards stayed outside as Taya took Katin into the antechamber. Doorways led off to a sitting room, sun room, and bedchamber, which had a wardrobe and a small cell adjacent for the princess’s vala. A narrow corridor led to the privy, tucked away in a corner.
Katin stood in the antechamber, shifting uncomfortably in her servant’s dress. When Juliet closed the door behind them, Katin let out a shuddering sob.
“Shh, it’s all right,” Taya said, coming to her side. “You are safe here. Come, sit. We have much to talk about.”
Katin was taken into the sun room and set in a chair by the window. Bright sunlight flowed in, doing wonders for her spirit. She still hadn’t said much; she wondered if she could keep up the façade of stupidity. She would try, at least, until she could determine what Taya wanted with her.
“Now, Katin.” Taya sat in another chair opposite her. Juliet stood watch by the door. Katin had seen no other servants in Taya’s chambers, but she appreciated the vala’s caution. “I have pieced together much of what happened in Hedenham, but frankly a lot of it is quite hard to swallow. I must know why his majesty is so interested in your mistress.”
Katin blinked. “My… Lady Amira? Do you know where she is?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. My brother is very interested in finding her, but I don’t know why.”
Katin kept her face slack. “I don’t know what you mean. Does his majesty know where m’lady is?”
Juliet glanced at her, disbelief on her face. “She cannot be serious.”
Taya took a measured breath and leaned back, steepling her fingers. “Once I found out that Edon had brought you back from Hedenham, I went and did a little research. I know that your lady was married to the late Valmir Estaile, and that they were granted peerage last year. Lord Estaile was a cautious, cunning, and thorough man, according to all who knew him. He would never have let his wife take a vala as stupid as you seem to be, no matter how long you’d known her.”
Katin’s head jerked up a tiny fraction. She was astonished at how much Taya knew, this princess who was renowned only for her interest in casual diversions. But she kept her face slack, and shrugged. “Have I upset your highness?” she said in a small voice.
“I am not upset yet,” Taya said, but there was an unmistakable snap to it. “But if you continue this ridiculous game, I may yet become so.” She sighed and lowered her voice. “I apologize. I do not mean to frighten you. But Edon is clearly mad. If I am to help you, and help your lady, and help the realm, I must know what is going on. Please. Let me help you.”
She seemed sincere, but Katin had known women who could make a man they’d known five minutes believe that they were deeply in love with him. Still, Taya did seem to want to help…
After a moment, Katin straightened up and took a composing breath. “I apologize as well
, your highness. Your brother is terrifying. This act was all I could think of to keep him from… hurting me.”
“You’re lucky,” Juliet said. “He might have done it anyway, had he suspected you knew something.”
“His majesty is preoccupied of late,” Taya said over her shoulder. She turned back to Katin. “Thank you for trusting me. This far, at least. Now, I must ask again: Why is Edon so interested in your mistress? Is it because of this power they share?”
Katin gasped, and tried to stop herself, but it was too late. She turned her face away in a futile effort, then sighed and turned back to face the princess.
She expected to see scorn or triumph, but saw only compassion. If Taya already knew about the power… “Why do you want to help Lady Amira?”
“Because my brother wishes to hurt her,” Taya said flatly. “And that makes her my sister. I gather she has the means to defend herself, with this power—which I confess I do not even begin to understand—but she is only one woman, and Edon has the whole strength of the realm to turn against her.” She’d begun to turn red, and her voice grew clipped. When she finished speaking, she turned her face away from Katin slightly, and her nostrils flared. After a few moments she looked at Katin again. “I want to find her before Edon does. I want her to know that she has allies in this palace.”
She seemed sincere. Katin’s mind warred over whether to trust her. “Could you free me, if I help you? Your highness,” she added quickly.
“You bargain with a princess?” Juliet snorted.
Taya waved over her shoulder. “Such a thing could be arranged, though I cannot make extravagant promises. This,” she glanced around, “is something of a sanctuary, but the palace at large is not under my control.”
Katin stared down at her hands. What choice did she have? If she refused to help the princess, she’d end up back in the dungeon. She could lie to Taya, but the princess seemed to know so much already. If Katin was caught out in a lie…
As much as it tore at her, she had no choice but to trust Taya. In for a copper, in for a crown. “Amira does have a power similar to E—his majesty. She is not nearly as strong, though. He was able to tear down the walls of Foxhill Keep with merely a thought.”
Taya raised an eyebrow. “You saw this?”
Katin nodded, remembering the great thunderclap that knocked her down, the terror of a monster in the dark smashing the walls of the keep with invisible fists. “He destroyed the wooden gate with a single blast, and collapsed a corner tower with another. My lady… my lady and Lord Dardan escaped, after Count Asmus led a feint to distract his majesty.”
There was no need to mention her own attempt to escape alongside Amira. Katin had gotten separated from Amira in the darkness and chaos, and then her horse had reared, and she’d had to slide off or risk being thrown. The horse bolted, and Katin had no choice but to scramble back down into the moat. She’d gone back in through the gate, found her discarded clothes, and changed back, knowing that if she were found in men’s clothes, Edon would assume she’d been up to no good and probably have her head off.
She’d gone back into the keep and found Calys hiding under a staircase. Katin joined her, saying nothing, and waited for the inevitable. After near an hour, soldiers had come into the keep, and soon found them cowering under the stairs. They’d been taken out into the field and into a tent, one of many that had already been erected. A short while later, Katin had been taken alone to a much larger tent. Edon was there, and he recognized Katin. He questioned her in the presence of several Wardens and knights, but Katin played just as stupid as before. Edon had asked where Amira and Dardan had gone. Katin had nearly been overcome—they’d escaped! But she was terrified to be surrounded by all these armed men, and by Edon himself, and she was able to hide her joy. She claimed that she did not know where Amira was; her lady had sent her back into the keep to hide with Calys.
There was no one to gainsay her. Calys had not been privy to their escape plan, and Katin overheard someone say that every man who’d gone out on the charge was dead. She did not hold in her tears at this. Asmus. Old Ban. Liam. She was taken back to the tent, but Calys was gone, and she did not see the girl again.
———
Katin told Taya what she could about Amira’s power. The princess seemed disappointed that Amira could not tear down castles as Edon could.
“Now. Do you know where she went?” Taya asked after Katin finished her explanation.
Katin shook her head. “Count Asmus insisted that she not tell us her destination. I only know that she and Dardan escaped, because his majesty asked after them.” She’d seen the rest of the bodies in the gray morning light, dumped in a pile. Count Asmus. Guards and retainers. Liam must have been somewhere in that pile. A nightmare of blood and death. The memory twisted her insides. “May I ask… what happened to King Viktor?”
Taya’s lips set, and Katin was afraid she’d made a mistake, but the princess spoke after a moment. She laid out a story of vengeance and murder, Edon returning unheralded and seizing the throne from his father, swiftly and brutally. The princess could not hold in her own tears, and wept freely.
They spoke for a while longer, tentative exchanges about what Taya knew of royal doings, what Katin knew of Amira and Dardan and Hedenham. Taya clearly sought clues about where they might have gone, but Katin had no information to give.
The princess seemed satisfied with the general truth—that aside from her mysterious power, Amira was an ordinary noblewoman who had gone to a lord’s country manor as part of courting. All those weeks in Hedenham seemed so frivolous and irrelevant to Katin now.
Taya clapped her hands together suddenly. “Well. I’m famished, and you must be as well. We’ll have food brought here.” She stood up, and Katin leapt to her feet.
“Your highness, I cannot thank you enough for… rescuing me from that place. When…” She gulped. “When might I be let go?”
Taya tapped her lips. “Hm. For now, you must stay here, in my chambers. There are others who would try to learn what I have, through significantly less pleasant means. It will not be possible to arrange your release while Edon is here. He may yet go off in search of Lady Amira again. But while you do remain here, we will need a story to cover it.” She looked at Katin, then gazed up and down, as if sizing her up. Her smile brightened, and now it had an edge that Katin had not seen before. “I have it. We will spread the rumor that you are my bedgirl.”
“What!” Juliet shouted, just as Katin gasped.
“Oh, hush, the both of you,” Taya snapped. “It is only a ruse. And here I’d thought I’d shed my governess when I came of age,” she said, glaring at Juliet. The vala was red-faced, and did not shrink back from the princess’s gaze.
“I’m sorry, your highness,” Katin said. “But that seems quite… risky, for one of your station.”
“Princesses can do what they like, if they have the stones for it,” Taya said. “I’m afraid you’ll have to dress the part, though. When my maids see you in the right garb, the gossip will take care of itself.”
Katin reeled. She knew that some nobles took bedgirls, but a princess… “Won’t King Edon be upset that you’ve brought me here?”
“Let me worry about that. His majesty has bigger concerns. If he does discover you’re here… well, you won’t be in much worse a position than you were before.” She stepped close to Katin and ran a finger across her neck.
Katin shuddered. Suddenly her view of Taya shifted terribly. Until moments before, Taya had been warm, lovely, helpful. There was something cruel in her touch, as light as it was. This slight girl frightened her in a way that the hulking Edon never had.
Taya just smiled. “Juliet, see that our guest is cleaned up.” She smiled at Katin and then disappeared out into the antechamber.
Juliet, glowering, told Katin to stay put until she came to fetch her. When the vala left, Katin breathed a sigh of relief she hadn’t known she’d been holding in. Safety. Of a sort. She did not e
xpect it to last.
After a while Juliet returned and took her to Taya’s bedchamber. Katin saw now that it had its own bathing alcove, and a separate privy for Taya’s use. The bathtub was a brass monstrosity forged in the shape of a swan, and already filled with steaming hot water.
Katin needed no encouragement to strip down and step in. Juliet left her alone as Katin washed, using a bar of rose-scented soap and a long wooden brush to scrub every last speck of dirt from her body. She hadn’t had a proper bath since the day before she’d left for Foxhill Keep. She pushed that memory away; she would not let it ruin her calm just now.
A towel lay folded neatly on the floor beside the tub. No one was around, so when the water had cooled Katin stepped out and dried herself off. Juliet came in a few moments later, with Taya just behind her. “Ah, very good. Now come along.” Katin gulped and followed the princess into her bedchamber.
“You’ll stay in here,” the princess said. “You will have a daily bath and can use the privy, of course, but stay off the balcony during the day. The whole of the palace will soon know I have a bedgirl, and I do not need to flaunt your presence.” She went into her wardrobe while Katin stared around. The princess’s bedchamber was as ornate as one might expect: a huge four-poster and its rich silk brocade curtains, a vanity with a threefold mirror as tall as Katin, a bookshelf with more tomes on it than Katin had ever seen together in one place. The balcony doors were gilt-edged glass among windows that stretched almost the entire length of the outside wall.
“Here we are,” Taya said, and returned with a slip of red silk that was embarrassingly sheer. Katin had worn such things back in Cleavesport, of course, but the memory did not warm her any more than the garment would.
The memory of Taya’s finger on her neck came back to her. Would you prefer the headsman’s axe? Or perhaps Edon would destroy you with his mind, just to save sharpening a blade. She took the dress from Taya and stared at it.
“Well? Try it on. The palace would never believe I would let a bedgirl look anything less than alluring.” The princess’s smile was wicked now.
Katin girded herself and dropped the towel. Juliet stood by the door, her frown deeper than ever, her cheeks burning red, her arms crossed so tightly she looked as if she were trying to stop herself from hitting someone.
But Taya drank her in, eyes travelling from head to toe as Katin carefully donned the wispy silk garment. The princess giggled and clapped when Katin was dressed, and ran off to fetch a pair of red slippers with heels raised high. They were bulky and awkward, and made Katin’s feet hurt, but she was not about to argue with the princess.
“Well done, I think,” Taya said, walking a circle around Katin to examine her from every angle. “We’ll do something with your hair later.” Her enthusiasm was repulsive. At least in Cleavesport, Katin had gotten paid for such things.
“Your highness,” Katin said to Taya, “I’m sorry to interrupt, er, this, but… the food? I haven’t eaten since…” Since the black cells, she’d almost said. Taya’s eyes lit up at once.
“Of course! How silly of me. Even a bedgirl must eat. Juliet, see to it.”
“Yes, your highness,” the vala practically snarled back, and stalked off.
Taya seemed not to mind her vala’s tone. She flounced over to her bed and laughed to herself, kicking off her shoes. “Now. You have done me quite a service today. I promise that I will do everything in my power to protect you from my brother, and to help find your lady. And of course to find a way to get you out of here safely. I do not promise that I can bring a peaceful end to all this; Edon has his own designs, and things may not end well for Amira. But even if that happens, I am confident that you will be safe.”
Katin bowed as low as she could without falling out of the absurd gown. “I cannot thank you enough, your highness. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such a blessing as you.” One thing Katin had learned was that most nobles soaked up praise like sponges soak water.
Taya proved to be no different. She climbed off her bed, came over to Katin, and embraced her. “Fear not. You are safe now.”
Juliet soon returned with Taya’s maids, two old battle-axes who Katin wouldn’t bet against if they were set to wrestle a bear. Taya’s vala had composed herself in her absence, having returned to a plainer scowl.
The maids carried trays of bread, cheese, berries and fruit, and a jug of wine. They were stern and silent and held only scorn in their eyes for Katin.
“Ladies, this is my new guest, Celia,” Taya said, smiling wide at them all. This was the first Katin had heard of a false name for her, but she would remember it. “She is to be treated with honor and dignity.” Katin could hardly meet the eyes of the old women, wondering what they must think of this girl in her revealing gown. Thankfully, Taya dismissed the maids and Juliet closed the door.
Taya glanced out the window. “Dear me. It’ll be time for dinner soon. My brother at least has retained the evening meal for the family while he is in the palace. Not that mother ever attends.” She clucked her tongue.
“I cannot imagine why the Dowager Queen would not wish to dine with the man who killed her husband,” Juliet said.
Taya waved a hand. “Mother can see to her own affairs. Come, help me dress.” She and Juliet vanished into the wardrobe, as Katin sat by the window eating, grateful for real, fresh food. The slop in the dungeon had kept her alive, she supposed, but that was all that could be said in its favor.
The princess returned a short while later, dressed formally in gown and pearls. “My maids will be busy in the other rooms. You may ask them should you need anything. However I would recommend that you retain the ‘stupid act’ when anyone else is present, including the maids. Only the three of us know the truth.”
“Yes, your highness,” Katin said, rising once more and bowing as Taya went out.
“A moment, your highness. I forgot something,” Juliet called. She pushed the door half-closed, but instead of going back to the wardrobe, she stalked over to Katin until they stood eye to eye. “Do not think, even for a moment, that she will be yours,” the red-haired girl growled. She held Katin’s gaze for several more seconds before withdrawing.
Katin watched the vala go. What have I gotten myself into?
———
The screams came through the door, rising in a crescendo before finally dying away. Katin lay on the feather bed in Juliet’s little cell, listening. When the sound was gone, she sat up and waited.
In a few minutes the door opened and Juliet peered through at her. She wore only a silk shift, wrinkled and damp with sweat. Her hair was unbound, red tendrils sticking to her face and shoulders. She said nothing and turned away, leaving the door open.
Katin went out into Princess Taya’s bedchamber. The princess lay on the bed, stark naked, skin glistening and arms askew. She inhaled deeply, sighing a little after each breath. When she heard Katin enter, she propped herself up on one elbow and smiled. “You’re red as a beet. Afraid of what they’ll think of you, hm?”
“No, your highness,” Katin said, truthfully. She wanted everyone to believe the ruse that she was Taya’s bedgirl. As long as nobody connected her with the frightened vala who Edon had stashed in the dungeon, she was safe. Safer, anyway.
The ruse served more than one of Taya’s ends. Upon Taya’s return from dinner that first night, Katin discovered, to her horror, that Taya’s own vala was her bedgirl. Even to Katin, that seemed perverse. Valai were trained to be confidantes, companions, servants, and valets all rolled into one, but sharing her mistress’s bed in that way was madness. Valai had to be rational in order to properly serve their masters, and an intimate romantic attachment was a sure way to subvert that.
Taya was still speaking, and Katin snapped back to the present. “Your highness?”
“I said, it’s so good having you here. Now we don’t have to be quiet any more.” She giggled and looked over at Juliet, who sat on a chair facing the balcony. The door was open and a
cooling breeze came in. The redhead glanced over at her mistress, the faintest of smiles on lips.
Katin could think of no response, so she sat down as well. After a bit, Taya stood up, sweat still dripping from her breasts, and drew a robe around herself. She picked some grapes from the bowl on her desk. “Delicious. There’s nothing sweeter than cold grapes after a good lay.” She giggled again.
Katin had only been here three days, and already she ached for freedom in a way she never had in the dungeon cell. There, at least, she’d been left alone. Here, Taya constantly harassed and teased her, making lewd remarks about the wispy silk dresses she made Katin wear, or ordering her to wait in Juliet’s cell while the vala and her lady were abed. All her warmth and courtesy had melted away, leaving only a cruel core. Taya had at least allowed Katin out onto the balcony, but only after dark, when all the lamps were extinguished so that she wouldn’t be silhouetted.
And she had to sleep beside the princess in her enormous bed, in case someone burst in on them in the middle of the night. The bed was comfortable, and Taya left her alone. Mostly. Katin had woken one morning to find Taya caressing her leg, and shrieked, which had only made Taya laugh.
Just now, Taya seemed in as good a mood as she was likely to be, so Katin made a venture. “Your highness, is there any way I might be permitted to at least visit the gardens? I do so truly appreciate your graciousness toward me, but I have not had a chance to go outside since his majesty brought me to the palace.” She still hoped that Taya would find some way to let Katin escape the palace entirely, but whenever she mentioned it, Taya merely said that they would have to wait at least until Edon left the city. Not that Katin had any idea when that might happen.
“No,” Juliet growled, standing up suddenly. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Oh, hush,” Taya said. She’d wandered over to Juliet, and gave her breast a pinch through her shift. The vala slapped her mistress’s hand away, and Taya chuckled. She turned to look at Katin, popping another grape into her mouth and swallowing it before she replied. “She is right, though. It would be dangerous. The rumor has taken root, and every noble in Callaston now knows I’ve got a bedgirl. So for you to be seen about the palace would be even more scandalous than I could tolerate.”
“There must be some way,” Katin pleaded. “Put me aside, or… perhaps a disguise?”
The princess rolled her eyes. “It’s only been three days, girl. Are you that anxious to be away from the only princess you’re ever likely to meet?”
“I just… I’m not used to this sort of thing, intrigues and being in such danger. I just want to… to be able to breathe a little.” What she really wanted was to escape this place and make for Hedenham, to see if Dardan and Amira had returned, or at least to visit Amira’s manse. The servants must be in despair by now, wondering what had become of their mistress. And poor Sara! She was probably still in Hedenham, cooped up at the Tarians’ manor, frightened out of her wits.
There was a narrow servants’ door in the corner of the antechamber, but unlike the one Amira had used to escape from Prince Edon, this one was kept locked day and night. Taya’s two old maids had keys, tucked deep into the bosoms of their servants’ dress. And they were always together. Katin might be able to overpower one of them, but even that would be risky.
Taya walked over and plopped onto Katin’s lap, running a finger down her cheek. “Be patient, my peach. These intrigues take time to bear fruit.” Katin glanced over at Juliet, who was staring daggers at her, gripping the chair’s armrests so hard her knuckles turned white.
Katin had had enough. She grabbed Taya by the midriff and pushed her off, then stood. “Your highness, I mean no disrespect, but I am not your bedgirl to be toyed with!”
Taya’s slap so surprised Katin that she stumbled and fell to one knee. She began to rise, but Taya’s voice came cold. “I did not give you leave to stand. Now attend me closely, girl.” She bent down, cupping Katin’s chin in one pale hand. “I am helping you, just as you helped me. But I am still your princess, and not to be trifled with.” She pushed Katin’s head away roughly. “Leave me, the both of you.”
She sauntered to her bookshelf and pulled down a tome. Katin stood and followed Juliet to the adjacent cell, meekly closing the door behind her.
Katin wanted to cry. No, I will not. But she did. The tears dripped down onto her silk, soaking through. Would she never be free of this monstrous family?
Juliet sat on her bed, staring. For once, she didn’t look angry. She just watched Katin, her hands folded on her lap, her fiery hair thrown back over bare shoulders.
Katin slid down to the floor, sniffling. It wasn’t the slap or even Taya’s harassment. Katin had been safe. Ensconced in the manse in Callaston, no one paying attention to her, no one threatening her. Growing up on the streets of Cleavesport had meant unending vigilance. There had been no one to protect her, no one to hide her. She’d had to find abandoned attics, hidden cellars, even once an air shaft deep within a merchant’s manse, accessible only by a rope she’d hung down from the parapets above. She’d lived there a month, until one day a maid threw open a window and saw Katin—Karen, then—crouching amidst her stolen bedding and food.
She’d taken a risk with Taya. She’d told herself it was the only way she’d stay alive. Now Amira might be in more danger by Katin’s words, and the thought made her sick.
And so the tears came flooding out. She cried more, but quietly, lest Taya become annoyed by her sobs. Juliet merely watched. Each tear carried away a little of the grief and anxiety, until Katin was left numb.
The cell only had the one narrow bed and a little nightstand with a hand mirror and a brush. Juliet was not the sentimental type, and seemed to have no keepsakes or trinkets. But now she moved over on the bed, leaving a clear space. Her eyes were still hard, but at least she wasn’t scowling.
Katin hesitated, then climbed onto on the bed, pulling her feet up under her. “Thank you.”
“She does it only to torment me,” Juliet said at last, looking at the door. “She knows how I feel.” She meant Taya’s teasing; she would never care that Taya had struck or scolded Katin.
How the vala felt about her lady was obvious; Katin just didn’t understand why. “Does she feel the same?”
Juliet shrugged. “I don’t know. She was the one who…” Her hand clenched into a fist and then opened, several times. “She’s so forceful.” She fell silent, and looked away. “She’ll use you.”
Katin glanced at the door. She would have to behave. Taya could caress her cheek all she wanted if it meant Katin might get a chance to escape.
CHAPTER 18
DARDAN