The Queen of Mages (25 page)

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 expect 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.”