Crown of Coral and Pearl

I was disappointed but not surprised. “Oh. Can I ask why not?”

He tilted his head back and drained his cup. “The villages aren’t the best representation of Ilarean culture. Perhaps one day I’ll take you to one of the estates, but everything worth seeing is already here in New Castle.”

I bit my lip to hide my scowl. If I couldn’t go to a village a few miles from the castle, how was I ever going to get to the market? It would take days to get there, and the trip would undoubtedly require an escort. It seemed impossible now. I imagined Sami searching for me, risking his life just by being there. I couldn’t even warn him that I wouldn’t make it.

My anger flared hot and bright. I remembered the way I’d envied the other chosen girls’ freedom, but now I saw the truth: they were far more trapped in Ilara than I’d ever been in Varenia. I had prayed for the wrong thing that night at the governor’s house, and now it was too late.

I wanted to remind Ceren that the former queen had been allowed to visit the villages, according to Ebb, but mentioning Queen Talia was a risk. If the king was here, he might persuade Ceren on my behalf, but he was “resting” again tonight. He seemed to spend the majority of his time resting, which made me wonder how he was able to do any kind of ruling.

“There may be an opportunity for you to leave the castle soon, however,” Ceren continued. “If everything goes well with my experiments. I’ll know more after tonight.”

My pulse quickened, though I kept my expression neutral. “What’s happening tonight?”

He pushed his chair back with a screech. “Nothing to concern you, my dear. Enjoy the rest of your meal.”

If Ceren believed he was close to success with his device, it concerned me more than anyone else in New Castle. I finished eating and left the hall, determined to find out what he was up to.

I was nearly back to my chambers when someone called my name. I turned to see Lady Hyacinth trailing after me.

“There you are,” she said, as though we’d bumped into each other by accident. “I was hoping you’d like to join us again.” She clasped her hands in front of her to display her fingerless gloves and glanced pointedly at my bare hands.

“I’m afraid I’m quite tired this evening,” I lied. Spending time with the nobles only served to show how out of place I was here, and I had more important things to worry about than knitwear.

Hyacinth steepled the points of her long fingernails together. Ebb said it was a sign of rank; the longer your nails were, the less manual labor you did. I kept mine neat and short, as I always had. You never knew when you would need to use your hands.

“What a shame,” she said. “We do so want to get to know you better.”

It had only taken one afternoon with them to discover that the majority of “teatime” was spent gossiping, and when it came to me, they had very little to work with so far. I planned to keep it that way. “Next time,” I told her with a forced smile, hurrying down the hall before she could protest.

Lady Melina had told me to see the device for myself, and that was exactly what I planned to do. I asked Ebb to help me bathe and dress for bed early, claiming exhaustion.

“It’s the mountain,” she said as she brushed out my hair. “People come here healthy, and within weeks they’re sick and run-down. That’s why the king is in such a dreadful state.”

So Lady Melina wasn’t the only one who thought the mountain was causing the king’s illness. Ceren wasn’t sick like his father, but he was lean and lanky compared to Talin. Many of the other people at court also appeared weak and tired, even early in the day. “Then why do the nobles come here?”

“Some are hoping for more land, loftier positions. The young ladies are sent by their fathers to try wooing Prince Talin.”

“Not Ceren?”

Ebb lowered her voice. “Ceren has always been determined to marry a Varenian.”

That seemed odd, considering how he felt about Queen Talia. But my thoughts had snagged on Ebb’s remark about someone else. “And Talin?” I asked, trying to sound mildly disinterested. “Does he favor a particular lady?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” she said, glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

Ebb was a bit too shrewd sometimes. “Do you have any siblings?” I asked to change the subject.

I caught her smile in the mirror. “An older brother, milady.”

“Where does he live?”

The smile evaporated, and I knew I’d asked the wrong question. “He’s here, in the castle.” Ebb set down the brush. “Can I get you anything else?”

I excused her, but the nagging feeling that something was wrong followed me later when I covered myself in a thick wool wrap and headed out into the corridor. I’d only done a little exploring on my own, but I had some sense of my way around now.

The halls were cold and deserted at this time of night. I passed the occasional servant, and they politely acknowledged me with a nod of the head and a quick bow or curtsy, but aside from the guards scattered along the corridors, I was mostly alone. The lunar moss torches glowed very faintly, bathing everything in their eerie blue glow. I felt like some sort of strange deep-sea creature sensing my way through the dark; someone could be standing right next to me, and I wouldn’t know it.

I was starting to lose my nerve when I saw a pale light ahead in the gloom. It whisked past the corridor I was in and down a narrower one. I hurried to follow it, thinking it was another lord or lady who could direct me back to my chambers, but quickly saw that it was Ceren, carrying a lantern emitting a soft green glow. His white-blond hair trailed behind him as he rounded another corner.

I only hesitated for a moment. If he caught me, I’d tell him I was on my way to visit Lady Hyacinth and had gotten lost. Fortunately, my slippers were soft-soled and made no sound on the stone floors, and my nightgown hardly rustled when I moved. Ceren took another turn, and I hung back long enough to peer around the corner before following him. His long black robes scraped the floor as he walked, like nails scritching at a door.

We were deeper in the mountain than I’d ever been before, the floors sloping down more steeply as we went. The corridors were smaller here—I could touch both sides if I stretched my arms out, and the ceilings barely cleared Ceren’s head. I hadn’t seen a guard for a while now.

I gasped when something fluttered in my hair: a moth, tangled in the strands. Ceren turned and raised his foxfire lantern, and I pressed myself flat against the wall, praying he couldn’t see me in the shadows. I had no logical excuse for being this deep in the mountain other than following him, and the realization that I had put myself in a very dangerous situation struck me. Ceren could do anything to me down here, and no one would hear. I may as well have been a dozen miles away from civilization. My heart rate quickened as I felt the weight of all the stone surrounding us press in on me.

I could die in this tunnel, and my body might never be found.

When Ceren turned back around and continued on, I slid down against the wall, taking deep breaths to steady myself. I couldn’t linger long—Ceren had taken the only light with him, and I was completely blind without it. I rose shakily to my feet and felt for the next corner, but I was too late. He was gone.

I blinked into the blackness. He couldn’t have disappeared. It was just dark, I told myself, and there was probably another corner up ahead. I continued to feel my way along the wall, hardly daring to breathe. Suddenly the wall fell away, and the air around me was cooler, less oppressive. Ahead of me, I could see something shimmering on the ground.

And then I heard it. Water.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the green light of Ceren’s lantern bobbing in the distance. I took a cautious step forward. I was in a giant cavern, with a vast underground lake spread out before me. Farther ahead, I could make out more faint green lights and shadows passing in front of them. Ebb had made it seem like no one in the castle would willingly go near a large body of water, including Ceren, but there were other people here. Why?

I kept my hand against the wall of the cave, which was only a foot or two from the water’s edge. Several times I could feel the coldness seep into my slippers as the water lapped gently against the stone shore. The green lights were closer now, but I still couldn’t make out the voices of the shadowy figures. I crept as close as I dared, until I could just make out the people’s silhouettes in the dim light, and crouched behind a column formed by a massive stalagmite.

“How long were you under?” I heard Ceren ask.

“Seven, maybe eight minutes, Your Highness.” The voice was that of a child, thin and high-pitched and frightened. “Please don’t make me go again. It’s dark down there, and so cold.”

I couldn’t make out Ceren’s next words, but they were gruff and angry.