She hurried along the palace corridors, weaving among the shadows. Fortunately all was still very quiet. She halted when she neared Lorine’s door and hid behind a column, wondering how she was going to get past the two guards. She smiled at the irony—they were guarding the door to prevent her escape, not her re-entry.
As she stood there in indecision, she sensed another walking down the corridor. To her surprise, it was the forbidding red-armored guard of Amberhill’s who had struck her so hard the previous day. In her grayed vision, the red of his armor looked like dried blood. She licked her lips and remained as still as possible.
He stopped. He came to a halt abreast of her. Karigan held her breath. He did not move, only his cloak rustling as it settled around him. The apparatus on his back emitted a rhythmic hiss-sigh. Hiss-sigh. Even the two guards at the door watched him apprehensively.
What had Dr. Silk called this man? The Eternal Guardian? Did that mean he’d live endlessly like Amberhill? It was difficult to get a sense of anything about the man with the helm and visor hiding his face. Was he even a man? What else could he be? A mechanical?
His head slowly rotated in her direction, then stopped short of looking straight at her. He remained in that position for what felt like forever.
Hiss-sigh. Hiss-sigh.
With a suddenness that almost made her gasp, he strode forward once again. Karigan felt as if released from a spell, and took another deep breath, then watched with surprise as he halted in front of the guards, who looked ready to melt into their boots. If the Eternal Guardian spoke, she could not hear him, but he made a beckoning gesture and the guards replied, “Yes, sir,” in unison. To her happy disbelief, they followed the Eternal Guardian and left the door unguarded.
Karigan did not pause to analyze her good fortune. She was not going to ask questions. Instead, she hurried across the corridor and, ensuring no one was around to observe her, she opened the door and entered. Once on the other side, she leaned her back against the door and released the fading.
Lorine had left a single lamp at low glow. If there were watchers, she hoped they had not observed her coming and going. If so, she was sure to find out about it. She made her way to the sofa and lay down. It was not the most comfortable of beds, but she was exhausted, and it wasn’t long before she slept.
• • •
“What is she doing here?”
The child’s voice blared at Karigan like a trumpet. She groaned. Hadn’t she just closed her eyes? She covered her face with her hands, smacking her chin with the forgotten manacles. While she tried to regain her bearings, there was surprising silence from Arhys. Then: “Why are you wearing those?”
Through bleary eyes, she saw Arhys pointing at the manacles.
“Arhys,” Lorine said sharply. “Come to breakfast. Do not bother Miss Goodgrave.”
Arhys looked more curious than petulant, and when she turned to obey Lorine, she asked, “But why is she here?”
“Hush now. You have lessons in one hour, so you’d best attend to your breakfast.”
Karigan tried to shake the cobwebs out of her head. She felt like she had a hangover, but it was from using her ability, not from drink. How unfair to suffer without even the enjoyment of a good bitter ale as its cause. She sat there dazed and unmoving until Lorine brought her a blessed cup of tea and pressed it into her hands.
“You slept as one dead,” Lorine said, concern in her eyes. “Even the arrival of breakfast didn’t wake you. Can I bring you anything?”
“Give me a few minutes,” Karigan replied.
Lorine left her alone while she sipped her tea and came slowly back to life. At least, she thought, Cade would have been pleased she hadn’t vomited. In the background, Arhys complained about her eggs and toast, and chattered on about which dress she should wear that day. When Karigan finished her cup of tea, she joined Lorine and Arhys at the table.
“What are you doing here?” Arhys demanded. “And why are you dressed so funny?”
Karigan glanced down at her bedraggled clothes, the cast-offs of Luke’s son. She thought about the various answers she could give the girl, but decided there was no point in hiding the truth.
“I am a prisoner of Dr. Silk’s. So is Mr. Harlowe, and whether you realize it or not, so are you and Lorine.”
“Am not,” Arhys replied. “Dr. Silk is nice. He gives me pretty dresses—prettier than the ones the professor gave me.”
Karigan restrained an impulse to reach across the table and slap the girl, but she was, after all, a child, who could not possibly understand all the machinations going on around her. And there was something else. As unpleasant as it was to contemplate, Arhys was, in a sense, and in this time and place, Karigan’s sovereign, and not only would it be treasonous to harm her royal person, but it would be against everything Karigan believed and stood for. Not that she would tell Arhys any of this, of course.
“The professor is dead because of Dr. Silk,” Karigan said. “Did you know that? And Luke, too.”
Lorine gave her a warning look.
“No! Nonono!” Arhys got up from her chair and stamped. “Dr. Silk is nice.” And she ran off to her room and slammed the door behind her.
“Was that necessary?” Lorine asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” Karigan admitted. Having grown up without any siblings, and with few friends at school, she found children perplexing and did not know exactly how to talk to them. She did know it rubbed her the wrong way to have Arhys dismiss two good men who had tried to protect her and died for it. It was not an auspicious start for a queen who might one day have the power of life and death over thousands. “I don’t know,” Karigan said again. “But I don’t think it helps anything, hiding what her new champion, Dr. Silk, is capable of. As much as she has gained from his benevolence, she has lost far more.”