Page 55 of A Game of Veils

Marclinus glowers at her. “I was looking forward to enjoying that course. It seems you value your own comfort over mine.”

The lady cringes. “No, Your Imperial Highness. I wasn’t totally prepared. I got dizzy. I’ll try again.”

“There’s nothing else for you to try with. Pray your showing isn’t the worst.”

The staff are already scrambling to collect the mess. The noblewoman ducks away to the back of our cluster, her whole body trembling. She looks as hopeless as I feel.

What can I say to her? What can I do that will make any difference?

There’s nothing. The last two ladies manage to hold their serving dishes. Marclinus polishes off his dessert and flicks his hand toward one of his guards. “You know who failed. Bring the others to the medic to see about their burns.”

The blisters on my fingers are still throbbing, but I clench my hands all the same when the guard draws his knife. When he slashes it across the woman’s throat like so many before.

The pain means I’m still here. The pain means I’m alive, no matter how little any of our lives matter to my husband-to-be.

Chapter Nineteen

Aurelia

As the cleric’s baritone reverberates through the imperial temple, Rochelle and I lean against each other as discreetly as we can, since we’re not meant to sit beneath the expansive marble dome overhead.

I can’t help feeling that Emperor Tarquin is rubbing salt into the wound. He called us to the temple that adjoins the palace while the sun was sinking toward the horizon, forcing us to stay on our feet through the last half hour. And he appears to have instructed his cleric to lecture us.

The silver-haired man pivots beneath the peak of the dome, his multi-colored robes that represent all of the godlen and the All-Giver who made them swishing around his plump form. “Let us remember that greatness can come from both submission and struggle. When the plague of scourge sorcerers challenged the gods with their twisted magic centuries ago, our Great God rained down fire for our arrogance and then abandoned these realms. But from those ashes rose our empire, faster and stronger than the rest. We must humble ourselves before the gods who still watch over us but also honor authority when our fellow mortals earn it.”

Worship the gods and the emperor… just make sure not to worship the emperor quite as much. So very helpful.

I find it difficult to focus on his words—to think about much of anything other than getting to wet my throat and fill my belly again.

When he stops with an air of finality, Rochelle and I manage to stir ourselves to join the rest of the assembled audience in tapping our hands through the gesture of the divinities and then respectful applause. The last strains of daylight beyond the stained-glass windows fade away.

A servant’s voice calls out. “Proceed to the dining room!”

My heart skips a beat, but I turn toward the doorway carefully. As we tramp down the hall and up the stairs toward the dining room, a burning sensation fills my throat from the back of my mouth all the way down to my collarbone.

Melisse finds me before I even reach the room, clutching a glass of water. “They said we could bring this right away—I thought you’d want it?—”

I manage to rasp a thank you and yank the cup to my lips. The water is lukewarm, but no beverage has ever tasted as refreshing as this one does right now.

After the first gulp, I force myself to slow. My deprived stomach might rebel if I fill it too quickly.

With each swallow, relief spreads through my limbs. I still feel weak, but already steadier.

As Rochelle’s maid hustles over bearing similar cargo, I gather my voice. “Moderate yourself as much as you can. Taking in too much all at once after a fast can end up making you sick.”

Rochelle nods and all but wrenches the glass from her maid. Her throat works with a few large swigs before she gets her frantic thirst under control.

We’ve continued walking as we drink. The smells of creamy sauces and roasted meat drift from the doorway before we reach it, and my stomach shudders eagerly. Now that I’ve got the moisture to allow it again, my mouth floods with saliva.

Rochelle wets her lips. “This is going to be the most incredible meal in existence, no matter what they feed us.”

I let out a rough laugh. “Agreed.”

The dining room’s layout has changed again, with a few tables pushed together in the center of the room holding a buffet of platters and bowls. Servers poised around the spread hand out plates and set various delicacies on them.

Before I’ve made it to the table, Prince Bastien appears in front of me, holding a plate that balances a small bowl of stew with a slab of buttered bread on the side. When he offers it to me, my lips part to express my confusion. Then a glint of gold catches my eye.

He’s nestled my ring between the bowl and the bread. A simple but surreptitious way to return my stolen jewelry as quickly as possible. He couldn’t exactly sneak into my bedroom while I had the imperial guard watching over me last night.

---