Page 59 of Where Shadows Bloom

His words, too, prodded a wound that I so often pretended did not hurt.

As much as I tried to forget it when she was braiding my hair or listening to me recite or spinning sweet stories for me, the difference in our stations had always been a great fracture between us both. Here at court, it was more like a canyon.

“Please—please have someone tell her that there is an urgent message waiting for her. Something she asked me to alert her of.”

The soldier sighed. He took a step back, addressing one of his fellows hidden behind the corner of the doorway in the ballroom. A young man in the blue-and-gold livery of a palace servant crossed the room, slipping through the crowd of people. After a minute, Ofelia emerged, her scarlet skirts in her fists, and ran toward me with a grin.

“My lady—”

She reached past the guard in the doorway and grabbedthe sleeve of my coat, pulling me inside. In a whirl, she had us tucked away by a wall covered in equestrian portraits. All of the king.

Ofelia beamed up at me, her hands tangling with mine. Already, my heart was beating even faster than it had with the Shadows. Her cheeks were flushed bright pink. If I held my hand to her cheek, to feel its warmth, I thought it might feel like cradling sunshine itself.

Her beauty trapped all the breath in my lungs. Her dress was the same deep red as the roses in her hair. Her lips, too, were painted red, and around her neck was a necklace dripping rubies. Gray and black pearls were pinned in strands across the front of her bodice. She looked more elegant than I’d ever seen her.

“I hoped I would see you,” she said. “You’ve become a phantom! I scarcely see you anymore.”

My heart ached.She longed to see me.“Forgive me, my lady. I feel the same. I hope that you have not felt unsafe on your own while I have been researching—”

“Unsafe?” She laughed. “Heavens, no. I’ve been at the king’s side. All I’ve been in danger of has been twisting an ankle while dancing.”

My cruel mind whispered,She does not need you. I squared my shoulders and tried to maintain composure. “Then I am pleased, but...” I glanced about the ballroom, to the dancers in a thousand shades of red, crimson and scarlet andvermillion, leaping and twirling like a bloody haze against my eyes. And the king, clad in gold, with his cold stare fast upon me.

“I need to speak with you in private,” I whispered to her.

Ofelia’s smile was doused in an instant. She released my hands and procured a fan from the pocket of her gown. It was black, painted with bright fireworks of red flowers. She fluttered her fan over her heart, that strangely restrained look still upon her face. “What sort of thing do you wish to speak about?” she asked primly. “Is it lovely? Or unpleasant?”

I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Well, unpleasant, but important—”

“Why must you worry yourself every single night? Why do all your thoughts gather around everything dark and wicked?”

A deep pain sliced through my chest, as though her words themselves had cut me. “I know it is distressing, but I only speak out of concern for you.”

“Can it wait until the morning?”

“My lady, you are occupied most every morning—”

“No,youare occupied!” Ofelia snapped her fan shut and folded her arms. “When I rise, you are already gone. I do not even get to wish you a good morning.”

“I am seeking the truth. In the gardens, in the library, and that is what—”

“I am doing what you asked of me. I listen for gossip, andI gather up stories. I cannot do so with a dour expression, refusing to dance, refusing to participate!”

I flinched at the bite of her words. Perhaps she was anxious; perhaps so much mystery and doubt and all this chaos around her was making her irritable. I made my voice softer and sweeter. “I understand. Have you discovered anything, then?”

“His Majesty has no family left. He mentioned taking me to the Hall of Illusions someday, but I did not press the matter.” She shrugged, letting her fan slap into her hand. “That is all. He is lonely.”

Lonely.It seemed a paltry excuse for what I now knew. Three missing women. The sudden deaths of the king’s father and brother. The Shadows, blooming into existence around the same time. All I wanted was to tell her this. To warn her. Toprotecther.

But there were a thousand eyes upon us. A thousand ears pricked up, hungry for more gossip.

“Please,” I whispered, “I just need a minute to speak with you. But we must be alone. It’s not safe.”

“I don’t want to leave the fête.”

From behind her, a tall, slim figure appeared, carefully touching a hand against Ofelia’s bare shoulder. My fingers itched for the dagger in my coat, until I saw who was standing behind her.

“Leave the fête?” said the king. “Oh no, you must stay.There will be a fireworks show, and then some folk dancers from the south are going to perform for us.”

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