Page 35 of Her Dark Reflection

That caught my attention. ‘I met her when I was in the infirmary. She seems a sweet thing.’

His reflection frowned and he turned away from the mirror. ‘She is very sweet.’

‘What does her future have to do with the treaty?’

He searched the room until he found his shoes and picked them up. ‘Oceatold have been pressing for an engagement to their prince for years, so they’ve decided to tie that up with the trade agreements we’ve been negotiating.’

The Oceatold prince. The one I’d seen at the ball with Senafae. ‘Don’t you like the prince?’

‘Tallius? I like him. He’ll be a strong king and he’s willing to overlook some of Gwinellyn’s… eccentricities. But it’s not easy to promise my kingdom to another man.’ He stood still for a moment and gazed out the window. Then he seemed to shake himself and leaned over the bed to kiss me. His breath was sour, and I supressed a shudder at the rubbery feel of his lips.

‘Be ready for me later tonight. I’ll send for you.’ With that promise, he left my bedchamber to sneak back through the hidden door in the room with the paintings.

I rose slowly and wrapped myself in a satin robe, wondering at the king’s relationship with the timid little princess. I had gathered bits and pieces of royal gossip over the years, despite my complete lack of interest in the affairs of anyone I thought myself unlikely to ever meet. I knew Gwinellyn’s mother had been a princess from Yaakandale and that the match was supposed to lead to the building of a trade route through the mountains. But the people of Yaakandale overthrew their monarchy in a revolution shortly after the wedding, rendering their former princess’s dowry worthless. Some rumours said King Linus had been deeply in love with his bride, and after birthing Gwinellyn had almost killed her, he had refused to lie with her out of a desire to protect her. Others said he had despised her.

I was no romantic. I doubted a king would choose to protect his wife over the possibility of a male heir. Whatever the truth, there’d been a gap of almost ten years between her first pregnancy and the one that had eventually claimed her life. Her child, a boy, hadn’t survived either.

From the emphasis on giving away hiskingdominstead of his daughter, I assumed the relationship with his only legitimate heir was not a close one.

‘Are you ready to eat, ma’am?’ Leela entered the room bearing a tray that smelled enticingly of coffee.

I sat at the small table by the window and raised an eyebrow at her. ‘I don’t remember hiring you.’

A faint smile turned up the corners of her mouth and she set the tray down before me. ‘I hadn’t heard you’d hired anyone else since we spoke. And you did say I could have a trial.’

‘Luckily for you, I’m starving.’ I added cream and sugar to my coffee as she began making the bed. ‘I’ll still want those references, though.’

‘Of course, ma’am. I’ll bring them to you after you’ve had a chance to wash. I expect you’ll be wanting to, after the night you’ve had.’ The knowing comment was delivered so mildly I almost missed it.

I sipped my coffee as I watched her go about her business. ‘Are you married, Leela?’

‘No, ma’am,’ she said as she thumped at a pillow.

‘You seem very worldly for an unmarried woman.’

She straightened and looked me dead in the eye. ‘I’m unmarried, not a priestess.’

Ah. That explained a lot. Surely no maiden could make such an off-hand reference to fucking, no matter how politely veiled. Thank Aether. Perhaps she was exactly the kind of person I needed around. ‘I need you to do something for me. Can you fetch me something to write with?’

She did as I bid, and I spent several minutes sketching and scribbling before handing her the page. ‘Find a cabinet maker and commission that from him. I’ll pay extra if he works fast.’

She scanned the page, but if she was surprised by what she saw, she kept that to herself. ‘Of course, ma’am.’

‘And while we are on the subject of extra payment, I know how servants like to gossip.’

She bristled and looked as though she was about to deny the observation, but I held up a hand to stop her.

‘I’m merely stating a fact. Gossip is natural. Sometimes, it’s even very useful. If you ever happen to hear any stories that you think I might find interesting, rumours about me, say, or perhaps news of noteworthy scandals, I’ll pay you to bring them to me.’ I watched her, measuring her response. Her face remained composed, but I thought she seemed to straighten a little, and a gleam of conspiracy entered her eyes. ‘And don’t spare my feelings,’ I added. ‘I want to know what is being said about me.’

She nodded and offered me a flicker of a smile. ‘I understand.’

I dismissed her offer to help me dress and she dipped in a curtsey. ‘Enjoy your breakfast, ma’am. I’ll return for the tray.’

When she’d left, I pulled the mirror from where I’d hidden it under the bed and frowned down at it. I’d be glad to have the damned thing safely sequestered away at the back of a cabinet. No doubt the cabinet maker would wonder what the partition at the back was intended for, but surely, I wasn’t the only one at court who’d wanted furniture with secret compartments. And if I filled the cabinet with bottles of liquor, anyone who opened it would think I was hiding alcoholism and that would excite them enough to keep them from looking further. But for now, under the bed would have to do.

Straightening up, I looked around my new room, a satisfied grin broadening my mouth. What a way to begin the day. A feathered bed. Breakfast on a tray. A luxurious suite of rooms all to myself. There was the minor inconvenience of the man I’d woken up next to, but I’d endured far worse. He seemed a fairly decent man, in all, and I would need to find something to love, or at least desire, in him if I was to play my part convincingly. As Draven had so helpfully reminded me, I still wasn’t queen.

But I would be.

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