Page 47 of Her Dark Reflection

Senafae blinked at me blearily. ‘I’m fine.’

‘Would you like to come for a walk in the gardens? The weather is starting to warm again.’

‘Not today. Thank you.’

I pursed my lips as she blinked up at me with those hollow eyes. She had done exactly what I had feared she would do. A week ago, she had disappeared for two days, and when she had returned, she was no longer pregnant. I had been furious; furious that she had ignored me, furious that she’d gone to see some dirty quack of a surgeon in the Trough, furious thatshe hadn’t told me.And now she would hardly stir to leave her room, and I couldn’t tell if there was something wrong with her body or her heart.

I perched on the edge of her bed and smoothed at my skirts. ‘What was Lord Perrius visiting you for?’ I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

‘To check on me.’ The answer was in monotone, as though this was not something strange and demanding of an explanation. But I was not an idiot. I could fill in the blanks myself.

‘Has he been concerned about your welfare... for very long?’

She was silent for a long moment, before she said, ‘we’re friends,’ in a tone so full of bitterness that I decided to change the subject. After all, if he was the father, it hardly mattered now. He was probably only checking to make sure she had gone through with the procedure. Nevertheless, I made a mental note to ask Leela to dig for gossip and secrets concerning Lord Perrius. If I could find a way to make him pay for how drawn and miserable Senafae looked, I would gladly do it. Maybe it would bring some colour into her cheeks to hear of the man who had done this to her being humiliated or disgraced.

I chatted to her of the problems I was facing with having my marriage recognised, complained about how Prince Tallius becoming engaged to Princess Gwinellyn would mean being forced to endure frequent dinners with the entitled lobcock, then I speculated on what I should wear to Misarnee Keep to ensure I rattled Dovegni. All the while, the silences between her responses grew longer and heavier.

When I left her, she seemed in lower spirits than ever, and I deployed some of my excess of attendants in picking her some flowers from the gardens and ensuring she had something special for lunch. It was clear that she was suffering, but I was confident that she would be herself again soon. She just needed more time.

Isteppedoutofthe carriage in a great rustle of fabric that my attendants quickly set about arranging around me. I was dressed in a stiff taffeta the colour of dried blood and the entire ensemble was a tad more ostentatious than the occasion warranted. But when I looked up at the soaring spires of the keep, like blades set to slice the slate grey sky to ribbons, I was glad of my choice. I wanted everyone who looked upon me here to be reminded of my power and position. I wanted no one to be able to see me without remembering that I was about to become their queen.

Several men in druthi robes waited to greet me, Grand Weaver Dovegni at their head. He stepped forward with a wide sweep of his hands, his heavy gold chain of office thumping against his chest.

‘Welcome, my lady,’ he boomed as he bowed, but I caught the faintest twitch of a sneer at the corners of his mouth. ‘You honour us with a visit so soon after your wedding.’

I smiled tightly. ‘Your Grace, please, Grand Weaver. The council may be dithering over crowning me consort, but my elevation to duchess in the meantime has been approved.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Forgive me,Your Grace.’

I let the sarcasm slide. ‘The Druthi Guild plays such an important role in decisions made about Brimordia’s governance that I made it my top priority to visit. I wish to be fully across what goes on here so I can best support my husband.’

The mocking smile vanished. ‘I hope you don’t mean to be too thorough. It is not custom for the Crown to monitor the guild. I would hate to take up too much of your valuable time.’

I curled back my lips in a smile. ‘I can think of nothing I would rather spend my time on. Come now, there’s no reason we can’t be friends. Perhaps we can start with a tour.’ I advanced towards the entrance of the keep without waiting for Dovegni to join me. My attendants fell into formation behind me.

‘Your Grace, your attendants,’ he called, and I paused to look back at him.

‘What about them?’

‘I’m afraid I’ll have to insist on their remaining outside,’ he said as he drew level with me. I raised my eyebrows in question; I’d gladly be rid of them, but there was no reason he should believe I would do anything simply because heinsisted. ‘Only ordained druthi may pass through those doors,’ he continued. ‘While the royal family are exceptions to that law, no such concession exists for your attendants. Perhaps Your Grace would like to postpone your visit until such a time as you are better prepared to be without them?’ He cast a pointed glance at my gown, with its flounces and petticoats and train.

‘That won’t be necessary. If it is important to you that they remain here, then they will.’ With a flick of my hand, I motioned for my attendants to stay put, one small submission that made me grit my teeth, no matter that I’d be glad to be rid of the gaggle of women. Submitting to him onanymatter felt like a bitter defeat; I wanted him to believe I was malleable.

Dovegni’s smile returned. ‘You’ll come to learn the customs and laws associated with your position in time, Your Grace.’ He swept up the path ahead of me as I glared holes through the back of his head.

Passing through the cavernous doorway, curiosity overcame my irritation. The entrance hall was dominated by a wide stone staircase lined with elaborate candelabras in the form of gruesome gargoyles perched on the polished onyx balustrade, their arms outstretched to hold out handfuls of light in their claws. The steady, white illumination of magic lit enormous marble columns flanking the staircase that stretched up to the domed ceiling and braced a series of galleries above.

‘The entrance hall has been remodelled twice throughout the last several hundred years, with the balustrade and gargoyles being added in the time of Grand Weaver Erenagh…’

I quickly tuned out Dovegni’s droning commentary when it became obvious that his aim was to bore me to tears. Each step up the staircase sent a thrill of excitement through me as I craned my neck to take in the room and see where the staircase would lead. The galleries above were stacked on top of each other, floor after floor after floor of them, and robed figures darted in and out of sight as they moved through the upper floors, some stopping to peer down at us.

He led me down a corridor lined with portraits of all the previous Grand Weavers and treated me to a recitation of who each was and what their major contributions had been to the building as I tried to peer into doors and down corridors. Madeia help me if my whole visit was just going to be trailing along after him while he showed me the least interesting parts of the keep. Maybe I could club him over the head with a shoe and stuff him in a cupboard so I could explore where I wanted.

A door opened ahead, and a crowd of boys poured into the hallway, their voices filling the air as they jostled one another. They quickly settled down when they caught sight of us, and Dovegni surveyed them as they passed us, greeting them by name and nodding in approval as they shot furtive glances at me.

Dovegni led me into an utterly ordinary office, with utterly ordinary bookshelves and an utterly ordinary desk piled with utterly ordinary papers, and offered me a seat in an utterly ordinary chair. He sat opposite me and began fiddling with his ring, the one I’d noticed the first night I met him. A black stone shot with blue.

‘I fear I haven’t yetcongratulatedyou on your wedding,’ he said. ‘How caught up His Majesty must have been, to wed you so suddenly.’ His thin lips stretched into a leer. ‘Howeager.’

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