It was a perfect square, fit with what looked like the plushest mattress I had ever seen, the short, cushioned walls surrounding the mattress scattered with pillows in cases of silk. The mattress was also covered in silk, with deliciously soft furs and thick blankets tangled within.
“Why?” was the only word I could manage to get out.
Because it was clear this “bed” would fit more than one person. It was possible it would fit five very large people.
“They’re trying to scare you.” Frey glanced back to me, a small smile on her lips. “And they’re going the right way about it.”
“Do we need to be worried?” Bjern caught my arm, spinning me to face him. “Because I don’t care if they’re the great masters or not. I won’t let that happen to you again.”
It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, but when I did, I pulled my arm from his grip, a shudder passing over my body. I hadn’t been prepared for any mention of what the Dealer had done to me, so the shock of it had me suddenly stiff with anger. I curled my grip protectively around the soft glow of my bracelet, feeling that disjointed part of me whispering within.
“How did you know about that?” I asked.
It was one of the few things Frey hadn’t managed to extract from me. I hadn’t told anybody about it … but that didn’t mean a hundred or so people hadn’t witnessed it at my trial.
“The Sentinels who accompanied the Warmaster to your trial were talking about it.” Bjern rubbed the back of his neck, colour high in his cheeks.
He looked distraught, and I immediately felt bad about snapping at him. I tried to muster a smile.
“That’s not really their style.”
“She’s right,” Frey agreed. “Rape doesn’t fit into their patterns at all.”
“Their patterns?” he questioned curiously.
“Everything is a game, a manipulation—moves and counter moves—”
“Possibilities and impossibilities,” I muttered.
“Yes.” Frey nodded to me. “Exactly. They don’t want to take. They want to trick people into giving.”
“So they want to trick her into sleeping with them?” Bjern seemed confused.
I shook my head, my lips quirking. “They have all the power in the world—a world they see differently to the rest of us. For us, it’s a temperamental beast, best to tread carefully over. For them, it’s a game board. They’re playing against each other, against the world itself, against me, but they’re not always in control. They throw up those possibilities and impossibilities like pieces in the game, letting them fall where they may. Those pieces become a minefield of weapons and traps, and they’re just standing there waiting for me to stumble over them.”
“If she was attracted to one of the masters, for example…” Frey trailed off, raising her brows and extending her open palm to the bed. “That would certainly change the game. They’re throwing out the possibility, waiting for her to fall into the trap.”
“I’m not attracted to any of them.” My tone was final, my eyes shading over as I walked away from them both. There was a gilded chest on the wall opposite the balcony, right beside another door leading into what looked to be a dressing room. I cracked the lid, seeing my few possessions within.
The book. The kalovka soap. The Dealer’s collar. The bell.
I frowned, closing the lid and pushing the door to the dressing room open further. My clothes hung within.
They had moved my prison.
Admittedly, this one was larger, and there was at least one door out, but it was no less a prison.
Thirteen
Gold
As the day began to turn to night in earnest, several attendants crossed the bridge to the tower.
“The King has requested your presence for dinner,” one of them explained. I hadn’t seen her face before, but she wore the simple clothing of a steward, with the King’s badge sewn into her chest.
The other two were just as unrecognisable but were young and quick to smile at me.
“I have plans this evening,” I said. It wasn’t untrue. I planned to break into the Citadel, and then rob Bjern’s father.
“Go,” Frey whispered, close by my side. We had all huddled in the corridor, drawn to the noise of the wind howling in from the open door. “If you draw their attention, it will ruin everything. Me and Bjern can get the beetle tonight. Bjern’s father is in Edelsten town; it’s not too far away.”
I nodded, though I was still tempted to refuse. Instead, I allowed the attendants to drag me down to my rooms, and through the dressing room to the washroom. It faced to the west, the high windows offering a vantage of the sharp hills and untamed wilderness surrounding the Keep.
All along the window ledge were coloured glass bottles, filled with perfumes, oils, dried herbs, and petals. The floor was tiled in terracotta. It rose halfway up the walls and stepped down into a terracotta bath built into the ground, right in the corner of the room. Small, alcove shelves were cut into the two walls of the bath, housing lanterns of coloured glass. There was a copper water pump built into the wall beside the sink, where they were able to draw hot water from. I stood at the edge of the bath as one of the attendants stripped off my clothes, the other two filling the bath.
“What kind of dinner is this?” I asked, unable to curb my suspicion as I stepped down into the warm water.
“The small council arrived at the Keep this afternoon,” one of the attendants answered. She had dark hair and a sweet voice. “There are rumours they have travelled to see you, Tempest.”
I settled in the water. It smelled heavenly—like my mother’s kalovka soap, but better. I sat where they positioned me and allowed them to begin washing my hair as they knelt behind me on the edges of the bath.
“There are also rumours…” She hesitated, and I twisted just enough to catch one of the other attendants pinching her.
“Of what?” I prompted warily.
She shrugged the other woman off, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I heard one of the messengers complaining that the King had sent him back to the small council denying their request, as you were otherwise engaged tonight.”
“Wait,” I spluttered as one of the attendants washed out the suds from my hair. “Am I having dinner with the small council or not?”
The dark-haired girl shared a look with the others. They seemed wary of me, but also eager to tell me their secrets. Finally, she spoke again.
“A banquet has been prepared, the table set for six.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “There are golden ropes all the way around it. Anyone else in attendance at court can watch the dinner, but they won’t be close enough to hear it, or participate in any way.”
I snorted, unable to help myself. The masters were playing with the small council, now. The small council had no chance of gaining control of me. My strings were already gathered, several sets of hands determined to marionette me until I was no longer of use.
There was a commotion in the bedroom as I stepped out of the bath, and I quickly wrapped myself in a towel as several attendants struggled into the dressing room, carrying what was apparently a very heavy wrapped bundle between them. They set it on the bench in the dressing room, removing the wrappings and separating the pieces. I was looking at another dress. Golden, like the last, though this one was made entirely from solid gold links.