So her feet remained still while the others danced.
Nehelon heard the music first then the multiple voices coming from the small dining hall. He had been on his way from his daily meeting with Lord Tyrem where he had reassured the man and Lady Crystal that Gandrett was making good progress. He had even brought up that he’d observed her in her interaction with Brax and that from afar, she had appeared as ladylike as any other lady here at court.
Lord Tyrem and Lady Crystal had agreed that it was time to act soon; every day lost was a day too many. Nehelon didn’t mention that he had taken his time testing Gandrett’s fighting skills, reassuring himself that whatever happened, she would walk away from Denderlain and live. That he had hoped by now she would have shown signs of magic—and not the silly games of the water mages of Everrun, but magic. Real magic like his. Every day he procrastinated, the mission was a day lost for Joshua Brenheran while it was one day won for Nehelon to find out if he had been right about her.
So he followed the music, knowing whom he would find at the source, and prepared himself to tell Gandrett that by the end of the week, she would be dancing with Armand Denderlain.
Chapter Nineteen
When Lady Crystal Brenheran summoned her, Gandrett wasn’t sure what to make of it. She hadn’t seen the lord or the lady who had bought her to retrieve their abducted son since that first day at Ackwood. Now that she was standing before Lady Brenheran, it was hard not to see the similarities with Mckenzie.
Fair hair the same shade as Mckenzie’s; emerald eyes, even if the lady’s weren’t sparkling like the young woman’s, but troubled. Her burgundy dress made a stark contrast with the fair skin above the neckline. Bulky necklaces of gold wound around her throat, making Gandrett wonder if the weight of them wasn’t throttling her.
“You asked for my presence,” Gandrett curtseyed—something she had mastered through countless hours in front of the mirror, staring at her new self—the mask she was wearing from head to toe. The mask of a lady.
Lady Brenheran gestured for her to step closer but remained seated on the sofa by the window, a book in her hand.
“Nehelon has reported progress on your…” She searched for words. “Well, the new you.” Her slender, gloved hand gestured at Gandrett in general.
Gandrett once more felt like a prize pony. “And has he spoken true?” she asked, keeping her voice the melody she had adopted from Mckenzie—light, charming, without any sign of the constant inner debate whether all of it would buy her a chance of getting Armand to talk if her sword or a pointed dagger wouldn’t be the wiser option. As for now, she held her tongue, smiled like a lady, and took a step closer, turning slightly to the sides to give Lady Crystal a clear view of how confidently she was wearing the moss-green gown Mckenzie had picked out for her.
Lady Crystal got to her feet, eyes on Gandrett, seemingly making up her own mind about what she saw.
“My son Brax informed me you have mastered the basics of the dances popular in Sives’s courts.”
Is that so? Gandrett cocked her head.
“Most certainly he praises your gracefulness.” The lady spoke as if that surprised her.
Gandrett suppressed a chuckle. Over the past days, she had made progress under Mckenzie’s and Brax’s guidance, but it was nothing near what she needed to pass as someone from a good household, worthy of the attention of a lord’s heir.
“You may never join the royal ballet of Khila,” Lady Crystal walked around Gandrett in a circle, her eyes assessing, measuring, probing, “but you can always fake a sore ankle if someone asks you to dance.”
As with so many things, Gandrett had never heard about the royal ballet of Khila even when Khila, the capital of the southernmost territory, Phornes, was famous for its music and dancing. “My dance is with the blades.” Her hand reached for her absent sword in reflex. And Lady Crystal smiled.
“It most certainly is.” She stopped in front of Gandrett. “I have been watching your training with the chancellor. He is the best fighter I know—used to be.” Her gaze wandered to where Gandrett’s hand was still clutching thin air. “Until he brought you back. It gave me hope, seeing someone as delicate as you bring down mountains of men.” Something bitter lingered in the air between them. “And you have the help of the goddess herself, the justice of Vala at your side.”
Gandrett didn’t dare to object, to voice that it felt like quite the opposite. That ever since she had been torn from her mother’s arms, she felt like Vala had forsaken her.
“The chancellor informed you that you are to make your journey to Eedwood by the end of the week?” Lady Crystal returned to the sofa, the skirts of her dress sighing as she settled down.
Gandrett shook her head. “Was he supposed to?”
Her response put a smile on Lady Crystal’s lips. “He might have been otherwise occupied.”
Even if Gandrett couldn’t pin down what it was, something was off about the way the lady was speaking. “I am certain the chancellor is too busy to inform me about everything in person.” She couldn’t explain either why it hurt that he hadn’t told her. Or why it bothered her that when he had shown up that evening Mckenzie and Brax had taken turns instructing her how to dance, he had turned on the doorstep and stalked into the dark hallways of the palace.
“The House of Denderlain will have their Spring Hunt in honor of Demea this weekend.” She glanced at Gandrett over the book she was now fanning before her. “You know how to handle a bow, don’t you?”
Gandrett nodded.
“Then it’s a good thing, Miss Brayton, that you are planning to go on a hunt in the forests of Eedwood. And too bad your bow will break just as you are planning to bring down the wolf the Denderlains are hunting.” Lady Crystal’s eyes flashed at her. “Just make sure Armand is there to see it.” A devious smile graced her cunning face. “You can hurt your ankle right there in the forests too, just so you won’t need to dance that night.”
So that was the plan, to plant her in Denderlain court. Make her a damsel in distress and let the tyrant’s son rescue her. Gandrett frowned.
“Lose that expression,” Lady Crystal ordered. “It doesn’t suit a lady.”
Gandrett trudged from the room with little regard for how it made her look. Three days, Lady Crystal had said. Three days before she would go into enemy territory as a spy on a rescue mission. She preferred to see it that way rather than to submit to the suggestion Lord Tyrem had made. Seduce the enemy.
The guard who had escorted her to the lady’s chambers was gone, but Gandrett didn’t stop to wait and see if someone might take her back to her own rooms. After almost a month, she knew her way around well enough.
Her footsteps echoed in the stone hallways, the sound a mockery of the light steps she was supposed to make with her stupid silk slippers. It didn’t take long until hers weren’t the only footsteps that bounced off the walls. She didn’t care to lift her head and glance over her shoulder to know it was Nehelon who was behind her. The soft clicking of his sword on his belt had given him away.
“I will help you prepare,” he spoke so softly it made Gandrett look up.