All's Fair in Revenge

Chapter 34: Children of Gods

The castle entrance consisted of a long white hall braced by arched pillars. Of all of Castle's Moer's features I found it to be the most fascinating. More tunnel than entry, it emptied into a wide room where a soft rug carved a path up a hulking grand staircase to the second floor.

Having grown up in Srisset, I was more used to one-level structures minus the citadel and its spire where Ma'ma spent most of her time. Visitors accessed her office by a stone staircase less grand than the one before me, wrapping around itself like a pig's tail. As a child, she'd often summon me up the stairwell and I'd cling to its stone wall afraid to peek into the endless chasm. That fear of heights lent well to my tenth year when the other children introduced me to an old Srisset tradition requiring us to jump from each stair until someone broke a bone. First to snap lost the match, as they said. I was always the first to snap, and when I wasn't, some of the others enjoyed pushing me off so they could see how fast the healing energy would repair me.

Adolescence was a grand time.

There in Castle Moer though, disparate from the cold stone of home, Hella had treated each facet of the stairs as if it were art. The stone posts featured gold-painted lion heads while twisted, gold balusters bolstered the curved handrail. And the room's ceilings reached toward the sky only separated by an intricate stained-glass window whose colors danced across the floor. In an unremarkable country of unremarkable humans, it was something worth remarking on.

After the treacherous trip up the cliff with Wickham, my ire evermore concentrated on him as my number one suspect, it was there in that entry that I stumbled upon Brix. She balanced a reed basket of laundry on one hip.

"What are you doing out here?" I said, stopping her and a friend I didn't recognize in their tracks. The other girl dropped her basket. I bent to help her pick up the sheets. She flinched at my closeness. "If the queen saw either of you, I don't think she'd be too understanding." Her friend's eyes grew wide as she searched the entry for signs of Sephanie. "Calm down, she's not here, but what if she was? There are servant's halls for a reason."

"I'm sorry, Your Royal Highness but we've been waiting for you. I didn't want to miss your return. We waited on the steps." She pulled a crumbled envelope with a wax seal from her apron. "I have a letter from Lady Liv. She told me it's of the utmost importance."

"You've been here how long?"

"About two hours, Your Royal Highness."

"Two hours? Next time send someone. You didn't have to perilously wait for me to return."

Careful not to rip the flimsy parchment, I broke the seal and read.

Hunter's stew for tomorrow? I still need a map of the city's shops. And I found the room unlocked. Be sure to secure it next time. I'd hate for something to go missing. -Liv

To anyone else, the note meant nothing. But I knew better. I knew Liv.

"What should I answer?"

"Huh," I asked Brix, paying less than half-attention to her as I stared at the paper.

"What should I tell Lady Liv, Your Highness?"

"Oh, nothing. I'll do it." I waved off Brix's curtsey and thanked her before turning away to a less occupied hallway.

Before leaving with the prince that morning, Liv and I had decided she'd be most useful tending to things I could not. The first was to plan the banquet meal after the hunt; we'd decided on hunter's stew. For her to question it in the letter told me she had not made it to the kitchen for whatever reason.