Blood-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book I ]

31

As soon as Eovin slipped out the door, Matei began counting under his breath. Mhera listened, staring dully at the door in front of her, trying to grasp what might lay behind it. Too soon, he stopped counting. She felt the silence like a knife.

Here it was. Here was the moment. She was about to betray her family and all she had ever known.

Matei glanced up at the ceiling, drawing a deep breath. Mhera saw his shoulders rise and fall. He was frightened.

Of course he was. If their attempt to escape failed, his head would roll ... and so would hers, wouldn't it? Not literally, perhaps, but if what the rebel king and the lorekeeper had told her was true, Mhera must help Matei escape—if she wished to live.

Matei opened the door and stepped out onto the landing above the winding spiral staircase of the Archmage's Tower. He began his descent. Mhera balanced the breakfast tray on her hip and reached behind her to pull Eovin's door closed. Then, she began to walk, following several steps behind Matei.

They passed no one on the way down the curving flight of steps. Mhera kept her head lowered. Her senses were alive with fear; her blood buzzed in her ears, and every sound, every movement around her was a warning. She felt conspicuous in her white-and-red costume and the painted marke, even with no one around. She was certain people would stare as soon as they saw her, certain they would pick her out for who she was.

"Calm," Matei whispered as they rounded the last few steps and emerged into the hall. "Be calm."

Matei sounded anything but calm himself; Mhera heard the tension in his voice. Every part of her urged her to stop, to run, but she kept going, forcing each step she took to follow Matei down the long hall. Ahead, coming toward them, Mhera could see a pair of guards. But well before they came upon the guards, Matei turned to the right into a narrow passageway set into an alcove, a passage used only by servants. Mhera followed him.

The passage was narrow and dim. Mhera had never used it before and had only a dim understanding of where it went. Matei led the way, taking them along the hall and then turning down a stairway leading down to the first floor of the palace.

The stairway ended abruptly, opening into a long, humid room where a bevy of women was working: the laundry. A series of large washbasins stood at intervals along one wall, most of them brimming with suds and swimming with clothes. Steam rose into the air, making the loose wisps of hair that escaped Mhera's scarf stick to her brow.

Matei moved forward as if he were precisely where he intended to be, although this certainly did not look like a kitchen. Mhera followed him, the dishes rattling on her tray.

"Lass, watch out!" A large woman pushed Mhera out of the way just in time to prevent her from being bowled over by another who carried a towering basket of clothes. One of the teacups teetered precariously on the tray; Mhera caught it just before it could fall and shatter. "Foolish girl. What are you doing down here with that mess? The kitchens are a ways yet, if you've forgotten, and we do not cart dirty dishes down through the laundry!"

More afraid than affronted, Mhera pulled herself out of the woman's grasp. She kept her face averted. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the woman corrected. "Where've your manners got off to, girl? I'll knock them back into you if I must!"

"Forgive her, ma'am," Matei said quickly, stepping in. "She's new. I am showing her to the kitchens. She got a little turned around, and I ... I just needed to collect Master Eovin's laundry on the way. It's been a whirlwind of a day, hasn't it?"

Rolling her eyes, the laundress moved across the room to a shelf where several stacks of clean, pressed clothing were neatly arranged. She sorted through with a practiced hand and selected a short stack of garments in Eovin's familiar, subdued hues. "Aye, lad, a whirlwind—every day, it seems. Don't let her drag along on your apron strings for too long. If she can't make it, she'll go back whence she came, and good riddance. Here. Be careful with those, now. I'll take your buckets for you."