A Masquerade of Spiders

Chapter 22: A Sisterhood of Revenge

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter lightly references to a nonconsensual sexual situation (that happened in the past and not on-screen). I apologise deeply. If such things are triggering for you, please PM me and I will give you a recap of the events of the chapter.

Chapter 22: A Sisterhood of Revenge

A Masquerade was hosted every two to four years in a different state of the north. There was a Masca village in every state, a palace made of dozens of houses, each one claimed by a different family.

The Masca Delen was nestled in Oren valley north of the city of Affydot, capitol of Delen. A first snow had already fallen a few of days before our arrival. The mountains that rose up around us to touch the celeste sky were silver and viridescent, snow still frosting the branches of the evergreen trees.

The air was colder than I was used to, but also dry. Afali and I moistened our lips with a thick balm to save them from chaffing and walked wrapped in fur coats and scarves.

There were seventeen houses of the Masca, built from blue-grey sanorila bricks and arranged like a flower around the central hall. Glassed in winter gardens created walkways that connected the houses to the hall.

Afali and I did not stay at the Cervi house where we would have to share it with several other Cervi lords and ladies from lesser branches. Waryn, being of the Fel, had the run of the Eloroan house which was newer than the other buildings. He wanted me near at hand, and since I was forced to go where Afali went, he invited her to a room that was joined with his.

Bold, but not bold enough for Afali.

I didn't know what to do with my new knowledge over Afali. I could overpower her now and get a few more inches on the leash that tied me down.

During the journey, we had to share a carriage with two other Cervi ladies, Sima and Ela, who chatted with Afali and mostly treated me like a servant.

There, in the Eloroan house, if I planned to do anything, I needed to find the right opportunity and approach it in the correct way. On the surface, I didn't have Afali's servants watching and reporting my every move. But since this was Waryn's house, I had no doubt that the very walls had eyes.

Like the secret passage from my bedroom that Nava showed me during my first night.

The walls of my room didn't have tapestries like in Kamiir Garden. They were panelled cherry wood underneath a mother-of-pearl ceiling. The wood itself was carved with lions, of course, and Nava pushed the chin of the third lion from the left by the bed, casing the panels to swing aside, revealing a dark, narrow passage.

We walked in single-file down a dusty corridor. I could just about walk straight, but Nava, who led the way, had to hunch down as not to knock her head on the low ceiling. The passage forked, and Nava led me to the right fork first. We stopped at another wooden panel. "This is Waryn's room," she whispered. "If you ever need to meet with him..."

I couldn't see in the dark, but Nava made me feel the wooden panel until I found a stone fitted into the wood. She pushed a diamond shaped stone into my hand. "Exchange the one there with the one you have and Waryn will come to you."

"What if he isn't in his room?"

"Someone will let him know."

Next, Nava showed me where the other fork led to. It was a small dusty room with a desk and a few chairs. She lit a candle. "This is where you and Waryn will meet to discuss... matters."

"Servants don't come here, I suppose," I said.

"No one knows about this place."

I noted the locked cabinets all along the walls. Was this where Waryn held his secrets? Not all his secrets. Just the ones he took with him on his travels, if at all he did.