Flame in the Palace

18. Blood

The progress arrives just after dark at Solis Abbey, a sizable convent of nuns situated at the base of the mountains. The royal family is given priority in the selection of rooms, followed by the noble families. Most of the court has to camp out in the carriages that put down stakes in the great courtyard inside the abbey's walls. Myria is one of the lucky few offered a room, but when she learns that it means her aunt will not have a bed, she gives it up for Olympe and sleeps in the carriage outside.

It allows her to roam the abbey's ground in peace, with most of the court occupied in the central dormitories, and she wanders through the vineyard and the orchard in the lingering twilight. In this tranquil silence, she contemplates her impending future and the very likely chance that Leor will pick her as his wife. The thoughts are accompanied by the same uncomfortable squirm of her stomach, and when she retires for the evening, her mind is far from soothed. Sleep greets her with a restlessness interrupted far too soon by a knock at the carriage doors.

Having slept in her only pair of worn leather pants, she quickly ties the tangled mess of her hair back before answering the door.

She is surprised to see that the visitor is none other than Emiri, standing outside in the pitch black of night. Myria blinks blearily at him as she tries to make sense of his presence. "It's not even close to dawn," she manages to say after a few silent moments.

He chuckles shamelessly. "Imagine your aunt's surprise when I woke her up looking for you. What are you doing here? Prince Leor arranged for you to have a room."

"And let my aunt sleep out here?" she counters in a voice thick with sleep, rubbing her eyes. "The more appropriate question is, what are you doing here?"

"Did you think you could miss a lesson just because the court is on the road?"

"It's not dawn," she repeats.

He shrugs with a sly smile, glancing off into the distance. "I couldn't sleep, so today we're doing something different."

Begrudgingly, Myria follows him, and he leads her through the slumbering campsite before entering the dormitories. This makes her head tilt curiously since their lessons usually take place outside, but instead of asking him, she decides to wait and see where he takes her. The corridor steadily slopes downward until they reach the balneary, the abbey's indoor bathhouse. A circular pool of water sits in the middle of the room, steam curling from its surface. The air is thick with the humidity here, the temperature warm and rising. Emiri skirts the edge of the pool, his footsteps carefully treading the slick, wet stone, and Myria follows suit.

In the back, there is a small crevice in the wall, large enough for a person to squeeze through. Emiri grabs a nearby torch and ducks into that small crevice. Myria hesitates, peering into the darkness before doing the same. Their path takes them deeper into the mountain, the air thinning and the trail continuing to slope downward. Myria wonders why Emiri uses the torch to illuminate the way instead of summoning an orb of light. Or better yet, when he doesn't ask her to summon—

She quickly pats down her pockets, realizing something. "I don't have my moon crystal," she alerts Emiri, her voice echoing off the rock walls.

"You won't need it," he dismisses over his shoulder without pausing in his steps.

After a few more minutes of walking, the narrow passage empties into a more expansive room of smooth stone. It is difficult to discern its precise size in the darkness, even with the flickering light of Emiri's torch. He leaves it on a sconce beside the entrance and braves a few steps into the blackness.

Myria watches him with trepidation as he sweeps his arms about and spins in a slow circle. "What are we doing down here?" she asks, peering up in an attempt to glimpse the ceiling. Her eyes fail her in this regard, but the way her voice echoes in the cavernous room makes her think it reaches quite a distance.