A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(17)

“I have a feeling we are being monitored.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I thought of you and suddenly there you were. I’ll bet they are reading my thoughts.”

“Don’t get paranoid now. I’ve been kicking up a fuss ever since I had my bath. I think they just got tired of hearing me yell.”

“Mariah, I didn’t know you could be so troublesome,” Ariana said with amusement.

“Wait until I get my hands on one of them when they aren’t paying attention. I don’t care if I don’t have any majic. A kick in the groin is still a kick in the groin.”

“Ouch. You have a point. But please…don’t do anything that will get you into trouble. I would hate to see you hurt and I have no way of protecting you. In fact, I think they will use you as a means to keep me in line. They already have been.”

“I know. And I’m sorry for that. If you had been alone, you might could have escaped. But I thought you would be better off to have me as not. I wasn’t thinking I could be a hindrance to you.”

“No! Don’t you dare worry about that. You were very brave and loyal for what you did. I won’t soon forget it.” Ariana began to bathe in earnest, scrubbing away days of filth. She didn’t know what Kiltian bathing habits were, but it was inexcusable that they hadn’t been offered a bath once since leaving Capitol City. Then again, they had been in wild country. The only thing they could have used was an obliging stream…and that would have been freezing even to her.

Still, had they been on the road there could have been an inn or something. Maybe. They were in hard country now…Kiltian lands. It was hard to know what was available. It had only been two autumns since the Kiltians had had their new lands. The Sarens that had been there before had been ousted from their homes and businesses. Who knew what had sprung up to replace them.

Ariana finished her bathing and standing up in the tub she accepted a fresh towel and wrapped herself in the thickness of it. It was of a strange tufted material…like velvet only softer and more absorbent. It must have been something from a Kiltian loom. She had never seen anything like it before.

There was a dressing table with a mirror set into it and it had a small padded chair before it. Ariana sat down before the mirror and eyed the many jars sitting on the table. Sighing, she picked one up and opened it. She smelled the unguent inside and touched it with her fingertips.

“Some kind of lotion,” she said. She went for another jar and found it full of hairpins. Each little jar held something to aid a woman in dressing herself. Everything smelled so pretty. It sickened her. She was getting that fatted calf feeling again.

Well, if she was going to face this monster, she would face him at her best.

“Let’s dress my hair. I need it out of my face please. Something upswept in front with the mass of my curls tumbling down my back.

What she did notice was missing was any kind of cosmetic. She wasn’t big on rouge and lip coloring, but they were common among Saren women. Had he noticed she didn’t wear them or did Kiltian women not wear them? She decided it was the latter. It wasn't likely he would have noticed the finer details of her toilette.

Once her hair was dressed and her body lotioned, she slipped on the colorful skirt made of silken layers. So many layers that it stood out from her body as though she were wearing many light petticoats. Usually she wore only one petticoat and her dresses lay smooth and long down the length of her body. She then carefully slid her blouse on over her hair and felt the cool silk glide over her skin. The blouse was cut in a low square at the bosom, much like Saren gowns were, but it fell shapelessly over her, hiding her figure. Until Mariah found a colorful silk scarf and tied it around her waist, cinching her figure back into shape.

“It’s how I saw the Kiltian women wearing them,” Mariah said.

That made her turn quickly to face her lady maid. “You saw other women? Where were you exactly?”

“I am staying in the servants’ quarters in the back of this building. But I am being followed by a guard. I crossed through the kitchens and some of the common rooms.”

“Could you find your way out of here do you think if you didn’t have a guard with you?”

“Not yet. I haven’t seen enough of the place. I was put to sleep before I could see the outside of the building.”

“Me too,” Ariana said with consternation. “But perhaps they will grow lax in their guard of you and perhaps one day…”

She trailed off. Even if she could escape, it was a two-week journey by wagon to get to Capitol City. Walking it would be an even longer journey. It would simply enrage their captors and Mariah might suffer for it if she were caught.

Mariah could see the loss of hope in her mistress’s eyes and she patted her comfortingly on her shoulder. “We’ll find a way,” she said encouragingly. “Maybe when he tires of…maybe he will let us go.”

“No doubt he will,” Ariana said grimly. But it was all that would happen in the interim that truly terrified her.

The door opened with the sound of a noisy metal lock. In walked a man she had never seen before. He was armed with a deadly looking sword on one hip and a jeweled dagger on the other. Ariana looked longingly at that dagger. If only she had a weapon! She could end this travesty with one well-placed cut.