Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(11)
No use eating unless I knew it was safe for sure. I’d no knowledge of poisons.
The main doors burst open. Ruby swirled into the room in a storm of colored silk with his sword belt bound around his narrow hips and arms thrown wide. His sword hung in a silver-plated sheath, and the melon-shaped pommel slapped his upper thigh. The blade was curved and long as my arm.
“Nine dead. Lovely. If you keep taking my advice, we’ll be out of here by dinner.” Ruby meandered around the table, trailing his fingers along the back of our chairs, and sat at the far end. He tilted his head to the side in mock consideration. “You’re doing so much better than my year.”
His invisible gaze raised the hair on my arms. His audition was seven years ago, and I’d been running my first jobs for Grell. Amethyst was the newest member, winning her mask three years back, and gossip about her hadn’t spread far either. Emerald was the only original left—handpicked by the Queen at the end of the Mage War as a personal guard. The dead Opal had joined right after her.
“Hardly anything to be proud of—your audition was full of pissants,” said a lilting voice behind me. “I bet only auditioners Two through Eight did anything last night other than cower.”
I ground my teeth together and twisted round in a huff.
My retort rushed out of me.
Emerald, a vision of steel and green silk, glided through the doorway. She was lithe and muscled, arms bare and flexed, streaked in scars with a pale silver dust shining over her skin like white-capped waves on the cool, deep black of distant ocean. She walked past me in a breeze of perfume and peppermint, the apothecary scents clinging to her like the old black ink of the dead runes scrawled across her. The silk layered and draped over her shoulders matched her high-cheeked, mouthless emerald mask perfectly. Beetle wings stitched into the train of her dress glittered in the light.
Emerald was the only person to ever face a mage’s shadow alone and survive—the scar slicing through her hairline and peeking out from behind her mask proof enough of that—and she was only a few strides away from me.
“Killing is simple,” Emerald said as she folded herself into a chair and plucked up a teakettle, pouring a small measure in her glass. She added a splash of milk. “Secrets are hard.”
Ruby rested his chin on his laced fingers. “Who was seen?”
“Thirteen is disqualified and dismissed.” Emerald handed Ruby her cup. “Your servant will gather your belongings and a guard will escort you out. Thank you for trying.”
“Who?” Thirteen cracked her hands against the table, upending mugs and sending her plate flying. “You have to tell us who—give us an appeal. There wasn’t anyone there.”
Emerald picked up a spoon, holding it like a knife, and Thirteen stilled. “Four people reported your blunder. You’re dismissed.”
Thirteen kicked her chair, heel snapping a leg in half.
“Lady Emerald gave you an order,” a rough voice said. Heavy footsteps muffled by the sound of shifting leather armor crept behind me. A pale purple mask—eyes missing, mouth one severe line—glinted in the corner of my sight. “Take it.”
Thirteen scrambled out of the hall.
“Unless anyone else would like to disobey, we’ll go over the nuances of your new, brief lives.” Emerald tilted her chin up, looking for questions in the absence of us seeing her face. We kept quiet. “Whoever you were yesterday is dead. Your lives are ours now, until you are either dead or dismissed. Since we are selecting a new member of the court, there are additional rules you must follow. If you break them, I will kill you.”
“We eat breakfast together.” Ruby poured a cup of tea and held it out to Amethyst. “We do not attempt to kill each other or anyone else during this time. Breakfast is our time. You finish your business before or after. We always dine together in the mornings, and we’d like for you to learn how to be sociable morning people.”
Emerald slid a thick pat of butter into the center of a dark roll, stuffed shaved ham in after it, and stood. A southerner’s breakfast. Interesting thing to pick when your mask had no opening for the mouth. “We will hold physical training sessions all day, every day. You need not attend if you feel adequately masterful, but do remember we are watching. One of you will be Our Queen’s new Opal, and we cannot afford mediocrity.”
“So eat well and relax.” Amethyst gestured to the spread of food across the table.
“This morning, we will evaluate you separately. Every other morning until we say otherwise, you are expected to play nicely until training starts.” Ruby stood, beckoning a servant with a bloodred collar, and waved halfheartedly to the table. “You will do best if you remember this is a test and we are the overseers.”
Emerald picked up her plate and vanished through a side door. Amethyst followed and Ruby’s servant slipped through the door ahead of him. Ruby spared us one last glance over his shoulder.
“A word of advice—don’t be predictable. From this day on, predictability will kill you,” Ruby said. “We’ll start with Two.”
Two rose to her feet as graceful as any dancer and took a deep breath. Three and Four watched her go.
How were we supposed to stay unpredictable if they had us in timed lessons all day?
“A long night, a longer morning.” Four eyed the rest of the table over his cup of tea. “Testing our patience perhaps.”