Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(33)

I knew of Nicolas del Contes—an Erlend who’d sided with Our Queen—but nothing useful. I’d have to worm some information out of Elise.

Elise. Tutoring. I still had to go to tutoring. How had it only been one day?

“Maud?” I waved my arm, too tired to sit up. “I have to go to tutoring tonight. Can you wake me up when it’s time?”

I’d not really, truly slept in days. Thank The Lady we were safe tonight because there was no way I could stay awake through it.

“Of course,” Maud said. “I’ll take you to your new quarters after.”

The door clicked shut. I meant to say “thank you,” but the words didn’t come. I stared at the closed door from my slumped seat on the bed, cheek pressed to the wall, and closed my burning eyes. Only a moment, one small break while the sun still shone and nightmares couldn’t come.

“Up, Twenty-Three.” Maud touched my arm. “Time to move.”

I jerked awake and swung. Maud lurched backward. At least she wasn’t calling me “Auditioner” anymore.

“Don’t do that.” My mouth was cotton and my tongue stuck to my teeth. I downed a cup of too-hot tea. “Don’t touch me before I’m awake. I might hit you.”

A lifelong habit wouldn’t distinguish between Maud and enemies.

She exhaled loudly through her nose. “Good to know.”

“Good.” I waited for her to pour me a second cup of tea, curling my fingers around the mug. Last thing I needed was to get disqualified for hitting someone I didn’t even want to hit. Maud didn’t deserve a bloody nose and no promotion. “Where’s the new room?”

“The Left Hand have quarters near Our Queen, but each keeps residences in the outer circle for visitors. You’ll be housed on Amethyst’s grounds.”

The River Caracol spiraled out from under the palace, natural springs older than Erlend and Alona combined that had been twisted into shape ages ago. Each loop of the spiral served as an extra level of defense for the main palace walls at its center. I’d only now gotten used to the layout of this place.

That was probably the point.

“And I don’t get to know where everyone else is staying?”

Maud dropped a spoon into the bowl and didn’t answer.

I cracked my sore back and muttered, “Fun.”

She smiled.

I stretched my sore limbs and shoveled as much food as I could into my mouth. If our next test was all poisons and healing, I’d be hard-pressed to find safe food, especially with Eleven—her apothecary sigil and fast fingers were a terrifying combination. We’d be learning etiquette too. I didn’t even know where to start with that.

“I look all right?” I fiddled with my sleeves, the well-tailored lines heavy and unfamiliar. Might as well start being proper now. If I was going to work my way into Elise’s good graces for noble information, I’d have to look good. “Good enough for all those honorable court members I’m going to be meeting?”

“Your hair’s a mess,” Maud said without missing a beat. Fair enough—I’d shaved it last winter and it was growing in wild. “Your bottom lip is split, and there’s a hole in your mask. You don’t hold a candle to anyone at court clothes-wise either.”

I touched my mask. A thin slit gaped under my fingers, and the scratch across my cheek underneath was rough and new. I sighed.

Elise had already seen me at my worst. I could only improve.

“Can you fix my mask without me taking it off?” I snaked my fingers under the mask and held it out. “No stitching it to me.”

“I think I can manage that.” Maud sat down next to me, pulling a needle and thread from her pocket. Buttons, ribbons, rags, and an old thimble tumbled out of her pockets. She threaded the needle and pried wax from the point. “Hold still.”

She stitched it up neat as my side. I could stitch flesh well enough to leave a small scar, but my hands shook too much on normal days to be good at anything other than sloppy darning. I rubbed the thread.

“Sewing part of being a servant?” I asked as I sniffed my tunic.

At least I smelled all right. Bet Elise had a dozen different fancy perfumes. And a dozen different flirts.

Hopefully she liked dangerous people.

“I’m an attendant.” Maud stuffed her collection of sewing tools back in her pocket. “I was a housekeeper, but attendants have a higher rank and better pay, and this was the fastest way to become one.”

I nodded. There was a story there, but she didn’t trust me with her truths, and I didn’t trust her with mine.

“Personal attendants take care of schedules, clothes, makeup, accountants, and such needs,” said Maud. “Everyone at court has one, and if they can’t afford one, they make another servant take the place of one. Appearances matter as much as anything else.”

Great. Another thing I could fail at. I didn’t like depending on Maud for so much.

I walked to the nook alone, smoothing down my hair as best as I could under my mask. Elise was the daughter of one of the old lords who’d bowed to Our Queen—couldn’t be happy about it—and she’d embraced the new court. She’d know all the noble things I didn’t, like which Erlends were unhappy, who knew what about Nacea, and where all of them lived beyond the Caracol.