Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(37)
“I don’t see how this is an improvement,” I said to Maud, gliding past her and out the door. No need for her to get cocky and think I needed her.
She locked the door behind me. “Of course you don’t. You don’t know any better yet.”
I stopped.
“Breakfast is this way.” Smug smile in place, Maud led me down a winding dirt road shaded by a canopy of wire, ivy, and climbing bittersweet. Five entered from a path to the west a ways ahead of us.
“Whose residence is down there?” I rolled my eyes west so Five wouldn’t catch me snooping.
“Ruby’s.” Maud made a sharp, dismissive sound with her tongue.
“Don’t like Five?” If I was going to get back at him for the forest run, I needed to know every little secret and rumor about him. And where he was sleeping.
Maud glanced at me, lips pursed, and whispered, “He’s very demanding, and that is certainly nothing new. It’s our job to do what is asked and take care of what isn’t, but he’s—”
“The very definition of arrogant Erlend?”
“You’re insulting me too, you know?” Maud walked with me the last few steps to the door. “He’s cruel when he doesn’t need to be.”
“Entitled to things always going his way?”
She nodded. I’d be taking care of him soon enough and his servant would be free.
“I’ll have a server bring you a canteen during breakfast, and you can fill it yourself,” she said. “I’ll be busy with other things.”
Two and Four sat together at the table. The others who’d died hadn’t filled as much space in my mind as Three. She’d told me how to stretch, liked strong tea, and now she was dead, gone in a spray of blood and pain no one had the right to suffer. I took my seat across from them and next to Fifteen. Four nodded to me.
“And again.” Four raised his tea to me, the sharp sting of liquor in the air, and downed it in one go. “No more running at least.”
“Here we are, eight of twenty-three.” Ruby swept into the room, holding the door open for Amethyst and Emerald, and took his seat at the head of the table. “I’m sure each of you is dying to know the new rules.”
“They’re the exact same.” Emerald poured herself a cup of dark chicory. “But be polite about it—no mess, no fuss.”
Easy enough. I finished off my plate and accepted the canteen from the server.
“And if you do make a mess, clean it up,” Amethyst said. “Breakfast is still safe. Eat up.”
I poured water into the canteen. Fifteen reached for another plate of food while Five leaned back in his chair, gaze on Ruby.
“You’ll head to poisons first.” Ruby twirled a spoon between his fingers. “You may, of course, skip anything you feel adequately prepared for, but we will be watching.”
“We are always watching.” Amethyst laid a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Ruby will teach you etiquette after poisons, and your final training session will be healing. Lady Isidora dal Abreu and I will lead you through basic exercises. Other necessary tutoring will still take place after that. The moment you step outside this room, the competition begins again.”
Good. I still had Elise to tell me where Seve was and what he was up to. Maybe I could even find Shan de Pau.
“Up.” Emerald beckoned us to a far door. “We might not be running, but I won’t abide slowness.”
She led us to a greenhouse with a fancy combination lock, glass walls, and pointed ceilings taller than most of the surrounding trees shining in the early morning sun. Trellises crawling with twining orange sunrise roses lined the inside walls; hanging gardens dripped with dark-green, leafy vines and midnight-blue flowers; and a curtain of soft green thyme spilled over the planter above the door. Emerald held the vines aside for us before pulling on a pair of thick leather gloves. I slipped through the door after Four. Eleven slunk away from us.
No surprise that she knew her poisons.
Water settled over my skin. The air was thick with it—drops of it beading on my arms and the damp scent of dirt filling my nose. My shoes clicked softly against the boards laid over the ground, designed to keep us off the plants, and a bee flitted through the purple bittersweet over my right shoulder. Ten leaned over a cluster of snowbells.
“Do not touch anything while you are in here unless I tell you to do so.” Emerald circled behind a worktable in the center of the floor. Her green cotton tunic and brown trousers were well made but comfortable looking, and mud streaked her gloves. A tiny butter-yellow flower clung to her sleeve. “If you do and it’s poisonous, I cannot guarantee I can save you. Or that I’ll try. I’ve more important things to do than fuss over you. Among other things, we’re looking for a certain intelligent drive in all of you to stay alive. Touching plants in a greenhouse full of poisons doesn’t breed confidence.”
I tucked my hands into my pockets. I was fairly comfortable that no one could harm me in here without being caught, and I was rested enough to yank my hands free in time to block a blow. It was only last night, but I already felt worlds better without paranoia and exhaustion hanging over me.
“Anyone in this world could kill you if they tried hard enough, and the same is true of plants.” She picked up a small yucca root. “I’m sure most of you have eaten this one way or another. There’s a reason yucca is treated before it’s eaten.