The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1)(23)
“The duchess is returning home with her family,” James explained when he caught me eyeing the prince’s fiancée as she glided by outside with a pair of adults. Her parents, presumably.
“Ah.” No suggestive gazing for them. Well, few in this world had the luxury of marrying for love.
“I hope your first full day in Skyvale was satisfying.” Tobiah steadied the lantern, and light struck the angles of his face. “I can’t promise every day will be as exciting, but there do tend to be many parties in autumn.”
“The company was enjoyable.” When I smiled pointedly, both boys offered polite thank-yous. “As for less exciting days, I’m very interested in learning more about the Indigo Kingdom.”
“Anything in particular?” Tobiah lifted an eyebrow.
“Its history.”
“That’s not a light subject.” Tobiah gripped the bench to brace himself as the carriage jostled. “Why history?”
“My father maintained that the history of a kingdom contains clues to the kingdom’s future.” At the prince’s nod, I continued. “He said people tend to fall into patterns, even over hundreds of years. They make the same mistakes as their ancestors. The only way we can avoid that fate is to learn from what’s come before.”
“That is an interesting philosophy,” said the prince. “I can’t say I disagree with it.”
“Besides, the Indigo Kingdom is my home now.” The words sat sour on my tongue. The Indigo Kingdom could never be home. “I want to know everything about it. As much as those who were born here.”
James, who’d been quietly observing the exchange, leaned forward. “You strike me as an incredibly clever young woman. Somehow, I don’t think you’ll have trouble catching up.”
“Indeed.” Tobiah smiled. “Whatever you require for your studies will be provided.”
Later, alone in our rooms, I turned to Melanie. “The Indigo Kingdom is so kind to us. Whatever we require for our reclaiming of Aecor will be provided.”
She laughed and began unpinning my hair. “Did you get anywhere with the prince or his bodyguard?”
“Tobiah promised to get me into his wraith mitigation talks sometime, and James is a river of gossip.”
“Not a good trait for a bodyguard.”
“But good for us.” I recounted the conversations and when my hair hung loose, I turned to help with hers. “What about you? Anything?”
“I made friends out of a few ladies-in-waiting. I’ll use them for information on people we’re up against. They were horrified that we’d been seated with the military guests, so we have potential allies against Chey if we need them.”
“I get the impression Chey doesn’t like us, and I’m not sure why. We should be careful with her.”
“Meredith is friendly, though.” Melanie shrugged. “She invited us to her engagement ball.”
True, but she hadn’t spoken with us tonight. That was a little strange.
The clock tower chimed as we ran through the people we’d met, who might be useful, who could be ignored for now, and how we’d behave around all of them. We were refugee nobility, after all; we could get away with quite a range of behavior, if we played our characters right.
And we were nothing if not good at being exactly what others expected us to be.
EIGHT
THE NEXT SEVERAL days blurred. Dress fittings, introductions to other palace residents, and a dizzying number of formal dinners, though none as grand as the first. The king was paying for all of it, though, so I didn’t complain.
One evening, we returned to our quarters and found a stack of large paper and bottles of colored inks resting on the sitting room table.
“Perfect.” Melanie circled the supplies, giving them a predatory smile as she dragged her fingers along the edge of the table. “This is even more than we need for the map.”
“Which is good.” I locked the door and took inventory. Large sheets of white, fine-grained paper. Richly colored inks. I’d be hard-pressed to steal something better. “Really good, considering we’ll have to show off all the drawings we promised.”
Melanie grinned as she lifted the lid of a hand-carved box; it smelled of rosewood. “Pens. Dozens of nibs. They really are trying to make us feel at home.” She removed an ebony-handled pen and turned it in her hands. “What else do you think we could request? The king’s head on a pike?”
“Hmm.” I gave an exaggerated tap on my chin. “How does one word that kind of request?”
“With liberal repetition of the word please, I expect.” Melanie shut the box. “I’m ready to begin transferring the map right now, if you are.”
I glanced at the mantel clock, hands drawing toward twenty-two. At the window, darkness peeked around the edges of the curtain. “This late?”
“You’re imagining we’ll have a convenient time tomorrow?” She shook her head. “Between dress fittings, social meals, and our gossip-collecting efforts, we’re scheduled every moment. We have four tasks. The faster we get through them—including this one—the faster we can return to the old palace.”
I cast a quick, longing gaze toward my bedroom before I sat at the table. She was right. There was no better time than now.