Four Dead Queens(55)

The baths were located on the far side of the palace, and the farthest from her rooms. It was a perfect place to meet. No one would think to look for her there, for neither Stessa nor Lyker knew how to swim in deep water. No Ludist did. Shallow canals wound through Ludia, allowing them to cool off in the mid-summer heat without being fully submerged. Water was an enemy; it flattened hair, ruined makeup, made you remove clothing and jewelry. It made you plain. And that was not the Ludist way.

The baths were located in a cavernous room with a golden mosaic-tiled ceiling. A few small baths encircled one large pool in the middle. Each bath was lined with gilded tiles, shading the water gold. The center of the deepest pool darkened to a rich amber.

Pretty, Stessa thought. The mosaic tiles reflecting in the water reminded Stessa of the canals and how they reflected the colorful buildings along the bank. She could see why Lyker wanted to meet here.

The only other time Stessa had visited the baths was during her first day inside the palace. Demitrus had shown her all of the royal facilities, trying to warm her to the golden cage she would now call home. She’d barely glanced at the room back then, not caring how wonderful they claimed the palace to be. She missed her parents. She missed Lyker. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be in a world without them.

Now Stessa studied the various glimmering pools, wondering if the other queens frequented this place. The room was warm, as though Stessa were swaddled in a thick blanket. Heat radiated up from the tiles, drawing her to the main pool’s edge. Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades underneath her ruby-red dress.

She removed her shoes and stockings and sat upon the pool’s ledge, slowly lowering her feet into the cool water. She let out a contented sigh. Once her feet were submerged, she wanted more water to wash over her. Her perspiration made her skin feel sticky and her dress tight. The outer layers of her makeup began sliding off her face like shedding skin.

Where is he? she thought. It was unlike Lyker to be late.

It had been difficult to sneak away with the increased security, but Stessa was used to running about the palace with the queens none the wiser. Except for Iris—she’d known her secret. And she’d kept it until her dying breath.

One evening, Iris had grabbed a bread roll from Stessa’s plate, her appetite much larger than her petite frame. When she bit into the fluffy white bread, she was surprised to find a scrunched-up piece of paper. The instructions had told her to meet in the royal ballroom at the stroke of midnight.

Iris had ventured to the ballroom, unsure who she’d find. When Lyker had turned at her entrance, Stessa’s name on his lips, their secret was out.

Initially Iris had been furious with her much younger sister queen. She yelled and swore and scowled. Stessa had tried to reason with her, tell her she’d known Lyker before entering the palace and it was not merely a fling with the new advisor.

“It is against Queenly Law,” Iris had said. “You are young; you don’t yet understand its importance. You can’t break a law whenever you like.”

Stessa had wanted to tell Iris she wasn’t so young that she didn’t know her own heart. But she stayed quiet. Iris already thought she was impulsive and reckless. She had to prove her love for Lyker was more than a fleeting fantasy.

“Come with me, Iris,” Stessa had said. Lyker had followed behind, remaining silent.

Once in her rooms, Stessa had gone to her crowded dressing table.

“Now is not the time to play with your makeup,” Iris had remarked.

Stessa had ignored her, opening one of her makeup tins. Inside were thousands of pieces of paper. “Here,” she’d said, shaking the paper onto the floor like confetti.

“You kept them all?” Lyker had asked. It had been dangerous bringing the letters to the palace, but Stessa had needed a piece of Lyker with her; it had made her feel less alone. And his handwriting was beautiful, poetic, like the poetry he wasn’t allowed to squander his time with inside the palace.

Iris bent down to pick up one of the pieces. “What are they?”

“Letters.” Stessa smiled down upon the scraps of paper, a fragmented love poem. “From Lyker. It began when we were children.”

Iris didn’t reply, her fingertips flitting over the paper as she read. Some were private moments, but Iris needed to know the truth.

After a while, Iris had sat back on her heels. “I’m sorry, Stessa.”

Stessa’s heart had dropped. It hadn’t worked. Iris didn’t care about her relationship with Lyker. She would turn her in to the authorities, and Lyker was sure to be banished from the palace.

“I’m sorry this has been hard on you.” Something had burned beneath Iris’s petite features. “It’s trying to be separated from the ones we love. But why should we be kept apart? We are queens, after all.” She had taken Stessa’s hand then. “I promise not to speak of your secret.”

Stessa had thought Iris meant her family as “the people she loved,” but at the next nightly dinner, she had watched Iris interact with Corra. While it was almost imperceptible, there had been a difference, a lightness that had colored Iris’s features and brightened her green eyes. When Iris had turned to speak with her advisor, the light had dimmed. It could’ve been mistaken for merely affection for her sister queen, but Stessa had suspected something else. For it was a look she had often seen in Lyker’s eyes. A look of love and desire.