Xander took a threatening step toward me, but I held my ground, my chin rising, my eyes meeting his in challenge. “I can and I do. Much ill has befallen us already because of one woman.”
“Xander, please take me inside.” Ameline was becoming restless, trying to warn her brother that he shouldn’t challenge me. At her level she could see my hands curled into fists. She had seen my power with her own eyes and knew if it came to a fight, I could reduce her brother to a pile of ash. She pulled on his arm with all her might, turning him away from me and toward the castle.
Xander continued to study me like I was an aberration with two heads. “You are so odd.” Then he looked at my ruined dress and exposed ankles, frowning in disapproval. “Get your dress fixed. No one should serve my family wearing rags.” He turned, pulling Ameline into the palace after him, leaving me shaking.
My earlier joy was shot down like an arrow to the heart as anger took over.
Chapter Five
Lifting my skirts, I turned to catch up with Pru, who I had seen walking through the hall. In her arms were reams of fabric, and behind her were three women, each holding four or five gowns each. Where she had procured the dresses, or the seamstresses, I didn’t know or care to ask. It seemed they weren’t as busy as I had been led to believe. I grabbed a few bolts of fabric from Pru to help relieve her burden.
The guards met us at my own door and let us in without much ado. The one from earlier met my eyes and leaned in to whisper confidentially, “I understand now, what you go through. She is a horrible monster of a woman.”
“She is?” I asked, confused, before remembering I had led them to believe that I, the horrible witch, was still inside.
“Yes, you should have heard the fuss she was making. Be careful. She may take out her anger on you,” he warned.
I stilled at the lies he spurred forth. Yes, I might take a switch to him. My eyes narrowed as I prepared to whisper a curse. Pru caught my wild glare and reached back, grabbing my wrist, then pulled me into the room after her and slammed the door behind us.
“How dare he?” I fumed, tossing the bolts of fabric on the table before I turned to grasp the door handle. Pru had placed herself in front of the door to prevent me.
“My lady,” she begged. “Please, do not give Fagen another thought. He is mindless and was only trying to prove he was your friend.”
“By spreading lies,” I snapped.
“No more than the ones you yourself uttered a few hours earlier.” She winced as if she expected my hand to follow her outburst. But it didn’t. Her gaze flickered to the women standing still in the middle of the room, their mouths open as they no doubt realized I wasn’t some servant but the lady they were to serve.
Closing my eyes, I released the glamour and sighed. Releasing a glamour was like breathing after holding your breath too long. It wasn’t a comfortable spell, unless you possessed an item from that person or you were my talented sister Eden, who could fall asleep maintaining a glamour.
The ladies gasped when they saw my servant dress transform into my emerald-green gown with missing trimming. I banished my anger and tried to recover my composure. Once I was sure I had my mask of indifference in place, I looked over the women and the fabrics and said, “Let’s begin.”
Under my supervision, we were able to get quite a few dresses altered to fit me, and I was pleased with the color and cut of most of them. For dinner, I had chosen a deep purple velvet dress that accented my dark hair, which was curled and pinned with long tendrils flowing down my back. The seamstresses learned my bark was far worse than my bite, because after an hour of intense silence, they relaxed and began to talk amicably amongst themselves.
I did, however, notice the milk in my saucer was gone. Which meant a fey had taken my offering and agreed to serve me. With all the hustle and bustle of the ladies in the room, I had yet to see what kind of fey it was, and none presented themselves for introduction. I wouldn’t fret; some only came out at night, and I knew I would just have to be patient.
When it came time for my meeting with Gaven, I felt nervous and sick to my stomach. It was the lying that was bothering me. I didn’t like to lie or deceive anyone, but it was clear that most of the palace had already come to their first impressions of me without having even spoken to me.
My head was already throbbing from my overuse of glamour, which meant I would be paying for my choice dearly later on. Pru and the seamstresses had excused themselves, taking their work with them and leaving me to await the dinner hour by myself.
Taking no chances in case of a changing of the guard, I touched my beautiful dress and glamoured it into the blue of the servant attire, then yelled, “Get out, you miserable girl! Leave me alone. I don’t want to see your face!” For good measure, I tossed a heavy book at the wall.
Stomping my feet, I rushed to the door, threw it open and slammed it behind me, playing on the fact that I had just been banished from the new princess’s room.
Sure enough, there were new guards. “I heard from the other guard that she’s bad news,” the short one said.
Not daring to speak, I just nodded and walked away, keeping my smile at bay. This was proving to be entertaining. Once out of their sight, I released my glamour and let a renewed confidence overtake me.
I had learned that the morning and noon meals were served buffet style, the food kept warm with charms for the guests and late risers. The royals usually took meals in their rooms, with only dinner as a set time and formal occasion.
Passing through the formal sitting room, I made my way into the library. As I waited for Gaven, I reminisced about my sisters and home.
Closing my eyes, I dreamed of my room in my tower. It wasn’t much, but it made me happy. The old guard tower had been abandoned years ago and had undergone multiple additions by various owners, with little thought to architectural design. It was a hodgepodge of style with a large yard, stable, and gated vegetable garden. It was outside of town a ways, near the woods, and we were usually left alone, unless someone was coming for us to heal a cow, gain good fortune, or acquire a love potion or two.
Our bedrooms were on three separate floors of the tower itself. I shared the upper floor with Aura and Eden, my younger sisters took the second floor, and Mother Eville lived on the main level. Our room had two small paned windows with wooden shutters, one of which was frequently left open for Maeve to come and go as she pleased. I hadn’t spoken to my sisters in days; before, when we lived together, we hardly went hours without communicating with each other. It was easy to imagine Mother Eville sitting in her high-back chair, knitting and instructing the others in their needlework and spells. In the evenings, we would sing in the language of the old fey, because she said it was easier to learn if sung than spoken.
Maeve, a shapeshifter from birth, would swoop in over dinner and tell us all the gossip she had learned while in fowl form. Usually it was about the boys in town and whom they were courting. A smile fell upon my face as I imagined her frown at the thought of yet another eligible suitor being off the market.
Off the market. Despite being told to never love, for it made us weak, each of us dreamed of being loved, marrying, and settling down. But who could ever love us? Scorned, cursed, and ostracized, we were doomed to carry out spinsterhood. I was still uncertain how I ended up being married to a prince.