“A house—of healers?”
“Yes. A place for people to be seen by healers, as well as a healer-mage to attend the more difficult cases.” There is a tightness to her features, her eyes suddenly shadowed. “It would be free to those who could not afford it, and a nominal cost for those who can. What do you think?”
A healer-mage . . . I look out over the walls and hold that thought for a moment. When I was born, my parents took me to a healer to see if anything might be done to help my foot, but there was nothing she could do. What we needed, she told my parents, was a healer-mage who could help guide the bones to straighten. When Baba finally found one, he would not entertain their request for even a single consultation. We were peasants to him, and he wished nothing to do with us. My parents rarely speak of it, but I wonder sometimes if that is why, years later, they chose to keep Niya with them, hiding her talent so she would not grow into such a person.
I clear my throat. My own history aside, the princess’s idea sounds a little too good to be true. “Where would it be located?”
She smiles, a quick sharp twitch of her lips that makes me think she is inordinately pleased with my question. “We’ve spoken with a number of guilds, as well as local community leaders, and identified a building in the southwest part of the city. The west side is perhaps the least affluent, but the south side is not much better. So we would strive to serve both. The project is already begun, and the first floor of the house should open the day after the wedding. I would like to have someone check in on the progress daily and report any issues that arise to me. I do not believe my other attendants are quite suited to such a role. Would you like it?”
I hesitate.
“Yes?” In that moment she looks young, hopeful. She reminds me of Niya; they might even be the same age. Only the princess has no older sister, no friend, not even a dependable attendant. And she is trying to remain aware of the needs of the people, and that is a wonderful thing.
“Yes,” I agree.
The princess smiles, her whole face warming. The line of her shoulders eases; I had not realized how tense she was till now. “Good. I’ve been waiting for you.”
I find myself smiling back at her, and I am suddenly, deeply grateful that Ani pushed me to come, because that brought me here, to this woman who wants to make a change in the world and thinks I am the one to help her. And perhaps, once the wedding is past, she will bring up the snatchers again, or else I will.
“I suppose there is one more thing we should discuss,” Alyrra says.
“Yes, zayyida?” I ask, unsure what else she might ask.
She eyes me with amusement. “What do you think of our little trip to the wall?”
“Zayyida?” She already knows I was concerned about it.
“Why do you think we came here?”
Is that a trick question? “To see the west side?”
“Look behind you,” Alyrra instructs. I turn to see the roofs of the palace rising before me. Covered in dark green clay shingles, the nearest roof is of a height with us; beyond it the roofs rise and fall. I can see elevated balconies and unshuttered windows, all more than high enough to see beyond the walls. I turn back to the outer view, trying to make sense of this. If Alyrra knew there were places within the palace to see past the wall, why did she allow her attendants to play such a trick on her? Unless she saw through it and used it to her own ends.
“I believe,” Alyrra muses, “though I cannot be sure, that this is the safest place in all the palace to have a conversation.” She allows herself a faint smile at my stare. I had not considered that even the royal family would have to watch their words. I glance to the side. The captain stands beside the stairwell. We are just far enough, and the breeze steady enough, that our conversation should have escaped him.
“Many of the halls and rooms in the palace have secret passageways running beside them. Conversations are easily overheard. It is something you will have to be aware of as well—both those who will listen in on you, and those who will manipulate you to learn what they wish.”
“I understand.”
She nods. “When I asked my attendants for a recommendation on where to see the city from, I had hoped you and I might converse in the hallways on our way there, far enough ahead of them that they would not catch our words. Instead, they provided us with the perfect location for such a conversation.”
She used them? Oh, now this I like about her!
“What I will ask you to do”—Alyrra flicks her fingers toward the city—“will stay between you and me until I am ready to share it with whom I choose, as I choose. So, I ask of you two things: your confidence, and your discretion.”
“You have them.”
“You are sure you wish to be my attendant, Amraeya?”
“Yes,” I say without hesitation.
Alyrra smiles that same warm, open smile. “Then let us go back to my rooms and discuss how all this will work.”
Chapter
11
Melly and Filadon show their pleasure in the news I share with them in predictably different ways: Filadon bright and sharp and very self-satisfied, and Melly fairly glowing with pride. She makes certain only that the decision was truly mine, and then happily leads me off to a storage room to go through her trunks and find more fabric to have sewn up for the very many additional outfits I will apparently require in my new role.
“You’ll have an abundance of functions to attend, morning and evening,” she tells me when I express my disbelief that I will need any more than the dozen outfits we already ordered. “You’ll need more jewelry as well.”
Which will all take money. Mama and Baba gave me quite a bit, but I’ve used a chunk of it ordering clothes and jewelry the last few days. Perhaps I should have told the prince to just give me a new wardrobe as his “reward.”
“What I don’t understand is how the prince decided so quickly if it was such an important issue for him to vet me,” I tell Melly as we step into the storage room. Alyrra at least had taken the time to chat with me; Kestrin and I barely exchanged a dozen sentences.
“Don’t you? Did you ask Filadon?”
“Not really.”
She doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, she hefts open a trunk and lifts out a stack of fabric. “I expect the prince watched you for some time before approaching. He no doubt heard your conversation while you waited with Filadon.”
I stare at her. “But how—?”
“There are a hundred secret listening places in this palace.” A fact Alyrra already shared with me. “What did you discuss before he arrived?”
With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I admit, “Why I was willing to take the post and what I expected to get out of it.”
“He was listening,” Melly says flatly.
“But that would mean Filadon knew.”
“Yes.” Melly holds a sea-green silk, her finger tracing a swirl of lilac and white embroidery. “Filadon is—he will look out for you, Rae, but his first loyalty is to the royal family.” She hesitates. “He’s different here from who he is in the country. That’s part of why I’ve always loved visiting you.”
I look down, not sure I want to watch Melly’s face, the worry line that appears between her brows. “He is different,” I agree. “But he still loves you very much. That much even I can see.”