Page 13 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

With a wary eye, she resumed her path and draped the fabric over my head, adjusting it so it fell neatly over my face. I almost wondered what the point of the dress was, given that the veil covered me from the top of my head to nearly my feet. While it certainly bathed my vision in blue, it was easier to see out of than I’d expected. It still feltwrongto be wearing it. It felt like a burial shroud rather than a veil.

Perhaps it was.

“Now you are ready,” Zaharya said, stepping back to pull her own veil over her body.

I did not feel ready in the least, but there was little choice. I nodded again.

“You’ll be at my side for this first night. Stay close, don’t linger anywhere too long, and don’t speak to anyone,” Zaharya said. We left the dressing room as a group and now walked side by side down another set of long hallways. I studied each turn, expanding the map in my head as I dutifully ignored the shadow along the floor that kept pace with us as we walked.

I smelled smoke, and this time I was not fast enough to look away before the Soulshade solidified. A woman appeared, and she was dressed not dissimilarly to me. She reached her hand out towards me, silent sobs shaking her shoulders. Her face never convalesced into clarity, but I also could not bring myself to look at her for long enough to truly tell.

Zaharya did not react, did not break her stride. She did not see the Soulshade. I could not tell if the feeling racing through my veins was disappointment or ease.

I focused my eyes on Elena’s back in front of me, on the waves of copper bouncing with each step beneath the veil of blue. The taste of smoke faded along with the apparition, and I let my shoulders relax only slightly. Soulshades were not the only danger here, and vigilance could be the difference between life and death. Mine and my brothers’.

Finally, we reached a small kitchen. Set off into the walls as if an afterthought to the original design, it was barely functional, yet the countertops that lined three sides of the alcove were sparkling stone. No expense was spared, even on tiny kitchens, it seemed. Trays of delicate stemmed glasses and small finger foods were already waiting atop the counters when we entered.

Without a word, Elena, Maricara, and Talyssa each picked up a tray, turning to leave the small space. Their movements were effortless, unhindered by the draping yards of sheer fabric that obscured them from view. Every glance at one of these women, every glimpse of the veils, made my anger gnaw at my spine, growing the pit in my belly. Anger at the prince for hiding us away, for wasting the money on yards of expensive fabric to cover those he deemed beneath him, anger that we were here at all.

Smoke burst across my tongue again, bitter and acrid as saliva pooled in my mouth. I swallowed roughly and tried to look away as the mist flickered once, twice, thrice, by Zaharya’s foot. She looked down momentarily before returning her focus to her own tray.

“Do you see that?” I blurted, cursing myself for not being able to hold my tongue. She’d reacted to it, though, unlike with the woman in the hallway.

“See what?” The veils, both hers and mine, prevented me from truly seeing the expression on her face, but they did not hide the suspicion in her voice.

I pointed down by her feet where the shadowy mass had solidified into the form of a large black cat. It sat there, looking up at me with wide yellow eyes and slowly swishing its too-long tail. “That.”

She looked down again. “There’s nothing there, Odyssa. I just thought I felt something.”

The blood in my veins turned to ice. I looked down at the cat again, who blinked at me and then slowly, so slowly, arched its back, stretching in a way that was so wholly unnatural I could not drag my gaze away. It contorted, seeming to grow longer as it stretched, its back reaching higher and higher. Finally, it stopped, settling back down into a sitting position where it lifted its paw and began licking. Its tongue was forked.

I blinked and scuttled away, my back hitting the counter and sending a glass crashing to the floor. The cat merely blinked again at the glass before disappearing.

“What is wrong with you?” Zaharya hissed, stooping to pick up the shards of glass.

“There was…” I shook my head, unable to complete the sentence. There was no way for me to describe what I saw without being labeled insane. “I thought I saw something.”

She huffed a laugh as she dropped the broken glass into a nearby bin. “What? Did you see a ghost?”

My silence lingered a moment too long.

Her eyes widened. “Truly, did you see a Soulshade?”

I nodded slowly, lifting my arms up beneath the shroud to wrap around myself in anticipation of her answer. “It looked like a cat. But I’ve seen others here too.”

She recovered quickly, stepping up closer until our fronts were almost touching. “I would keep that to yourself, Odyssa.”

“What do you mean by that?” The question was out before I could stop it. “And can you not see them?”

“This castle has secrets, Odyssa. Ones it does not want you to learn. I advise you to not go searching for them.” Her warning was ominous, made worse by the fear visible in the whites of her eyes, bright even obscured by the veils. “And no, I cannot see them.”

“Do you know why I can?”

She titled her head, looking a bit like a doll in the long veil that moved with her. “Likely the marks, I would presume. You came close to death, closer than I perhaps, and now you can see those who have passed on.”

My tongue felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

“How many have you seen?” She lifted her hands and spread them out. “Here, around the castle. How many Soulshades have you seen?”

---