Page 36 of Her Dark Reflection

It was incredible how quickly my status at court had changed. All it took was the shift of my belongings into another part of the palace, and rather than being ignored as I moved through the servant’s quarters, I was accosted by everyone I passed as they stopped to ask me if they could help me find something. I knew that summoning Senafae to me via a servant wasn’t going to endear me to her, but it didn’t seem that I had much choice.

I was deposited in a parlour while a maid raced to fetch her to me, and when Senafae entered the room, she eyed me warily.

‘Have a seat,’ I said, gesturing to the chair by me with perhaps a little too much eagerness. She did as I bid but remained perched on the edge of the chair, as though she was ready to flee at any moment.

I folded my hands in my lap. ‘I have a proposition for you.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘I see. You’ve risen so high that you can be offeringpropositionsnow.’

‘Stop it. It’s not my fault you’re in the position you’re in,’ I snapped, and she flinched like I’d slapped her. Well, it was true. ‘Just hear me out, please.’

She looked tired. Terribly tired, her eyes shadowed and dull. It chilled me to see her so lifeless. She didn’t respond, but she also didn’t walk out, so I launched ahead. ‘I want you to stay on at the palace as my companion.’

Her eyes widened just a fraction. ‘Why? We hardly know each other.’

‘I know you better than I know anyone else here.’ I looked down and fiddled with the fringe of a cushion, feeling like I wanted to squirm in my seat. ‘And I need someone around that I can trust.’

The silence that fell was like an echoing cavern between us. I almost took the words back, almost laughed and said something mean to cover the vulnerable flash of underbelly I’d exposed before she could stab me in it.

‘A paid companion?’ she asked slowly.

Miserly creature, but I smiled. I would have asked the same. ‘Yes. And your own rooms here in the palace.’ I hoped I wasn’t vastly overestimating the privileges that came with my new position.

She twisted at her plaited bracelet, and I eyed it as she did. It was such a grubby thing.

‘Alright,’ she finally agreed, and she offered me a tentative smile.

Relief washed through me. I could only guess at the sort of hostility I would face from the ladies of the court, so having any form of ally would be a welcome support. And I could help keep her from one of the worse fates that awaited unmarried pregnant women in Brimordia. The memory of the red sheets flashed through my mind unbidden and I shoved it away. Senafae wouldn’t want to think that had anything to do with the reason I was offering her the position.

‘As my employee, I will insist on having some say in how you choose to handle your situation.’ I drew myself up and tried to sound like a grand lady when I said it, but Senafae scowled.

‘It’s none of your business,’ she snapped. ‘If sending me hunting down some mad old witch in the Yawn is a condition of employment, then you can find someone else.’

‘Baba Yaga could help you, Sen. I mean it. She’s not just a story.’ I reached out and squeezed her hand. ‘She helped my mother.’

That seemed to give her pause. ‘She did?’

‘More than once.’

She seemed… a little too interested in this fact. ‘Who was your mother?’

My skin prickled with uneasiness, and I pulled my hand form hers. ‘My point is that it’s a real possibility. I can help you.’

Movement drew my attention, and I turned my head just in time to catch sight of Elovissa and one of the other maisera shuffling slowly past the door, their eyes fixed forward but their shoulders turned slightly towards us, and I wondered if this was their first pass of the doorway.

‘I should really be grateful for the incident with the nagwis. It has made the kingsoprotective of me,’ I said loudly, and Elovissa shot me a sour look. ‘My apartment is so lavish, you’ll just die when you see it.’

‘Vanaria is gone,’ Senafae said as they passed out of sight. Her tone was blunt. ‘What did you do to her?’

‘Me?’ I touched a hand to my chest. ‘Why would I do something to her? She was hardly worth my notice, let alone the energy of a scheme.’

It was a flimsy lie, and it hung in the air over us as we continued our conversation, sticking to our words like spun sugar. We traded gossip and small talk, but it felt stiff and superficial, and by the time I left Senafae to go and see about arranging a room for her use, I was second guessing my decision to invite her to stay. Whatever intimacy had been between us seemed to have dried up, like spring dew beneath a morning sun. But I couldn’t help that. I couldn’t very well trust her with my secrets. I had too much to lose.

HiringSenafaeasmycompanion didn’t provide the easy company I had hoped for. She often kept to her rooms, already sick with the child in her belly and refusing to decide what she would do about it. She was bitter and angry and wouldn’t listen to any more of my entreaties to seek out the witch in the Yawn. I eyed her figure constantly, waiting to see a thickening that might hint at her secret, and despaired at what I would do with an unmarried pregnant woman under my care. Though, as the king’s whore, I was hardly winning any prizes for unblemished morality. Surely, my companion bearing a bastard was less of a scandal than my own indiscretions.

Senafae wrote and received a constant stream of letters. I often saw her scribbling away at the small desk in the corner of her room when I stopped by to check in on her, though she would quickly sweep the paper away into a drawer when I arrived, and I wondered if she was enquiring to places she could take herself away to have her baby in secret. When I asked who she was writing to, she continued to insist it was her family, which I continued to suspect was a lie. Why would she write so many letters to the people who had abused and abandoned her?

My new handmaid Leela, on the other hand, was quickly becoming indispensable. She had a keen sense of style and was impeccable in pairing gowns and accessories and hairstyles, seeming to always know exactly how far I could push the bounds of fashion and propriety. I knew the other women of the court were noticing. I caught their appraising glances as I moved through the palace.

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