Page 85 of House of Dusk
That had given her some pause.Could you come with me?
Her mother shook her head.No. I’m sorry, love.And a shadow had passed over her face. A rare thing. Her mother was a great one for laughter, for smiles and jokes. Even when she spoke of Yeneris’s father, who had gone to rejoin the kos before Yeneris had even been born, she smiled.
What’s wrong?Yeneris asked, shaken by this rare glimpse of sorrow.I don’t need to go. I can stay.
Her mother slipped an arm around her shoulders then, tucking Yeneris close.No, love, that’s not it. I want you to go out into the world and make a life for yourself. It’s only . . .She laughed ruefully. I wanted to be a dustspinner, too. When I was just a little older than you. I even began the training. But I had to stop.
Why?
Because your grandmama got sick, and it was more important for me to come home to take care of her. Sometimes the world is like that, love. We can’t always get what we want. We have to choose one path, and give up another.
Yeneris had nodded dutifully, but secretly she resented the idea that the world might force such a choice. Surely her mother could still have pursued her dream. She could go now. They could go together.
But they hadn’t. And in time, in sorrow, Yeneris understood better. Some dreams, some desires, had to be set aside for the sake of other callings.
“Do you want your amber earrings?” Yeneris asked, fishing the trinkets from one of the bowls of other ornaments set out along the nearby table.
Pain flashed across Sinoe’s face. “No. Those were a gift from my mother. If Father sees me wearing them, he’ll suspect something. You should wear them. They’ll bring out those pretty glints of gold in your eyes.”
Yeneris hadn’t realized that Sinoe was paying such close attention to her eyes. Heat fluttered up her throat, over her cheeks. She set the earrings back into the bowl resolutely. “I’m sorry about Tami,” she said, chasing away the warmth with a dose of cold, brisk guilt. “But your mother will know the truth, won’t she?”
Sinoe’s lips pressed to a thin line. “I had to do it. Father’s more than happy to have me spend time with my beloved ‘true mother’ now. This is our chance.” Her gaze transfixed Yeneris. “You want to do a scrying on the bones, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then this is the way.” She swept past, heading for the outer room, the door to the hallway. Yeneris followed, pinning her feelings very firmly in place.Do the job. This is why you’re here.
She brushed a hand over the lump at her waist, where she still had the parcel from Hura—or rather, former queen Kizare—tucked into her sash. She had opened it, earlier, while Sinoe was being bathed and having her hair dyed. The gift was an amber hairpin shaped like a bee, a match to the earrings. And a short note, a message of affection that seemed harmless enough.
It had taken Yeneris an hour to work out the hidden words. Bassaran and Helissoni were sister tongues, easier to move between. Scarthian was an entirely different beast, and Yeneris knew only a smattering of the language. Still, it was enough to wrangle the intent.Come to me. Wear this, and my friends will show you the way.
Confirmation of what she’d already suspected. Kizare was working through Hura to get Sinoe out of the palace.
Hura said he could help Yeneris, if she helped him. But if Sinoe vanished, Yeneris would lose her access to the kore. And quite possibly her own life. She was meant to be the princess’s bodyguard, after all. Hierax was not a forgiving man. Briefly, she entertained a vision of fleeing with Sinoe, of the two of them riding together, her arms tight around the princess’s waist, chasing the winds to the far, free horizon. But that was not the path she had chosen.
So she would keep the gift and the message to herself, at least until after the visit to the south wing. This could be exactly the chance she had been waiting for.
• • •
Yeneris braced herself as she followed Sinoe into the queen’s receiving room. The room itself was inoffensive—pleasing, even. Less garish than some of the other chambers she’d seen in the palace. The walls were a mellow gold, painted with vines dripping pendulous clusters of dusky violet grapes. The furnishings were exquisite: couches carved of some dark wood with an almost purplish grain, silk pillows, a scattering of low tables inlaid with ivory. A beautiful silver tea service and a platter of small cakes decorated with gold leaf.
And there, in the midst of it all, sat the bones of the kore.
What did the servants think? Yeneris glanced toward the three women standing along the edge of the room, heads slightly bowed. Did they believe Hierax’s claims? Did they think that the bones were their true queen? Or was this a joke to them?
She wasn’t sure which answer she preferred. If they believed Hierax, at least they might have treated the bones reverently, as the kore deserved. It curdled her belly to think of the alternative. The secret jokes, the shared looks passed between them as they pinned that precious gauzy gown around the kore’s bones and set those winking jewels on her bony fingers. The rolled eyes as they propped her into place on the finest couch.
Her mind swam with childhood memories of the grotto, the veins of silver, the stern resolve of the dustspinner with her scarab-black habit and obsidian blade. All lost now. The grotto had been defiled. Its guardians slaughtered.
“Thank you,” Sinoe said, nodding to the servants. “You may leave us.”
The princess waited until the door closed behind the women. Then she spoke, her voice loud enough that Yeneris knew it must be for the benefit of anyone listening. “Hello, Mother. It’s lovely to see you. This looks marvelous. Are those pistachio cakes?”
She drew in a breath then, and turned to Yeneris. “All right. Go ahead.”
“Go ahead?” Yeneris shook her head, confused.
“Go ahead and take your kore. We’ve got at least an hour before anyone will suspect anything. And if I know you, you’ve already plotted at least three different ways to get out of this room other than by that door.”
