Page 82 of The Thirteenth Child
Bellatrice’s lips twisted, but she said nothing.
Aloysius paused, evidently weighing the consequences of his decision.
“Oh, let her,” Leopold said, waving the valet back into his corner. “I don’t mind. Bells? Healer? Do you?”
Margaux stepped forward, a soft smile lighting her face. “I’m so glad you’ve come!” She reached out without hesitation to embrace me, squeezing my shoulders before she pulled away. Her voice had a musical lilt, like a wind chime on a spring afternoon. “Welcome! Welcome! You look just as I imagined you would!”
I glanced about the table, hoping someone would help fill in the gaps for me.
Leopold sighed heavily. “Margaux is the seer who ordained your arrival.”
“Oh.” An oracle! I looked over the girl with fresh interest. I’d never met anyone else so intimately acquainted with the gods. “Thank you. I suppose.”
“I’m sure you don’t mean that at the moment,” she said with a laugh, smiling beatifically at me, and I felt my icy disdain begin to thaw. For the first time since arriving at the palace, I felt as if I’d found someone I could relate to. “But you will be thankful. Intime.”
Her eyes went starry as she saw things the rest of us could not. She glanced at Leopold thoughtfully, then back at me, and I wondered if that was how I looked when I beheld my cures.
“Have you seen the king yet?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Margaux. Do sit down if you’re staying.” Leopold gestured to the chair on my right.
She slipped in and we waited as Bingham rushed into service once more, expertly putting together a place setting and pouring a cup of tea before fading to the walls near Aloysius.
“You mustn’t take anything Leopold says seriously,” Margaux said, leaning in to speak with a conspiratorial smile. She stirred a cube of sugar into her tea and tasted it. Quickly, as if hoping no one would notice, she added a second.
“I say what I mean and mean what I say.” The prince fell back against his chair, ripping into a croissant. “Just becauseyou’rehere on orders from the temple doesn’t mean I’m obligated to listen to your drivel.” He clasped his hands together. “ ‘I can see the future, this is what you’re to do!’ ” He frowned. “How many of your prophecies have actually come true?”
“I didn’t wake at the crack of dawn to listen to you two bicker,”Bellatrice snapped. “I want to hear about Papa. You’ve seen him, yes?” she asked, fixing her hard eyes on me.
Something about this princess made me want to straighten my shoulders. “Briefly, last night.”
“How is he?”
Aloysius cleared his throat. “As Mademoiselle Trépas said, it was a brief meeting. She arrived quite late, and—”
“I remember you!” Leopold exclaimed, striking the table with sudden triumph. “I saw you in the hallway! You and your freckles. I thought that was just a trick of the absinthe, but it wasyou,wasn’tit?”
“What’s absinthe?” Euphemia asked.
Leopold snorted into his coffee. “It’s a glorious drink, Phemie. Green as a beetle and tastes like licorice. And when you drink it, you see the most beautiful worlds. Mermaids and fairies and—”
“Fairies! You see fairies? Why haven’t you ever shared it withme?”
Margaux reached out, bracelets jangling, to derail the princess’s thoughts. “Absinthe isn’t for little girls like you, dear heart.” Her eyes fell on Leopold. “It’s not good for anyone.”
“Truly? I find it just about the only thing that helps me tolerate the presence of some,” Leopold quipped, a false smile painted on his lips.
“Have there been any improvements?” Bellatrice asked over the chaos. “In our father’s health? You know, that very big and important reason we brought you here?”
I paused, certain someone would interrupt me before I had the chance to speak, but the table fell silent with expectation.
Bellatrice’s eyebrows rose, exasperation radiating from her. “Well? We’ve established you’ve seen Papa, for however short a visit. How did he look?”
“I—I’ll be doing a more thorough examination of him toda—”
She sighed. “So you know nothing. Just like the others. Thank you so much for all the trouble you took to find her, Aloysius. I can see it was well worth it.” She slammed her teacup on the table and stormed off, leaving the broken bits of porcelain for someone else to clean up.
The room fell silent, and I longed to excuse myself.
