The Pyramid Waltz

by Barbara Ann Wright

  Katya started in her chair. “Is that why…?”

  “You felt compelled? Yes. I should have seen it! But it’s so hard to spot if you’re not looking for it or if you’re not…”

  “A Fiend,” Katya finished. “Someone whose Aspect can present. I didn’t know what it was.”

  “You cannot blame yourself,” Crowe said.

  “Yes, I can!” She banged the table, making Maia jump. Her mother’s worried face streaked through her memory. “I was a fool! I made myself a target. I put Starbride in danger. I have underestimated these people time and again.”

  No one responded. Katya forced herself to calm down. A headache began to pound through her temples, and her replacement necklace tingled against her chest.

  “Isn’t that the best trap?” Maia asked at last. “The kind that fits in with everything else? The kind you can’t see, no matter how hard you look?”

  “One thing is certain,” Katya said. “We need to get ahead of these people.”

  Crowe glanced up, his expression grim. “You have something in mind?”

  “Who knew I was going out into the city with Starbride?”

  “Us,” Brutal said.

  “Your parents,” Maia added.

  Pennynail knocked on the table. When they looked at him, he made a shadow puppet of a horse on the wall. “The grooms,” Crowe said.

  Katya pointed at him. “Right. And how could the grooms have known where we were going?”

  “Well.” Maia rubbed her chin. “They knew you weren’t leaving Marienne. If you were going to the forest, you would’ve had water skins at the very least, maybe even a picnic hamper.”

  “The royal grooms are supposed to have tight lips.” Crowe frowned. “They had to know you were riding out in the morning on the night before, so they could have your horses ready. The Fiend speech, however, could have been in the city for a long time, or someone could have put it up in a hurry. I have to wonder what these people were hoping to accomplish. Were they going to parade you through the streets once the Aspect had presented?”

  Maia looked sidelong at Pennynail. “The masks made them feel safe.” He turned up his nose at her and crossed his arms.

  “They expected to survive.” Brutal waved at the pile of goods on the table. “Not a decent weapon among them.”

  Crowe’s eyes darted around the room as if searching for the answer. “So, they knew about the Aspect, but had no idea as to the capabilities of the Fiend.”

  “They don’t care about the means,” Katya said softly. “If torturing Starbride hadn’t worked, they would have killed her, but look where they started. They didn’t even try hitting her; they went straight to maiming.”

  Maia shifted in her seat, and Brutal’s serious face turned even more so. Pennynail was unreadable, but Crowe stared at her with sympathy. “You’ll stop them, and we’ll help.”

  “You’ll interrogate the grooms by pyramid.”

  Crowe sat back. “Are you certain?”

  Katya kept her gaze steady. “Look for anyone the grooms spoke with about me as well as any gaps in their memories made by someone who used a pyramid on them before.”

  “Do you recall the pyramid in the shop? Someone with that much skill will have covered his tracks. I’ll have to dig deep into the minds of the grooms if the pyradisté has hidden his presence. The danger to them is—”

  Katya thumped the table. “This is where we start. Interrogate them one at a time, with or without their permission. Do it, Crowe.”

  He shut his mouth with a snap. “Yes, Highness. Tomorrow morning?”

  “Tonight.”

  Maia cleared her throat. “If we just start using pyramids on palace staff, people are going to find out, Katya.”

  “I need to know for certain,” Katya said. “Crowe never hurt anyone with a pyramid.”

  Maia sat up straighter. “You shouldn’t pry into the privacy of random people. You know it’s not right. If you force them and one complains to the city Watch, they could start asking questions.”

  Katya rubbed her temples. Calm. She had to be calm. She was so tired of being at sea with this problem, but Maia’s stubborn face reminded her that she would have other family breathing down her neck if she screwed up, not to mention troubles with the populace of Marienne. “Fine. Fine! We ask for volunteers; we say it’s in preparation for my brother’s visit, that we’ve had a little trouble. We ask the senior grooms to go first, to set an example for the newer ones. Peer pressure should talk them into it. Pennynail, hide and watch; see if any of them try to sneak away. All right?”

  Brutal cleared his throat in the still room. “Starting in the morning would look less suspicious.”

  Under the table, Katya pinched her leg, her need to do something grasping at her, but she forced it down. “You’re right.” She pointed to Pennynail. “But you go tonight, and make sure they’re all accounted for.”

  Heads nodded all around, though Maia still seemed skeptical. Katya couldn’t care about their feelings for the moment. They had a lead, and she was going to use it. And if any of the grooms refused to cooperate, she’d deal with them herself.

  Chapter Ten: Starbride

  Safe in Dawnmother’s arms, it would’ve been easy to cry again, but Starbride didn’t feel the need. She accepted solace with eyes closed and spoke of nearly everything that had happened. She left out Katya’s Aspect, saying instead that they’d been rescued by friends.

  “Those men are dead?” Dawnmother asked. She’d already inspected Starbride’s finger and washed it before she wound it in a clean bandage.

  “Killed in the fight.” Starbride didn’t relish the lie, but the truth bond didn’t have to flow both ways.

  “Good.”

  Starbride took a deep breath and offered a truth to pay for the lie. “I held her. We held each other. It was…I think she almost kissed me.”

  “The princess?”

  “Yes.”

  “Right after?”

  “No! Much later. She was blaming herself, and I wanted to comfort her. She didn’t try to take advantage. She really is…the sweetest person.” Starbride thought of their clasped hands, Katya’s luminous hair, the depth of her sadness, of her worry. Before her memory could slip further back, Starbride shook her head to stop it. “She felt awful, Dawn.”

  “A girl who took you into such a bad part of town deserves to feel awful.”

  “What happened wasn’t her fault.”

  “Well, if she feels so terrible, she will definitely help with the trading disputes in Newhope now.”

  “I’m not going to use her that way, Dawn.”

  The set of Dawnmother’s face said she wasn’t going to give up that easily. “If she cares for you, Star, she’ll want to help.”

  “I won’t ask.”

  “Star, my life for you and also the truth.”

  “Say what you need to.”

  “Are you sure her interest in you is genuine? That you’re not simply an exotic flavor, another conquest?”

  “Unless my ability to read a person’s intentions has abandoned me, I’m certain.”

  “You’ll forgive me if I keep my eyes open?”

  Starbride hugged her once more. “Always.”

  “Rest now.”

  Dawnmother dragged her pallet to the bed’s side before lying down. Once Starbride’s head hit the pillow, she slept like the dead.

  When Starbride awoke the next morning, Dawnmother was already up. Starbride hadn’t heard the door open or shut, but a small breakfast sat on the room’s lone table. Starbride lay under the blankets, her head on one arm. “You always have food for me, but I hardly ever see you eat.”

  “A servant’s footsteps are made of shadows.”

  “That one never made sense to me. It’s too tangled a metaphor.”

  “Horsestrong knew what he meant when he said it.” Dawnmother poured a cup of tea. “And I know as well.”

  As Starbride ate, Dawnmother got her clothes ready for t
he day, one of the voluminous dessert dresses. Starbride made a face but didn’t argue. Once dressed, she tucked her scroll and pencil in her sleeve and opened the door, staring when Dawnmother followed her out with an embroidery basket over one arm. “Where are you off to?”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Starbride bit her lip, torn between the concern in Dawnmother’s eyes and her own need to rise above the fear of being alone. In the end, she had to admit having Dawnmother along would make both of them feel better.

  Dawnmother locked their door and slipped the key into one of the pockets of her simple dress. She paused after she tested the handle. “I didn’t notice that earlier.”

  Starbride followed her gaze to the little pyramid wedged above the door. “Crowe mentioned he was going to put a pyramid there.”

  “Guarded by the king’s pyradisté? Well, well. I suppose the princess can’t be all bad if she’s setting her personal guards to watch over you. But what does it do?”

  “He said it was an alarm.”

  “And he doesn’t need to be there to use it?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. He said there are some pyramids that can be set to a task and then placed or used by anyone. He said mind magic had to be directed.” She frowned as she thought of the shopkeeper’s pyramid. “Mind magic…”

  “What about it?”

  “The shopkeeper used a pyramid to hypnotize Katya, but when he held it before me, I felt nothing.”

  “Perhaps it no longer worked. You said it went dark.”

  “That was after Katya’s…friends broke in.”

  “Perhaps it only works on Farradains.”

  “That could be.” Even with the words, she had her doubts.

  When they reached the library, Starbride gathered a stack of books and tried to put all but studying out of her mind. The usual gathering of blue-robed monks roamed the aisles, but few others came and went. Dawnmother took the next seat and began her needlework. The steady sound of the thread gliding through the fabric cast a spell of its own, giving Starbride a feeling of normalcy, and she studied easier.

  She’d been reading for about an hour when the sound of Dawnmother’s needle stopped. It took Starbride a moment to notice the difference, but the lack of the sound interrupted her concentration as surely as a loud bang. She glanced over to find Dawnmother staring across the room, a pose that recalled Katya’s hypnotized face. Starbride’s belly froze with fear, but before she could leap to her feet, Dawnmother leaned toward her ear.

  “There’s a man lurking in the aisles, straight ahead. I’ve caught him staring at you five times.”

  Starbride set her pencil down and stretched her neck. While she moved, she scanned the aisles of books but saw only monks. Resting her chin on her fist, she pretended to read again but glanced up every few seconds. Beside her, Dawnmother resumed her needlework.

  A slight movement near the back of the library, several aisles away, caught her attention. The figure was half in shadow, and one of the monks obscured him slightly, but he had to be the man Dawnmother had seen. He stood still, his head turned in Starbride’s direction. When the monk moved on, the shadow man slid behind a bookshelf.

  “I see him,” Starbride said.

  “Should we leave?”

  If he was an enemy, he seemed loath to attempt anything with so many witnesses. And it was possible that he was simply curious about her. She bit her lip. It was too soon after the attack to put anything down to coincidence.

  “We can’t stay in here forever,” Dawnmother said. “We should leave now, during daylight, when the halls are filled with people.”

  “Right.” Starbride rolled up her scroll and tucked it inside her sleeve. “Let’s go.” They stood at the same time, and Starbride shuddered as Dawnmother palmed a pair of scissors. She slid the bulk of them up her sleeve and let the points rest between her forefinger and thumb. They hurried into the hall. Dawnmother kept her body between Starbride and the library doors.

  Starbride listened to her pulse in her ears and wished that either Katya or Katya’s powerful friends would walk around the corner. Even young Maia would be a comfort. To be a bodyguard, she must have known something about fighting. Starbride walked faster, unable to keep her thoughts from the scissors in Dawnmother’s sleeve. Voices drifted down the hall, and she headed for them like an arrow.

  “He’s behind us,” Dawnmother said.

  Starbride hurried, resisting the urge to pick up her skirt and run. She turned a corner, and the voices grew louder. She didn’t know where this hallway led, but as she and Dawnmother emerged into an alcove peppered with courtiers, she didn’t care. A large window with a view of the garden let in a stream of sunshine, and the sill beneath it had been carved into a stone bench. Courtiers sat along it and babbled with others who stood before them. Starbride slowed and turned as she reached the alcove’s outskirts. She maneuvered herself and Dawnmother out of the hallway, but stayed far enough away from the courtiers that it wouldn’t seem as if she was trying to engage any in conversation.

  “Breathe,” Dawnmother said. She’d hidden her scissor-wielding hand in her basket.

  Starbride nodded and watched the hallway over Dawnmother’s shoulder.

  “Even the men have those little pillows I was talking about. Yours should be ready soon.”

  Starbride nearly screamed that she didn’t care about little pillows, but that was just her nerves trying to get the better of her. No, another part of her said, that was sense. Who cared about little pillows when she’d nearly had her fingers cut off, when a strange man was following her? And what did he have in mind? She had to dig her nails into her palms to force herself to calm down; her injured finger protested.

  A young man turned the corner into the alcove, and Starbride held her breath. She hadn’t been able to see his face in the library’s shadows, but this had to be him. He was younger than she’d imagined, maybe thirteen or fourteen, with what looked like a first beard dotting his upper lip and chin. His light brown curls were tousled in the manner of many Farradain noblemen and courtiers, styled to look as if he’d just leapt from bed. He broke into a smile when his light blue eyes met Starbride’s, and he didn’t exude the menace she’d attributed to him when he’d stood in shadow. He seemed almost happy to see her, as if they were old friends. Boyish exuberance shone in his face, not the lust for violence she’d feared.

  Dawnmother turned, and when the young man glanced at her stern expression, his face fell. He stepped forward, and the sunlight glinted off the crushed velvet creases of his dark green coat. “Oh, did I scare you? I’m sorry. I only wanted to meet you.”

  Starbride glanced to her right. Some of the courtiers were watching them, a few with appreciative, even lustful, looks at the young man. There was no one within earshot, though, not if they spoke quietly. “You know me?”

  “Only that you’re Allusian.” He made a shallow bow. “Forgive me. Introductions should have come first, but I was afraid I would blurt out something stupid and then ramble on.” He cleared his throat. “Kind of like now.”

  Starbride curtsied, calming in the face of his embarrassment “I’m Starbride.”

  He bowed again, and Starbride almost laughed at the double greeting. “Lord Hugo Sandy at your service.”

  “If you’re a lord, I don’t think you’re at any courtier’s service.”

  “My father says to always be at a lady’s service, whether she has a title or not.”

  Starbride chuckled, nearly snorting. The boy’s father should have taught him to guard his expressions better. Ah well, she supposed court would teach him that lesson soon enough. She hoped it would also teach him that lurking in shadows and following women was not the way to meet them. “What can I do for you, Lord Hugo?”

  “Well.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I…I wanted to meet an Allusian. You see, my family just bought a villa in Newhope.”

  “Ah, and what did someone so young do to be banished to the most provinci
al of provinces?”

  “No, no, I want to go! I’ve been studying your culture, and it’s fascinating.”

  Starbride nearly rolled her eyes. No one said anything like that unless they wanted something. “Why not introduce yourself in the library?”

  “Well, that would have been the logical thing to do. And, um, now that I’ve said the bit about Allusian culture out loud, I realize it sounds a lot stupider than it did in my head. I am sorry I scared you.”

  “Not a bit. My maid is a master of jashida. I was never worried.”

  Lord Hugo gave Dawnmother a worried glance. She gave him a level stare, her scissors still hidden. “Ah,” he said. “Yes. Well. Perhaps we might…speak a bit? One day when you’re not busy? Or if you have the time now?”

  A rise in the courtiers’ noise level caught Starbride’s attention before she could answer. Letting Dawnmother watch Lord Hugo, she turned just at Katya entered the hall. The courtiers rose from their seats to flutter around her, but Katya glanced at Starbride, her expression one of concern mixed with relief.

  “Oh, there’s the princess,” Lord Hugo said.

  Even with her bored mask on, even while fielding inane courtier comments, Katya had an undeniable grace, her movements sure and fluid. Her eyes darted toward Starbride, and her hand rested near her rapier as she edged closer. “I don’t recognize you,” she said to Lord Hugo in a drawl. “Are you new?”

  Lord Hugo bowed, his lips pinched as if fighting to keep the boyish grin from his face. “Lord Hugo Sandy, Highness. I’m just out in society. First time at court.”

  “Oh.” Katya’s expression stayed languid, but Starbride could feel the tension in her body and knew she was ready to spring at this man if he so much as sneered in Starbride’s direction.

  Starbride’s heart beat faster for a reason other than fear, and she kept herself from taking Katya’s hand by clasping her own together.

  “Where have you been hiding yourself?” a sultry voice asked from beside them.

  Starbride groaned as Lady Hilda slinked forward. The courtiers fell back, fading to the buzz of irritated insects. Katya’s expression went from bored to amused, and then back to bored in a second, and Starbride wondered what she was up to.