Keeping my face expressionless, I lowered myself into a submissive curtsey. ‘No, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness.’
‘Hmm.’ Her gaze raked over me. ‘We’ll discuss this further tonight after the theatrical performance.’
‘Oh yes, Your Highness,’ I agreed with deep relief.
That would work perfectly. I could safely report all of my findings to her while everyone else imagined she was merely giving me a royal dressing-down. If I could only come up with enough information by then to persuade her to forgive me …
‘Indeed,’ drawled the fairy king. ‘I believe my wife and I would quite like a word or two with this unusual … Silke … as well.’
Oh, river mud!
I glanced up involuntarily and found him watching me with a horribly enigmatic expression.
The fairy queen’s expression wasn’t enigmatic at all. It was pinched tight with suspicion.
It certainly wouldn’t take a genius to realise that a lady-in-waiting who’d only recently arrived at court shouldn’t know her way around the servants’ passageways, much less burst through royal walls when they thought they were having a private conference. And when she asked suspicious questions about Elfenwald secrets …
I wondered what they did to spies in the fairy court.
But I was still a lady-in-waiting as well as a spy, so I murmured, ‘I would be honoured, of course, Your Majesties’ as I backed towards the servants’ door, panic pounding through me.
I had to get away from this room full of danger. I had to …
‘Ahem.’ The crown princess cleared her throat, stopping me in my tracks. She raised her eyebrows pointedly.
Oops.
Remember which world you’re moving in, Silke!
Turning as smoothly as I could, I glided with the exquisite grace of an aristocratic lady towards the public door – my only possible exit, as a lady-in-waiting.
But I didn’t go alone.
Two golden fairy sentinels flew across the room to join me as I mince-walked towards the door. Buzzing loudly, they bobbed up and down in front of my face as if to make certain I knew that they’d taken my measure. Then they settled into place like prison guards, one on either side of my shoulders.
Oh, perfect. The fairy royals must have assigned me an escort. I really had caught their interest now, hadn’t I?
My teeth gritted behind my smile as I held my head high and swept out through the door.
My spying mission had just become ten times harder.
CHAPTER 14
The moment I stepped into the long gallery five minutes later, the room went silent.
Then the whispers began.
Conversations broke off in every group I passed. Heads jerked around to stare at me. Voices dropped into malicious, gossiping tones.
My skin tingled under the pressure of all those avid stares.
When I finally spotted Karl standing with a group of other fairy courtiers, he took one look at me, winced and then turned his back.
Ouch! I teetered to an abrupt halt at the snub, almost tripping over my long skirts. So much for finding out any more useful details from him!
I stood alone in the centre of the long room, with my two golden escorts humming ominously by my sides and at least a dozen sneering aristocratic gazes inspecting every angle of my flushing face.
It was my worst nightmare come to life.
Ever since that horrible night on the riverbank when I’d watched angry townspeople burn down our tents, I had sworn that – no matter what it took – I would never let anyone look at me and see a dangerous outsider again.
Standing there, I could almost smell those flames in the air once more.
The chocolate kitchen downstairs, warm and cosy and safe, called up to me with an almost audible siren song. The winding streets outside the palace waited, familiar and beloved, for me to run down them to freedom.
I squared my shoulders before they could hunch, and I turned around in a slow circle to meet the gaze of every single sneering courtier – because this time, I wasn’t going to give into my terror.
So I couldn’t blend into this glittering crowd? Then I would throw myself with all of my might into standing out, no matter how uncomfortable and exposed that might make me feel.
I would not give up on my parents again!
Beaming furiously, I picked up my skirts and swept across the polished wooden floor to the closest group of fairy ladies-in-waiting. ‘My goodness!’ I carolled as I forced my way into their circle, ignoring their raised eyebrows and the way they tugged their skirts away as if I might taint them by getting too close. ‘Do you know what our rulers are eating in the crown princess’s private parlour? I could hardly believe it when I saw it with my own eyes!’
Well. They weren’t about to give up the opportunity of hearing those privileged details, even from a wild, unmannerly girl like me.
And when I managed to pull in Anja and Lena from their own groups a few minutes later, it was only too easy to say, ‘Actually, that reminds me of a story …’
‘A story?’ Lena’s eyes brightened. She clapped her hands together. ‘Oh, Silke tells the best stories!’
‘She really does,’ Anja agreed, so enthusiastically that two nearby fairy gentlemen-in-waiting wandered over to join our crowd.
The fairy sentinels on either side of me pressed closer and closer, until they were vibrating against my neck, sending hot-and-cold shivers racing up and down my skin.
‘Stories?’ Countess von Silberstein huffed sceptically. ‘What nonsense!’
What nonsense indeed. As the glowing fairies and their sentinels closed in around me, bringing up the very worst memories of my life, the blood pounded harder and harder in my ears, until every clear thought in my head was obscured by a fog of pure panic. For once, there was no chance at all that I might think up something dazzling and new for their entertainment.
But there had never been a better moment to remember who had taught me how to tell stories in the first place.
Even the snobby countess listened intently as I launched into one of my mother’s very best tales. It was full of perilous adventures and magic – my favourite kind – with a girl who braved ice giants and a wicked king to set her true love free from a music mage’s spell.
It had been so long since I’d heard that story. I’d never told it to anyone in my life. It was mine. It had always felt too precious to be shared. But as I spoke the familiar words for the first time in years and sank back into the adventure, I found myself relaxing just like the crowd around me, all of us caught up together in its spell.
For one enchanted moment, I could almost feel my mother’s presence surrounding me; the warmth of her words in my mouth pouring through me as if I were lying tucked up in her arms once again, listening to her stories on my way to sleep.
I’d always felt so certain, back then, that there would be a happy ending for all of those characters – and for me …
By the time I’d finished the story, there was a whole crowd of fairy courtiers gathered around, joining in with their own ideas and reactions to the tale.
‘If I’d faced that ice giant …’
‘All she needed was to cast it into sleep, or –’
‘No, she should have set a proper bargain to control it! If –’
‘Do ice giants really bargain?’ Karl frowned thoughtfully.
‘Everyone bargains,’ said the youngest of the fairy queen’s ladies-in-waiting, flicking her fan at him with icy disdain. ‘Except for humans and dragons, of course.’
Of course? I blinked at that, remembering a dozen or so bargains I’d made over the last month alone. But I didn’t have time to seize upon that point – not when there was such a perfect conversational pathway for me to leap down instead.
‘Well,’ I said with relish, ‘if you want a story about dragons … !’
But before I could launch properly into my next tale, the doors at the far end of the gallery flew open.
Sofia stalked into the room, followed by the two fairy princes. Prince Franz and Prince Ludolph sauntered together a few lazy steps behind my grumpy princess, but from the maliciously amused curls of their lips and the enraged look on Sofia’s flushed brown face, I would wager anything that they hadn’t spent the journey in silence.
They may have been sent off to socialise while the adults hammered out the real business but, apparently, diplomacy was not going well among the younger members of the royal families.
Sofia took one sweeping look around the gallery. Her gaze fixed on the large group that had gathered around me. Her brows lowered ominously. ‘Silke!’ Her voice rang out through the room. ‘I need you.’
Argh! My teeth ground together. Sofia didn’t need anything from me – she just didn’t want me succeeding in any spy work ahead of her.
Smiling over my clenched teeth, I ducked a brief curtsey to the remaining fairy courtiers. ‘Perhaps I can tell that story later?’
I moved as swiftly as I could, but Sofia was tapping one finger impatiently against her side as I joined her only a moment later.
‘Finally,’ she muttered.
‘Your Highness.’ I curtseyed deeply, conscious of the two fairy princes watching us both with sardonic looks, as if we were exotic animals in a menagerie performing for their amusement. ‘May I be of some assistance?’
She gave me a thin smile, her eyes glittering. ‘Oh, I’ve come up with the perfect use for you.’
Uh-oh. What was she planning?
According to her sister’s orders, I had to be allowed here to do my work. But if Sofia could think up any clever ways to stop me from getting it done without actually banishing me from the room …
‘You can keep me company,’ she said firmly. ‘I want you by my side from now on. Do you understand?’
‘Perfectly,’ I said in my sweetest tone.
The younger princess had just won this round of our personal battle.
As I glided across the gallery in Sofia’s wake, I smiled and I curtseyed, but – because I was waiting on her – I kept my lips tightly sealed. My chest burned with the frustration of so many bottled words, but I didn’t dare damage my disguise any further.
A lady-in-waiting never spoke over her royal mistress or tried to direct royal conversations – not even when her princess was making an utter hash out of everything we needed from our fairy visitors!
‘Any problems at home?’ Sofia was a five-foot battering ram of interrogation as she waved one small brown hand impatiently at the fairy queen’s most elegant lady-in-waiting. ‘Territorial disputes? Trade issues? Anything you’ve been particularly hoping for help with on this visit?’
The lady-in-waiting – who was at least forty years old, statuesque and full of self-importance – smiled disdainfully as she curtseyed. ‘Your Highness cannot possibly imagine,’ she murmured, ‘that Elfenwald would require any human help in our own kingdom.’
Oh no? My eyes narrowed at her answer.
These fairies found the idea of relying on humans to be truly laughable, didn’t they? I remembered Countess von Silberstein’s helpless giggles at the banquet. What was it, exactly, that made us so useless in their eyes? Was it only our lack of magic, or something more?
More importantly: if we really were so worthless to them, why would they even bother to capture any human trespassers?
There were so many questions waiting to be asked! Off the top of my head, I could think of at least five different responses that might draw out that lady-in-waiting to say a great deal more about Elfenwald and its secrets.
But of course I couldn’t speak … and Sofia’s face screwed up as if she’d bitten into a lemon. ‘You needn’t act as if we were completely useless!’ she snapped. ‘Your rulers were the ones who begged my sister for this visit, you know! And if you think for even one moment –’
‘Ahem!’ I coughed desperately into my hand as every fairy courtier around us stared at her in mounting outrage. Even the human courtiers were cringing in dismay.
Sofia shot me a dismissive glare. ‘Oh, do stop coughing and come along, Silke.’ Tilting her chin, she swept away from the simmering lady-in-waiting. ‘Clearly, there is nothing more of interest for us here!’
Chilli hot chocolate. Almond fancies. Chocolate creams … In desperation, I took a moment to stand still and recite the Chocolate Heart’s menu in my head. It was the only way I could keep myself from screaming out loud.
Didn’t she have any idea how important this mission really was?
‘Silke!’ Her voice snapped through the air.
I breathed deeply, letting the air slowly out through my nose.
Of course the princess didn’t know how important this was. How could she? She had everything she needed already. All that Sofia wanted was to impress her sister, and she wouldn’t lose anything if she failed.
I was the only one who truly needed this to work …
But I had a horrible feeling that I was running out of time.
CHAPTER 15
‘Silke.’ The crown princess stopped me from following her sister that evening as the music room emptied.
The famous puppet theatre’s slapstick performance was long finished. The elegant string quartet had played their final chords, and the fifth and last round of after-supper drinks and snacks had been whisked away by servants.
The fairy queen had even summoned all of her sentinels back to her side. Now they surrounded her tall figure in a whirl of lights, like golden flies returned to a sparkling spiderweb.
My own two terrifying sentinel lights had let out a high-pitched whine that grated against my ears, hovering beside me for a long moment after their mistress first held out her arms in summons … but even they had peeled away from me in the end to rejoin the rest of their comrades, giving up their spy work for the evening.
The night sky stretched like a thick, black velvet cloth outside the broad glass windows of the music room, and every human and fairy courtier streamed towards the doorway, heading for their beds …
Except for me.
‘A word in private, if you please.’ Princess Katrin’s tone left no room for disagreement.
Anja and Lena winced with sympathy as I fell back from their bustling group. Ulrike gave a disapproving sniff.
Muffled snorts came from other nearby courtiers, and my spine tightened an extra notch.
Everyone knew by now that the crown princess had promised me a royal lecture tonight.
But Sofia stalked out of the room ahead of me without any noticeable satisfaction on her face … because she was the only other person who knew what else was about to happen: I was going to give her sister my first real spy report.
I only wished that I had something better to offer in it.
Still, I knew better than to start with an admission of weakness. So the moment that the door to the crown princess’s private library closed behind us ten minutes later, I gave her my most enthusiastic smile and rubbed my hands together.
‘Well!’ I began. ‘If you ask me –’
‘What in the world have you been thinking?’ Princess Katrin wheeled around to glare at me. Padded green velvet wing chairs stood ready by the magnificent marble fireplace, but she ignored them, standing ramrod straight. ‘Did you or did you not promise me that you would pass for a plausible member of my court?’
My heartbeat was suddenly pulsing hard against my throat. I backed up a step before I could stop myself. ‘Your Highness, if I may take just a moment to explain –’
‘Do you really imagine you can play that game with me?’ The disdain in her voice was scalding. ‘You promised to discreetly persuade my visitors into trusting you. Instead, you clowned about all day long as if you were playing at some lark with your little friends from the third district! If you think you can win me around with a bit of fast-talking and a smile –’
‘No! Your Highness, I never thought …’ I swallowed, but I couldn’t pull any moisture into my parched throat.
My voice cracked horribly on my next words. ‘This isn’t a game. Not for me.’
‘Then perhaps you’re just naturally incompetent.’ She let out a gusting sigh. ‘You couldn’t even manage to keep your dragon friend out of sight, could you? I thought at least she would have listened to you. The fairies certainly never will after today.’
‘Please!’ I took a quick step forward. ‘I know I haven’t blended in, but –’
Katrin’s icy gaze halted me in my tracks. ‘First,’ she said, ‘you made both Casimir and Clothilde suspicious with your impolitic questions at the banquet – none of which had anything to do with the task I’d set you! Then you behaved like a buffoon playing hide-and-seek in the midst of our royal visit – and worse still, a buffoon who didn’t know her own rank. Would you say that bursting in through a servants’ doorway made your disguise more convincing to any of our guests?’
‘No, Your Highness.’ I winced. ‘But I didn’t have a choice. You see –’
‘And then,’ she continued inexorably, ‘instead of keeping your head down in the aftermath to let everybody else forget your antics, you attracted the attention of every member of the fairy court by lowering yourself to the status of an entertainer. As if any true aristocrat would ever play the part of a court jester!’
What? My mouth dropped open. Shock mingled with sudden fury in my belly, boiling up towards my throat like bile.
That had been my mother’s story that I’d told the fairies! I’d made the sacrifice of sharing something important – something truly dear to me – with those snobby courtiers for the sake of succeeding in her mission. And she –
Stop.
I took a deep breath, forcing down my emotions.
My mother needs me not to give up now.
‘I was trying,’ I said steadily, ‘to draw them out. And it was working, too, until – mmm!’ I cut myself off just in time as her eyebrows rose threateningly.
For one silent moment, our gazes held. Hers was full of an unmistakeable warning.
Of course Katrin had seen the way Sofia had kept me chained to her side all day. She knew as well as I did what had stopped me.
The Girl with the Dragon Heart Page 10
