by Amber Jaeger
“And?” Katiyana prompted. “What are you not telling me?”
“I remember you. You look just the same as you did.”
“You remember me? We have met?” Her childhood memories were merely tattered remnants but she searched them anyway for a honey blond girl with freckles and hazel eyes. She did not remember
Alma bit the corner of her lip and sank onto the bed. She patted the spot next to her and Katiyana forced herself to sit. “When your mother died, King Lian’s father went to the funeral. My uncle was his personal servant and I was his charge.” She saw the question on Katiyana’s face. “I was orphaned and he took me in. He did not know how to raise a girl child and truly did not have the time as the personal servant to the king. So he made me his apprentice and I went everywhere with him, did everything. Including attending your mother’s funeral.”
Awareness began to dawn in Katiyana’s eyes. “Wait, I remember…You were her? You were the girl that played with me in the foyer after the funeral?”
Alma nodded.
Katiyana threw her arms around her neck. “I cannot believe I forgot! For so long I wondered who you were, where you went after that day. I asked my father so many times but he was such a mess at that time, he never knew what I was talking about.” She pulled back and both of them had tears on their cheeks. “You were the first friend my age I ever had.”
Alma laughed and sniffed. “I hope you have had more since.”
“I have. The girls—” she cut herself, alarmed she had almost spilled the secret of her friends.
Alma held her hand up. “You do not have to tell me your secrets. I want you to be as safe as you can. I do not know where you have been, but the queen has become truly evil in the time since you disappeared. If she knew you were alive…” She trailed off. “You obviously did not die in childbirth. Where then is your child?”
Katiyana did not hesitate to trust the woman. “It was all a lie she told to cover up the fact she sent me out into the woods to be murdered.”
Alma gasped and covered her mouth. “You were just a child!”
“I was. But I also had many people to help me and keep me safe.”
“You are safe here as well. I know the king will protect you no matter what.”
“But why?” Katiyana wondered aloud.
Alma shook her head. “The queen took his entire family from him. He is so angry, he cannot move past it. Every avenue that may lead to revenge, he takes it. If he thinks you can help him topple her, well, he will do everything he can to keep you here and safe.” Katiyana was oddly pleased by the woman’s words. Alma finally roused herself from her thoughts and patted her leg. “Let me see if I can find you something more to your suiting for a nightgown.”
“Thank you,” Katiyana said gratefully.
Alma returned in a few moments with a warm, striped nightgown with brass buttons down the chest. Katiyana smiled. “That is much better, thank you.”
“It will be quite large, I’m afraid. But if you like it…” she shrugged.
Katiyana wiggled out of the riding outfit and pulled the night gown over her head. The hem feel to her feet and the sleeve went far past her fingertips. Alma laughed before helping her roll them up. “Where did you get this?” Katiyana giggled. “Not that I am ungrateful, it is just so large.”
“It is one of the king’s night gowns, but do not worry, he will not notice. He refuses to wear them.”
“I know,” Katiyana said dryly and Alma’s eyes shot up to hers.
“No, no, that is not what I meant. I only know because I ambushed him in his bedroom while he was sleeping.” She winced, hearing her explanation said aloud. “And not that either. After I escaped he papered the woods with want ads for me. I came to him while he was sleeping. I figured I would have the upper hand while he was still sleepy and vulnerable.”
“I see. And did you?”
Katiyana shrugged. “We are allies now, so I suppose we both won.”
Alma gave her another hug and left her to sleep. Katiyana paced the opulent room in her comically oversized nightgown, her mind too full and tangled to allow sleep. She wondered about her friends and how they were faring in the hut. She felt guilty to even perch on the bed, knowing they had not had such a luxury even before she had met them. She thought about Alma, and them playing under the table in the foyer after her mother’s funeral. And she wondered about the king. He seemed to be a good man, but his temper was unsettling.
A low, far off rumble of thunder came and she smiled faintly. With one of the windows in the room swung out, it let in a breeze and the smell of coming rain. Finally she was able to lay down and rest her head on the soft pillow.
Just as she was about to drift off, she heard a rustling in the hallway and was instantly awake. All her instincts went crazy and she was up, out of bed and at the door in a second. The knob creaked and the door protested as she pulled it out of its frame and she winced but continued until she had it open enough she could peer out with one eye.
There was a flash at the king’s door before it silently shut. Where there should have been two guards, there were none. Katiyana opened the door wide enough to slip through and crept across the hall. Thunder let loose overhead and she was grateful for it masking whatever noise she was making. The king’s door opened more easily than hers and she slipped in, holding her breath. The room was pitch dark and then illuminated with lightening just long enough for her to see a figure crouched over his bed.
Katiyana leaned down to grab anything she could use as a weapon and her hand closed over something long and thin and hard. When the thunder boomed again, she leapt for the figure and crashed into it, knocking the person down. “Wake up!” she shouted, as she brought her makeshift weapon down over and over again. “Lian, wake up!”
“Help me!” came the muffled cry from beneath her.
Lian groaned and rolled out of bed, tripping over Katiyana and his would be assailant just as Alma threw the door open. “What is going on?” she cried, holding a bright lantern in her hand.
Katiyana stopped her beating and looked to see she who she had pinned to the floor. A furious, red faced Wilemina glared up at her. “How dare you,” she hissed. Bruises were already starting to come up on her face.
“Me? I was protecting the king from you,” she snapped back.
“What the hell is going on?” he roared.
Katiyana scrambled up to her feet and pointed down at Wilemina. “I saw her sneaking into your room. Well, I did not know it was her, but the guards are not outside your door and so I came to help you.”
“Wilemina,” he said, exasperated. She whimpered and he grudgingly held out a hand to help her off the floor. “What are doing in here at night?”
“I was frightened,” she said in a babyish voice. “I am terribly afraid of thunderstorms.”
“So you snuck into the king’s bedroom, in the middle of the night?” Alma cut in, her voice flat.
“There is nowhere I feel safer than with you,” Wilemina said, gazing up at the king. He grimaced.
“It is entirely improper for you to be here at such an hour. I insist you go back to your rooms, for your own reputation.”
Wilemina pouted. “Oh, but it is fine for her to be in her.”
“She already has a reputation,” the king soothed.
Katiyana took aim and hit the king square in the bare chest. “I do not!”
“Well, not that sort of reputation, but everyone who has met you already knows you are not a lady.”
“I was protecting you,” she growled.
“I do not need your protection, Kati- Kat. Especially not from a frightened girl.” Wilemina glowed but Lian just pushed her towards Alma. “Please see that she gets to her bed.”
Wilemina’s face screwed into a scowl then suddenly relaxed. “I see what is going on here. You,” she pointed at Lian, “in your skivvies and her in your nightclothes.” She gathered up her lacey gown dipping off one shoulder and stood up a bit straig
hter with her nose in the air. “I apologize for interrupting your tryst. I can see what you mean when you say she is no lady.” With her dignity in shreds around her, she sauntered to the door then paused. “I believe that is my slipper.”
Lian looked down at his feet and saw the satin slipper Katiyana had beaten her with and then thrown at him. He handed it to her wordlessly and she glided out the door. Alma shook her head and followed.
They watched them leave and finally Katiyana turned back to the king.
“Why are you in my nightgown?” he asked. He tilted his head to one side and crossed his thick arms over his chest, making muscles roll under his taunt skin. Her cheeks were being to feel hot.
Annoyed and uncomfortable, she snapped, “It is more suitable than the stupid outfit she was wearing.” She crossed her arms as well, looking at anything but him. “Well, I will be sure not to save you should I see an intruder enter your bed chamber again.”
“Katiyana, please, I am glad you thought to help me. I am also very, very glad you saved me from waking up with her in my bed.” He shuddered and ran a hand through his hair.
“She is a twit,” Katiyana said darkly.
“She is worse than that. She loves money and power and has never been told ‘no’ in her entire life.”
“So how do you keep her away?”
“Alma helps.”
Katiyana nodded. “So you and Alma…”
Lian looked at her blankly.
“Right. Well, good night,” she called over her shoulder, making a hasty exit. Back in her rooms, she closed the door and leaned against it with her eyes screwed shut.
“I am an idiot,” she whispered to herself.
CHAPTER NINE
Sleep was a long time in coming and she awoke groggy in the morning.
The sun was just beginning to rise and everything was cool and calm and quiet. When she had lived with the other girls, sometimes she would climb high up in the tree branches to see the sun come up.
The window was still open from the previous night and she pushed it wider, stuck her head out and looked down. It was several stories but the stone work was fancy and varied, giving many paths up to the small roof over her window. With the long nightgown gathered up around her knees, she slipped out the window and up onto the roof.
It was so peaceful. She felt as though she were in the middle of the sky. East she could see the dark shadow of the forest and all south and west were the golden, waving grasslands. Far to the north was the smudge of the Cold King’s mountains.
“Katiyana, are you in here?” she heard faintly.
“Out here,” she shouted. “Coming.”
Alma nearly dropped the tray she held when Katiyana swung in through the window. “What on earth are you doing?”
“I was watching the sun rise.”
“Could you not do that from the ground?”
“I suppose I could have, but it would not have been as beautiful.”
“You could have killed yourself!” Alma said, pointing a finger in her face.
“Nah,” Katiyana argued, grabbing a large strawberry from the tray. “I fell all the way from the top of a tree once, all I got was a bad scratch and some bruised ribs.”
Alma shook her head. “Eat. Inside, please. The king has already been up and is requesting to see you.”
Katiyana blanched. “Is this about last night?”
Hand on the door, Alma stopped and laughed. “No. But I would have paid money to see a show like that. You should have seen Wilemina outside of the king’s rooms. She was like a cat with water thrown on it.”
“What could she have been thinking?” Katiyana wondered aloud.
“She was thinking if she could just get close enough to the king, he would finally say yes to her.” Her plush mouth thinned out in anger and the hand clutching the door handle had white knuckles.
“Do you and the king…Are you friends?” She didn’t know how to ask what she meant, and was not even sure why she cared.
The servant raised a brow. “Friends? In a way, but the king has never had time for anyone or anything but his quest for revenge against Sula.” She thought for a moment longer. “And I prefer my men a little more even tempered.” At that her cheeks flushed faintly.
“Really? Anyone in particular?” Katiyana teased, understanding her meaning.
“Be nice,” Alma warned, “or I will not give you your surprise.”
“Surprise?”
“Wait here.”
Katiyana ate all the fruit and cream and both muffins. Her stomach growled for more and she hoped lunch was soon.
The bathroom was filled with all sorts of fancy bottles that she ignored as she brushed her hair out, washed her face and cleaned her teeth. The image in the mirror was a great deal better looking that it had been a few days ago.
The bedroom door opened and she popped her head out.
Alma held a rich burgundy outfit in her arms and laid it out carefully on the bed. Katiyana approached warily. “That looks like a gown to me. I said no dresses.”
“Yes, it does look like a gown, that is point. But it is not, see?” What looked to be skirts were actually divided into wide pant legs and the top was completely separate. “Where did you find this?” Katiyana squealed, delighted and relieved.
“I found the gown in the same place as your suit from yesterday and altered it. I have a few more to do as well.”
Katiyana threw her arms around the other woman. “Thank you! Truly, you have no idea how glad I am not to have to wear those insufferable dresses.”
“Tell me why, I cannot understand that.”
Katiyana bit the inside of her cheek, wondering how much to tell. “When my father was alive, and I lived in the palace, I dressed as I was told to and did not really mind it. What little girl does not like dressing up in fancy gowns and slippers every day, even if they sometimes didn’t fit?” She gave a faint smile. “And then I had to run away to survive. Harmen gave me what he could to keep me alive until I found help, but the gown, the shoes I wore, they utterly failed me. My feet were a wreck and the gown offered no real warmth, no protection against the elements. And in my life after the castle… sometimes it was necessary for me to dress like a man and after a while I realized it was just so much more practical. And being practical meant staying alive. So, there you have it.” Katiyana shrugged.
“Was your life very hard?” Alma asked, her face creased with worry.
“At first? Very. I missed my father so much. And I could not understand how Sula could have done that to me. I knew nothing of caring for myself and had no skills to keep me alive. But I had… friends… who helped, protected me, showed me how to stay safe.”
“Do you miss them very much?”
Katiyana fingered the hem of the sleeve. “Yes, but I couldn’t stay there forever. I knew I wanted to be out in the world but I didn’t know how, or what I would do. Now I do. Sula must be taken off the throne.”
With a little help, she was dressed and had her hair braided. “Where is the king?”
“Waiting for you in the great room.”
She was able to find her way on her own and the king sat at the table, scribbling furiously.
“Am I interrupting?” she asked, taking the seat next to him.
He held a finger up and continued writing for a few moments before finally sitting back and taking her in. “You are wearing a gown,” he said in surprise.
“Not really,” she said, “But close enough.”
“I am afraid that is going to have to change,” he said with a frown.
“And why is that?”
“Because, if we are to rally other royalty around you to put you on the throne, you must act like a queen.”
Katiyana arched an eyebrow. “Everyone believes me to be dead.”
“That will be changed, at Valanka’s wedding. I received the notice today and am sending our acceptance straight away.”
“’Our’ acceptance? I am quite sure he d
id not invite me.”
“You are to be my guest and with all the neighboring royalty gathered, we shall reveal who you are and what happened to you all those years ago.” His smile was triumphant but her stomach clenched.
“I do not want anyone to know who I am, it is bad enough already that you do.” For years she had had nightmares of the queen finding her or Harmen changing his mind and coming to kill her. Cold sweat was beading on her brow but the king did not seem to notice.
“Katiyana, they must know who you are, they cannot just put some random girl on the throne. And it will be the safest place to reveal your identity. I will keep you safe, I swear it.”
“Why can’t everyone just rally together and take her off the throne without me? They already know she murdered my father.” Panic was make her breath come rapidly, shallowly, but again the king did not notice.
Lian sighed and ran a hand through his unruly mane. She noticed he had not shaved again. “We know it, but after so long it would be almost impossible to prove. And there is no one else to follow her. And empty throne is something people make war over and we cannot have that. But with the crimes she has committed, and you as rightful heir, it would give everyone enough reason to join forces to take her down.”
“Lian, I have not lived the life of a royal for six years and frankly, I do not think I want to go back to it. I have my freedom to do and say and dress as I please.”
The darkening of his eyes told her he was becoming angry. “You do have your freedom. You are free to traipse back into the woods and live like pig if you so choose, but then the people your father ruled over wisely will never be free. Every day you exercise your ‘freedom’ from being a ruler, they live with fear the fear of hunger and homelessness and even death, if they displease the queen. You are responsible for their fate.”
“So that means I have to wear a dress?” she grumbled.