Beneath the Veil

by Megan Hart

  Our papers named us as Contralta and Dominage, follies of the house of Baltian. The guards checked them and waved us inside without breaking from their gossipy conversation. The tang of herb hung about them in eye-watering clouds. They didn't seem particularly thrilled with their assignment.

  Baltian's follies were not assigned to the Regent Square bathhouse, only the two closest to his house. Fortran Vinder's follies, however, who lived with him in his house several streets away, had been assigned to one of the two baths closer to the one at Regent Square. We went in as Dominage and Contralta, and we came out as Verbina and Floradi. Verbina and Floradi became Hasheth and Kallyta, who became Solvia and Rytha, until we were where we needed to beThe Regent Square bathhouse was old, with crumbling tile and broken windows. The guards at the door waved us in without even checking our papers.

  "'Tis most always like this," Galya explained with a shiver "This bath has always been in disrepair. Cold. Moldy. Not very popular."

  "Which makes it perfect for us as a meeting place." I looked around.

  She led me back to a cubicle, meant for women to hang their kedalyas in while they bathed. She pressed a succession of panels in the moldy wood until the door slid back and revealed a passage. She stepped in, and I followed her.

  Without a light to guide us, I had to follow her lead.

  "Keep your hand on the wall," she said.

  "I know."

  She chuckled and stopped moving so fast I bumped into her. I felt her breath on my face and realized she'd turned to face me.

  "I have you in the dark with me at last," she teased. Her arms went around me and gave me a tight squeeze. "I'm glad it's with you, Aeris. I can't imagine anyone else I could do this with."

  "Not even Dae?" I asked, glad of the warmth of her body close to mine in the darkness.

  "Are you jealous?" She squeezed me again.

  "A little."

  She laughed and kissed my chin. "You know you'd be welcome to join us any time."

  I squeezed her back so hard she giggled. "With Lir that would make four in a bed. Wouldn't it be crowded?"

  "I think we'd be able to make some room." She snuggled a bit closer for a moment. "I'm anxious."

  "Me too."

  We held each other for another few minutes in the cold, dark passage. Then Galya sighed, kissed me again and found my lips this time, then turned.

  "No sense in waiting," she said. "We can't win a war we don't fight."

  A door clicked open, and we came out blinking into the bathhouse I remembered. Deserted, dim and cold, the sight was depressing. Galya reached up and lit one of the gas sconces on the wall.

  "It doesn't look like anyone's been in here for months."

  "That's good," I said. "It shows Rosten doesn't know about it."

  Galya ran a hand along the dust-covered table that had once groaned with food and drink. "I could use some of those feasts we used to have. My stomach is empty."

  We'd spent the day traveling from bath to bath without eating. "I'm hungry, too. Maybe we can find something in the kitchen."

  She shook her head, her face shadowed. "The sooner we get in and out of here, the better I'll feel. My belly can grumble a while longer."

  We set off through the passage. There was no flirting this time, only purpose. We both knew the consequences of being caught. What Rosten had done to me before would be like a lover's caress compared to how he'd treat us if we were discovered.

  We came out from behind the tapestry in the upper corridor close to Lir's quarters. I wondered who used them now. Adamantane and Simelbon, Rosten's two closest comrades, had their own estates at the edge of the city and apartments close to the White Palace. I wouldn't have been surprised to learn either of them had been installed in more prestigious lodgings.

  We moved down the corridor with tiny, flowing steps I had learned to copy from Galya and the others. None of the lords who passed us paid any attention. We were as ghosts, unnoticed. The simplicity of it made me mentally shake my head.

  It was just as easy to head for Daelyn's old rooms, the place where Rosten had now ensconced himself. Once we got there, however, the task became more difficult.

  We didn't have a reason to enter the room, and without knowing whether or not it was empty, we didn't quite dare open the door. We debated quietly if we should go to the kitchen and wait for him to ring for food, but we were spared the decision when the door opened.

  The Book Monster himself stood in the doorway. He wore the same sober colors and lack of ornamentation, but it wasn't difficult to see the quality of the fabrics had changed. Silk and velvet had replaced the sturdier wools and cottons he'd favored before. His hair was the same straggly length, but now the frizz had been pomaded to smoothness and the gray covered with black. Only the sallowness of his skin and gray of his teeth had remained unchanged.

  "What are you waiting for?" he barked, and motioned us inside.

  I couldn't have been more stunned by the sight that greeted us if Rosten had been wearing a kedalya himself. Three other follies were in the room. None of them were covered. Each had been dressed in a gown as rich and fine as any I'd seen in Carinda's court. Sleek, flowing wigs of golden auburn adorned their heads, held back by jeweled combs and circlets.

  Rosten closed and locked the door behind us. "Where's the wine I called for?"

  I thought fast, but Galya faster. "It turned in the jug. We sent it back to the cellar to be replaced by one better suited."

  He grunted as though unconcerned, then waved toward the women seated on the bench. "We don't need the wine. Go get yourselves dressed."

  He rubbed his hands together, and I saw the unmistakable glint of lust in his eyes. He snapped, and Galya, still more used to her role than I mine, leaped forward. Rosten put his hand on her head in a caress that made him shake with pleasure. His hand slid over the back of her neck to her shoulders, down her back and over her buttocks. He licked his lips, and his voice became a harsh whisper.

  "You've got curves. Ah, I like that. Go put on the red dress."

  Galya's eyes met mine for a moment before she hurried to obey. I braced myself for Rosten's touch. It came, his stroking hand finding all the places he'd touched on Galya and more. I held my breath, sick from being so close to him. If I'd had a knife, I could have and would have killed him then and damned the consequences.

  "Too bony," he pronounced, his voice disappointed. He gave me a shove. "Damn you, I told Fiesco I wanted women, not bony, scrawny boys. You can wait in the corner for the wine to come, and then you can serve us."

  My sigh of relief was so loud he heard it even through my kedalya. He leaned close to me, his fingers biting into my upper arms, his eyes boring into mine.

  "You will not make that noise again, folly. I don't want to know that you breathe, much less be subjected to the noise of it."

  I said nothing, daring not to even nod. He released me and jerked his head toward Galya, who had paused in the doorway between the sitting room and bedchamber. He hissed, and she fled.

  I did as he told me, went to the corner and sat. Cold sweat covered me. I felt like a mouse thrown into a pit of snakes.

  Galya returned clad in a gown of scandalous red that dipped so low in the front I could see the dusky circles of her nipples. She'd put on a long wig, and it transformed her. She took a seat next to the others, her face blank though faint lines of strain showed around her eyes.

  Rosten paced back and forth in front of the four women and pinned each of them with his gaze. The other three seemed to know already what to expect, for when he snapped at the first she got to her feet and then knelt in front of him. He put his hands on her head while she loosed the ties at his groin and exposed him.

  He sat on the bench with the first woman between his knees and the other two at his sides. I didn't want to watch Rosten take his pleasure, but was too fascinated to look away. He made them call him by pet names and treat him as a lover, only to scorn their caresses and rebuke them for their fa
miliarity. When he finally reached his sweating, shuddering climax between the thighs of a plump folly with a slack expression, I heard him whisper "my prince."

  That sound repulsed me more than any of the rest had, and I turned my face. I'd been so caught up in watching his performance I'd nearly lost my chance to place the incriminating letter. A knock on the door saved me. I rushed to open it and found a folly there with a jug of wine. I took it and ordered her away. I crumpled the letter against the jug and helped it stick there with some of the liquid. Then I took it the jug inside the room and poured Rosten a cup of wine.

  Naked and covered in sweat, he took the cup from my hand without comment and drank it down. I set the jug down on the table where he would find it later. Finished with the women, Rosten ordered them in a cold voice to dress and get out of his rooms. Galya was among the first to comply, and she and I meant to make our escape.

  It had all been too easy already. His shout made us pause in the doorway. My heart pounded as we turned at his order.

  "You, folly! What's this?"

  I kept my voice pitched low and soft, and added an accent. "What's what, yer Lord?"

  He let go of me with a sound of disgust and flapped the paper in our faces. "Where did this come from?"

  I gestured. "It came on the jug."

  "Who brought it?"

  "A folly...."

  "Sinder's aching balls and Kedalya's smelly cunt!" His face turned so red I thought he might perish of apoplexy...and I hoped. "Where for fuck's sake did this come from? Do you know what this says?"

  I didn't answer, for he didn't seem to require one. He gnashed his teeth and tore his hair while the other follies huddled close together. As though he all at once realized he was making a scene, Rosten stopped and with visible effort, composed himself. He smoothed his hair and wiped his face. He snapped for his robe, which one of the women slid onto his arms. He tied the belt and took deep breaths, then turned to dismiss all of us with a wave of his hand. We left the room as fast as we could walk. The other follies went in the opposite direction while Galya and I headed for the upper wing where we could find our way back to the hidden passage to the bathhouse. We slipped beneath the tapestry and wasted no time before moving. We wanted to get as far away from the doorway as possible, so we couldn't be overheard.

  In the blackness, I heard the harsh sound of Galya's breathing. I reached for her and found her trembling until her teeth chattered. She made a low noise of distress in her throat, and then I gathered her into my arms while she shook and wept.

  "How will I fight in a war, Aeris, when I can't even do something as simple as drop off a letter?"

  "What we did tonight wasn't simple. It was damned dangerous. We were lucky tonight."

  Galya shuddered. "The Invisible Mother was watching over us."

  "Yes."

  "I never want to have to do anything like that again," she vowed at last.

  "I hope you never have to."

  "Aeris?" She asked softly.

  I made a noise in answer. I felt her hand on my cheek. "You don't hate me, do you?"

  "Hate you?" The question startled me into laughter. "How could I hate you?"

  "Because of me and Dae. Because I fucked Lir."

  "Oh, Galya." For a few moments I couldn't say anything. "What you did with Lir was to help Daelyn."

  "But I enjoyed it," she countered, still in my arms. "Very much."

  I didn't really want to think about that part of it. "It's all right. That was before he and I became lovers."

  "And Dae? I know how you love her."

  I didn't have to think before I answered this time. "The Daelyn I loved was a dream. A myth. I wanted to be Daelyn as much as I wanted to love him. And now...now things are different."

  "She's a woman."

  "Yes, there's that. But it's more than the gender."

  She laughed and got to her feet, pulling me by the hand to stand with her. "And you don't like to make love to women. I learned that a long time ago."

  "I've never made love to a woman," I replied. "I don't know if I'd like it or not."

  She gave a low snort and nudged me. "Don't be a tease, Aeris Delaya. You give a folly too much hope."

  "You're not a folly any more, Galya."

  She paused, then answered, "Yes, I know. Neither are you."

  The darkness didn't seem so black after that. Not with my friend beside me to help me find the way.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  The next few days we waited in breathless anticipation for any announcement from the White Palace or House of the Book that Alyria would be going to war. A few more days passed, and life continued on as normal but for the marked lack of news from Lord Regent Rosten. He didn't even make any new proclamations from the Council of the Book.

  More men entered Alyria under cover of the kedalya. Many of these "follies" went into the bathhouses and never came out. The hidden Regent Square bathhouse filled with the men and women of our army.

  "What's he waiting for?" Galya asked me late one night, when we tried to sleep together in the narrow bed Baltian had given us. "I thought he'd have been marching his army up and down the streets by now."

  "Maybe his party is more important to him."

  She sighed and nudged at me to move over, though I had no more room than she. "He sure wants that crown."

  I stared, wide-eyed, into the darkness. "Maybe Rosten thinks he has plenty of time."

  She grunted. "Who knows what the Book Monster thinks?"

  The silence disturbed me. It didn't seem like Rosten to remain quiet on any issue that set him aflame. He'd always been a sly bastard. "Maybe he thinks the letter was a trick, or maybe he suspects our plan."

  "He certainly doesn't trust women." She sounded worried. "Do you really think he suspects what we plan to do?"

  "I think he suspects something. I think we need to find out what."

  Her voice began to fade as she slipped into sleep. "But how are we going to do that?"

  I had an answer for that. When the slow rise and fall of her breathing told me she slept, I crept from our bed and through the house to where one of Baltian's oldest sons slept. Bornil didn't know anything about the new follies who'd appeared in the house. He was more concerned with carousing with his friends in the poetry houses than figuring out who washed his clothes and cooked his food. He was also just a little bigger than I. His clothes would be a close enough fit.

  Slipping into the familiar trousers, shirt and vest lifted my spirits. Without the weight of the kedalya, I felt like I could conquer any foe. I needed this freedom, if only for a few hours. I snuck from his snore-filled room and into the nighttime streets.

  A hat covered my hair, which though it had grown to reach my chin was still revealingly short. I'd taken a short blade from Bornil's room. It was cheap and heavy, but I could wield it if I had to. Rosten's curfews meant the poetry houses were all closed, but I had no real destination. I just wanted the freedom of walking the streets without my face covered.

  I was confident I wouldn't be caught by any of Rosten's soldiers, even though I knew I was being foolish. I just needed to walk.

  I kept from the main streets and stayed in the back alleys. I moved as quietly as any folly ever had. When I heard or saw any guards, I melted into the shadows until they'd passed. Nobody was looking for me, and nobody found me.

  Alyria city is built roughly in the shape of a circle, and any time I had the choice, I took the path that led me to the outer edges of the city. I went from the merchant housing district, where Baltian lived, to the warehouse district, and then to the edge of that. I knew myself well enough to realize I was heading for the outskirts of town, for Daelyn's menagerie and the fields beyond. I wanted a clear view of the mountains.

  Before I could get there, I heard the sound of footsteps. A single set, so unlikely to be one of Rosten's men. I didn't have time to hide as the figure stepped out from between two tall buildings. Everything he wore was black, from his hat to his boo
ts. Only the silver of his sword gleamed in the faint moonlight.

  Acting on instinct, I drew the blade I'd taken from Bornil. I made no attack, for in the next instant the shadows his hat cast upon his face shifted, and I saw him.

  "Lir!"

  Without a second thought I ran toward him and was in his arms. He staggered from the force of my embrace, and his arms went around me so tight I could barely breathe.

  "How did you know where to find me?"

  "I didn't." I didn't bother to explain how I'd needed the comfort of the night. "But I'm glad I did."

  He kissed me, long and hard. "You're a fool to be out here like this."