Somehow she’d been able to search for me, find out my real name and then exploit every bit of information that she could find out about me. Each day brought up a new embarrassing fact about my past and a new portrait. I will never forget the shame I felt as I had to explain what happened to my Uncle Al in my desperation to get the portraits removed. I not only humiliated myself, I disgraced the name of my father.
I held back tears as I slipped on a pair of silver sandals. I piled my mess of curls on top of my head, setting them in place with hairpins and a long-toothed comb of silver lilies that I found on the vanity cupboard.
Before long, Valcas returned to take me to the palace dining room. He briefly looked me over and smiled. I smiled back as I accepted his outstretched hand, wondering what would happen next.
He led me down a hallway similar to the first. We entered a large but modestly furnished room that smelled of herbed roasted chicken and freshly baked bread. A humble hostess bowed and seated us at a raised private table in the center of the room, similar to a sweetheart table at a bride and groom’s wedding reception. The four long and heavy tables below us were full of people, goblets and baskets of bread. Waiters in starched white shirts served me and Valcas our meals first while the others watched on with interest. Valcas sipped something from a crystal goblet, stood up and greeted the entire assembly at once.
“Friends, neighbors and servants, as vowed, I introduce to you my intended bride, Calla Winston de Lac!”
The assembly cheered. I quietly snickered at the addition of “de Lac” to my name, trying to make it sound noble. Everyone seemed to buy into it, though. As music from an unknown source filled the hall, I held my breath and bowed my head, suddenly self-conscious from all the eyes watching me.
Valcas turned to me and raised his glass, motioning for me to stand and do the same. I copied him and forced a smile. This prompted another round of cheering. I sat back down carefully, my lips trembling from trying not to laugh. The crowd didn’t pay much attention to us after that, seemingly content to celebrate among themselves.
My stomach grumbled when I looked at my plate of herbed chicken and roasted vegetables. I ate heartily, not quite sure how long ago Valcas and I had dinner together at Lake Winston. Valcas smiled as I ate, watching me as he took a roll from the breadbasket we shared. He surprised me by being the first to speak during the meal.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you back at the cliff. It’s the most secure way into the palace.”
“I understand.” I nodded. “We traveled in, right?” I figured that’s why I saw the bright white light.
He nodded and then observed me while chewing slowly. He swallowed and said, “How old are you, Calla?”
“Seventeen.”
“How far along are you in your education?”
“I graduated from high school but won’t start college until the spring. How old are you?”
Valcas grinned but didn’t answer my question. “And your family? You mentioned an uncle when we were camping at the sod hut. Where is the rest of your family?”
“Oh, well, Mom travels. She works far away from home, sometimes for years at a time. I never met my father.” I drank deeply from the crystal goblet. The liquid was cool and its flavor was unfamiliar. “Aren’t these the type of questions one asks before choosing a fiancée?”
Valcas flashed a wide toothy grin. “You’ll fill your role perfectly.”
“What is my role, exactly?”
He draped his arm around me, pulling me closer so that he could explain in a hushed voice. “I just usurped a new throne. Local custom, law actually, requires that a successor not related by blood to the prior ruler be married. Do not worry. You’ll just be posing, acting. You are naturally beautiful and slightly unapproachable—they will interpret that as being secure in your own superiority. It also helps that you have the aura and freshness of someone from a distant land.”
I gave Valcas a hard look. I already knew that he wanted me to help him pretend to be engaged and that he was protecting me from what attacked me twice at the dock. In my haste to get away from the lake I’d agreed to help him. As reality set in, however, the arrangement was starting to sound a lot more long-term and, worse yet, deliberately planned—very well researched. I wasn’t exactly bad looking, but I wouldn’t consider myself beautiful. Was he trying to flatter me? The food in my stomach churned. I gently pulled away from Valcas’ embrace and smoothed out my napkin.
“What if when you found me I was unattractive?”
“I don’t see how that would happen. A dark-haired beauty was one of the necessary components of the search.”
“What were the other necessary components of the search?”
“Well, basic information such as your age, name, rough location—”
“You searched for me? By name?” When he told me about tracking my attacker, I assumed that his search was not specific to me, that I just happened to be the white light’s target when he found it and that I conveniently could return his favor.
“Yes, you.”
I NEVER screamed so loudly in all of my life, not even when I saw the first wave of Plaka Portraits. The idea of Valcas stalking me was far more frightening than being hit by an unknown source and launched off of a cliff.
I ran from the table, hoping to startle Valcas and put some space between us before he realized what was happening. He caught me before I reached the hallway. Two of the closest servants roughly escorted me back to the dressing chamber. In between screams I heard Valcas announcing that I would be fine once I rested and that I hadn’t been feeling well.
I spent the next four days in the dressing chamber with a young maid who did not speak my language. She provided food and clean clothing, but I had no idea where she found them, seeing as we were locked in there together. The maid showed me a curtained bathroom built into a corner of the room. Fortunately, there was indoor plumbing. Each night I slept restlessly on a chaise lounge. During the entire time, I did what I do best—I brooded.
I imagined Uncle Al’s reaction when I didn’t return from meeting Valcas for dinner. He’d likely call the police first and then, eventually, my mother. They would search the lake and my room, taking copious notes when Uncle Al showed them my abandoned laptop and smart phone. “I’m sorry officers,” he would tell them. “Calla’s never done anything like this before. She’s estranged from her mother and mostly kept to herself, so I don’t have any names or numbers to give you because I can’t name a single place she’d be staying.”
The police would believe him too. My phone had two contacts, Uncle Al and Doreen Winston, my mother. After Sandra betrayed me, I wiped out mobile apps, deleted files and online bookmarks, closed accounts and left it all behind. Sure, the police could look up skeletons and copies of past data, but that wouldn’t give them a single clue to where I was. I wasn’t sure whether this made me more worried or relieved.
As I brooded, I planned my escape. Valcas did not visit me. His maid, however, had the irritating habit of watching my every move. I examined each ornate door leading out of my lavishly decorated prison, all of which had multiple locks. It soon became clear that the only way out required the travel glasses. Valcas travelled with me into the palace. I would need to travel back out.
But the only way to get the travel glasses was to confront Valcas. So I did what he asked me to do earlier. I posed; not exactly as he requested, but close enough to convince him that I was still agreeable to his plan. I needed to take the acting further, to make him believe that I was genuinely interested in him. Because that’s what betrothed people do.
I started by telling the maid in gestures that I missed Valcas. I placed my hands over my heart and murmured her master’s name over and over again. She repeated his name back to me in her strange accent, which sounded something like Wall-kus. Each time she did that I looked around the room, searching for him, letting the sound of his name brighten my mood and bring a smile to my face. I’d read a lot of books about ca
ptive princesses swooning and fawning over their princes. They all seemed so elegant and desirable, refined in their artful displays of distress. This was new to me, however, and it felt ridiculous.
On the fifth afternoon, the maid handed me an open letter, written on parchment:
Dearest Calla,
Please join me tonight for a ball given in your honor by the land’s eldest families. Your maid has everything necessary for your preparation. I will personally come for you at half past seven.
Your Faithful Betrothed,
Valcas
This was good news, whether it was part of Valcas’ plan or my own doing. The ball would give me a chance to get near him and the glasses.
The maid did not fuss much over dressing me for the ball. I expected to wear a gown of ballooning pastels with rhinestones and lace ruching, but this was no fairy tale and the ball would hardly take the place of the prom I never attended. After washing and fan drying my hair, the maid handed me a deep violet dress resembling a brocaded Hawaiian mu’umu’u with a mandarin collar. Then she smoothed my dark curls into ringlets with pomade smelling of lavender and peaches.
Someone knocked at the door before I had a chance to look in the mirror. The maid ran to the door and called out something in her strange language. Five sliding sounds, followed by five clicking sounds echoed through the door. When the door opened, the maid bowed deeply and stepped to the side.
Valcas entered the room.
“I’m pleased to learn that you’ve had a change of heart,” he said.
He didn’t ask for my hand this time; he just took it, gripping me firmly as he led me down the hallway. I stifled a cringe, remembering what Uncle Al said about showing interest. I wouldn’t be anything less than charming tonight.
The ballroom was three times the size of the banquet hall. Banners hung from the ceiling vaults in a cacophony of color. Several unrelated melodies played in synchrony. A maze of dancing fabric, pageantry and fixed smiles crowded around me. Speeches blurred together, spoken in favor of my health and good fortune. I joined the guests’ sentiments—I needed as much good fortune as I could get. My health depended on it.
I kept very close to Valcas. I needed to get even closer to his glasses.
“Should we dance?” I asked.
Valcas placed two fingers under my chin and raised his voice. “My intended has asked me to dance. How could I ever deny her anything that would also serve to enhance my own happiness?”
A fat, red-faced man chortled as Valcas swept me out to the center of the dance floor. The lights dimmed. Valcas placed one hand in mine and the other on my waist before leading me in a slow five-step waltz. I looked around. No one else was waltzing. The couple closest to us danced a foxtrot. Another couple whipped by while taking turns spinning. Everyone kept their own beat.
I ignored the discord of sights and sounds around me so that I could focus on Valcas. I looked at him intensely, trying to meet his eyes through his dark glasses without tripping over myself.
He smiled at me.
I cleared my throat. “You look amazing, Valcas. You’re even better looking than I remembered.”
I blushed at what I’d just admitted. I didn’t have to pretend that I meant the compliment. Valcas wore black satin slacks with a white high-collared shirt. His silver jacket was similar in texture and style to my dress. Clean shaven, with his short dark hair combed straight back, Valcas was unmistakably hot.
“Thank you. You’re doing an excellent job of filling your role,” he whispered. Then he surprised me by kissing me lightly on the forehead.
I spent the rest of the time at the ball acting the part of the doting fiancée, partially because it brought me closer to my goal, but also because, as much as I hated to admit it, I was having fun.
Servers circled the floor with trays of bottles and crystal goblets similar to the ones from the dining hall.
“What kind of drink is this?” I asked.
“Laramile,” one of the servers informed me. “It is a fruit juice known for its relaxing properties.”
I made sure Valcas’ glass never went dry.
BY THE end of the night, Valcas was so pleased with my performance that he let me tour his private quarters instead of taking me back to my dressing room.
He sipped from another glass of laramile as he led me down the hallway, past the dressing room and into a sitting area that separated the hallway from his own bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. Two couches surrounded a coffee table filled with bowls of chocolates, crystal goblets and a bottle of laramile. A fireplace lit with a cozy fire warmed the room. Valcas offered me a chocolate as he sat next to me on one of the couches.
“Did you enjoy your ball?” He smiled.
“It was a lot of fun. Do you have parties like that often?”
“The household usually finds a reason to do so, but I rarely attend. I made an exception tonight, though, since it was in your honor.”
“Thank you,” I said, looking at his glasses. Now that we were alone again, I figured it was safe to talk about traveling. “Do you always wear your sunglasses inside the palace?”
“Yes,” he said, slightly taken aback.
I proceeded carefully. “I wasn’t sure that they, you know, fit into the local attire.” I refilled Valcas’ glass with laramile as I edged nearer, whispering sweetly. “Do you think they suspect your secret?”
Valcas raised his eyebrows, finally understanding where I was going with this. “Oh, I doubt it. They consider me a god. I’ve never once been asked about the glasses. They probably think I’m hiding an infirmity, something that would be too embarrassing to ask about.” He leaned back and rested his head on the couch cushion behind us.
“Do you always need to wear them?”
“No.”
“I still don’t fully understand how they work.” At this point I tried pouting, which I figured would come naturally to me given how much time I spent brooding. Based on Valcas’ lack of reaction, I concluded that it didn’t work. His eyes could have been closed for all I knew.
I sighed and reached for his hand.
Valcas lifted his head off of the cushion and traced my hand with his fingers. “You need not know exactly where or when you want to be. The will must be focused on, obsessed with, the task. You only need to think of what you need most, whether it is an object or person. I needed to find a bride in a very short period of time. That’s how I found you, a dark-haired beauty of adequate intelligence.”
I tried hard to suppress a scowl. “But earlier you said you searched for me by name.”
Valcas nodded. “The more details the better.”
“So then what is the point of wearing them constantly?” I was getting frightened again, thinking about our dining hall conversation followed by days of seclusion. I didn’t have much time to ask all I wanted to know before I had to make my move. I forced myself to lean in, snuggling closer. “Why not just wear the glasses when you want to travel?”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat as he became aware of my nearness. “Through years of use they have changed my appearance. You also never know exactly when you will need a quick escape.” He turned his head and looked at me warily.
“I get it—I really do. Can I look at them again?”
Valcas dismissed the question by expanding on his explanation. “The travel generates immensely bright light that cannot penetrate into the glasses. Once the glasses are set into motion, you also are in motion. All the better for you to have already been in motion before attempting to travel. Stopping tears open the place of final destination and everything around you feels the impact of your arrival.” He paused for more laramile.
“Which,” I asked, “is what knocked me down when we first met at the dock?”
Valcas considered this. “I could imagine that it would feel that way. A stronger momentum helps with travel of greater distances. It would make sense for the resulting impact to be of relatively greater strength. But there was something else
at the lake, something far more dangerous.”
“What was at the lake? How did it know where to find me?”
“Calla, dearest, you’ve asked a great deal tonight.” Valcas yawned. “It’s late and we both need to get some sleep. You may choose to stay, or I could send for your handmaid.”
I didn’t want to stay the night with him or anywhere else in the palace. His question hung over me as he watched me, waiting for a response. I shuddered, knowing that if I didn’t act quickly I would miss my chance to escape. Valcas smiled and brushed my cheek with his fingertips, clearly mistaking the reason behind my trembling. His touch fueled my desperation. It also sparked an idea.
I reached over and kissed Valcas, putting as much enthusiasm and passion into the kiss as I could, given how little I knew about such things. Had I not been so desperate to escape, I may have even enjoyed myself.
I paused to see whether it was working. Relaxed from the laramile, Valcas looked satisfied and slightly flushed. The corners of his mouth were slightly turned up at the corners. He assumed I would stay. He would be sorely disappointed. I kissed him again, this time reaching up to touch his face with my hands. I traced his glasses with my fingers and then carefully slid them off of his face.
“I want,” I said breathlessly, “to see…your eyes…”
Valcas’ expression was dreamlike and lacking in its usual intensity. Even with his pupils dilated his eyes appeared more like a projection onto his face rather than something existing from within.
I smiled.
Travel Glasses Page 3