I turned to look back at him. “About what?”
He waved a finger in a circle, gesturing the suite we’d be staying in for the next day.
“It’s incredible.” I couldn’t hide my amazement. “Do you live in a house like this? Your father is a duke, too, isn’t he?”
Felix shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Bigger, actually. But not nearly as gaudy. Brinton’s family manages much smaller area, so I guess he feels like he has something to prove. My family line is much older. You know, there’s a slim chance I could even be heir to the throne someday. King Felix. Sounds good, eh?”
I smirked and rolled my eyes at him, setting my bag down and beginning to take out the pieces of my uniform for the night. “No wonder you were excited about this. I’m actually kind of looking forward to it, now.”
“Told you so.” He smiled back at me, giving me a mischievous wink before he went to his own room to get ready. “And the real party hasn’t even started yet.”
I washed up, scrubbing dirt from my face and hands and neck, and combing my hair to make sure it covered my pointed ears before I got dressed. I checked in the big floor mirror in my room to make sure my collar was straight, and there wasn’t a wrinkle out of place.
Sile came back in a hurry. He was alone, and didn’t look very happy. He started rushing through his own preparations, cursing and muttering under his breath as he fought to get his cape buckled onto the pauldrons of his shoulder armor. As I finished getting ready, I wandered out into the parlor to watch him fighting to get his cape situated.
“Is everything all right, sir?” I dared to ask.
He didn’t stop to look at me, finally getting the cape on right, and going on to hurriedly buckle up his beautifully engraved vambraces onto his forearms. “My wife has decided to stay at home. She’s late on in her pregnancy, and just can’t stomach to travel this far. But she sent our oldest child here with a nanny, and now the nanny’s come down with some kind of stomach bug. She’s emptying her guts, and it doesn’t look like she’ll be able to take care of herself for the rest of the night, let alone anyone else. So I’m left with an unchaperoned kid to worry with when I’m already supposed to be babysitting you two. I tried to find Brinton to ask him about using one of his own girls as a nanny, but of course he’s nowhere to be found. Not that I blame him. There’ll be about five hundred officers in attendance tonight, total. The whole house is in an uproar. He’s got his hands full.”
Sile had never mentioned his family to us before. I didn’t even know he had a wife or any children. He was still growling and muttering under his breath while he finished getting dressed. “I can’t just haul a kid around all night. I don’t know why she’d even bother to send Beck at all,” he grumbled. “She knows young kids aren’t welcomed at events like this. It’s not a play date.”
“I could do it, sir.” I offered before I even think it through.
Sile stopped in the middle of fastening his last buckle to frown at me. “Do what?”
“Watch after your son. Beck, right?” I clarified. “I’ve got two younger siblings, so I’m used to taking care of kids.” That wasn’t exactly true. Whenever I’d been forced to watch Emry and Lin, it always ended badly. They did everything they could to get me into trouble, and I was helpless to stop them because I was outnumbered. But one kid? Surely I could handle just one.
He narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth like he was going to protest, but the door to our suite opened. One of the other instructors stuck his head into the room long enough to tell Sile we were ten minutes away from needing to report for presentation. We were out of time.
Growling more angry words under his breath, Sile shot me a quick glare. I could already tell, just by the look on his face, that I’d just blown my chance at seeing the officer’s ball. I was going to be on babysitting duty for the night.
“Fine, you’ll have to do. I’m out of time and out of options. You have to stay in the room, am I understood? No roaming the halls. I’ll make sure there’s a servant on call, in case you need anything,” Sile told me as he ran out the door again.
All the air rushed out of me as soon as he shut the door. I deflated. I’d come all this way for nothing. I tried to tell myself it was for the best. I would probably cause more problems than I’d solve. Me working around nobles was the perfect recipe for disaster. I could just see some dainty noble girl screaming in horror when I tried to help her down out of her carriage.
Felix came out of his room already dressed and ready to go. He noticed my gloomy appearance right away. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not going,” I told him bluntly. “I’m staying here in the room to babysit Sile’s son.”
“What?!” Felix’s expression was pure horror. “That’s what nannies are for! Don’t tell me he didn’t bring someone to look after his brat? Wait—did you say son?”
“He did bring a nanny, but she’s sick. There’s no one else to watch him. It’s fine, Felix. Don’t make a big show. I offered to stay behind and do it.” I shook my head, wishing I’d just let Sile handle the problem himself.
He stared at me like I was dumber than he’d originally thought, and rolled his eyes. “You need to learn when to pocket that conscience of yours, you know. Or at least keep your mouth shut.”
“Yeah, well there’s nothing I can do about it now. It’s fine—I’ll be fine.” I tried to sound confident. I knew I could babysit. That wasn’t a problem. This kid couldn’t possibly be worse than Emry and Lin were. “Besides, at least it’s a boy, right? I’ll just teach him to sword fight or something.”
The suite door opened. Sile came back into the room holding the hand of a girl who looked only a little younger than I was. She was wearing a simple sky blue dress, and her dark hair was tied into a braid down her back. She had her father’s dark green eyes, and there were a lot of freckles across her nose and cheeks. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. Suddenly I was having horrible flashbacks to all the times Emry and Lin had gotten me into huge trouble.
“B-Beck?” I looked at Sile for an explanation. Beck sounded like a boy’s name, but Beck was obviously anything but a boy.
He just smirked like he’d fooled me good. It was as though he were daring me to withdraw my offer to babysit her. “Beckah. We call her Beck for short. Is there a problem?”
My mouth was hanging open. I was totally stunned as I stood there, looking between him and the girl. She still didn’t say a word. I was shocked, but I wasn’t stupid enough to take back my offer just because it was a girl instead of a boy. I figured trying something like that would probably make me look like a hypocrite . . . and Sile would just make me do it anyway.
“N-no sir, no problem,” I finally managed to answer.
Felix snickered. I saw him grinning at me out of the corner of my eye. Somehow, I got the feeling he’d known Beck was a girl all along and just didn’t want to ruin the surprise. He wasn’t even doing a good job of stifling his laughter as he ducked out of the room, giving me an exaggerated little wave on his way. I guess he thought this was hilarious. He’d never let me live it down.
thirteen
I was officially on my own.
Felix and Sile both left right after another maid came in with two trunks full of Beckah’s stuff. Sile only gave me a few instructions before he rushed out the door: no leaving the room, no breaking anything, and Beckah had to be in bed in three hours. Now I was standing before a girl who still didn’t look convinced that I could be trusted, even though Sile had assured her I was harmless. She looked at me warily, like she might run if I made one wrong move.
I wasn’t sure what to say. She was definitely older than my sisters, but still younger than I was. I had no idea what girls her age liked to do. Well, other than torture me occasionally.
“Um, so your name is Beckah?” I asked her. Since I was small for my age, I was just about looking at her eye-to-eye.
She just blinked and didn’t say anything. I could see traces
of Sile in her expressions, especially when she frowned at me. He definitely had to claim her as his child.
“I’m Jae,” I told her.
She was beginning to hedge a few steps closer. I noticed how her eyes were quick, and darted over me curiously. You could just tell by the way she was examining me that she was smart, probably a lot smarter than I was.
“Daddy won’t let me go to the party with him,” she said at last. “He says it’s for adults only, but you were going to get to go.”
“Well, not really,” I explained. “I was going to have to work. You know, serve food and open doors. Not exactly much fun. Maybe it’ll be more fun to just stay here, after all. They left plenty of food in here.”
I saw her smile for a moment, just a little bit. It was like watching a star shine out from behind a veil of clouds. I knew Sile would beat me within an inch of my life for thinking it, but I couldn’t help but notice that she was really pretty. There was something earthy about the mixture of her green eyes, dark hair, and the freckles sprinkled over her nose. Something about her, for whatever reason, reminded me of my mother. Maybe it was that curious twinkle in her eyes.
“You’re half elf, aren’t you?” she asked me suddenly.
I felt my heart twist in my chest so hard it hurt. This was the moment I’d been dreading, because pretty much everyone felt the same way about halfbreeds like me. I just nodded and braced myself, fully expecting her to give me a look of disgust.
Suddenly her smile came back, spreading over her face and making her cheeks get rosy. “That’s what daddy told me. He said your momma was a gray elf.” She sounded curious. She started coming closer to me, and I was immediately on red alert. I stiffened, staring at her uncomfortably as she looked me over from head to toe. “What was she like? I’ve never met a gray elf before.”
“Not like what you’ve heard, I’m sure.” I was quick to defend my mother’s honor. “She was the kindest person I’ve ever known. And she could grow anything.”
Beckah was nibbling on her bottom lip as she reached out to touch my hair. I couldn’t help myself; I flinched away. Her expression was as surprised by my reaction as I was that she’d actually wanted to touch me. And then, for whatever reason, she looked sad.
“Okay, then. We’ll just have our own party here,” she announced. “Since daddy won’t let us join his. What’s for dessert?”
I wasn’t so sure about this anymore. Beckah was the strangest girl I’d ever met, which was saying something since I’d grown up with two goblins for sisters. But Beckah wasn’t like them. She wasn’t mean to me, and she didn’t seem to be disgusted by me, either. Just like her father, she seemed to think I was interesting.
There was a big tray of desserts already set up and waiting for us, and she breezed right past the rest of the food and headed straight for it. I watched her eat three big bowls of fruit drizzled in chocolate, honey, candied nuts, and whipped cream. I just nibbled on a peach. I had a good idea what rich food like that would do to my stomach, and that wasn’t how I wanted to spend the evening.
She kept me distracted, anyway. She asked dozens of questions about my mother, my father, and the academy. It was a little strange. I assumed Sile would have told her most of this stuff already, but she seemed really interested to learn anything she could about dragons and the academy.
“Daddy doesn’t come home much, anymore. He’s busy with training all the time,” she said with a mouthful of food. “It makes momma really angry. That’s why she said I had to come, even if daddy doesn’t want me here. She said he doesn’t spend enough time with me. I wish I could go with him, just once. I’d like to see the dragons.”
“Maybe he’ll bring you when you’re older.” I couldn’t keep from smiling at her. She just said whatever crossed her mind. I’d never met anyone like that before. “What about you? Do you wish he was home more?”
She shrugged and looked down into her third bowl of dessert. “I guess. But even when he is home, it’s like his mind is far away. He doesn’t really see us. We just make him frustrated and upset when he’s home. It’s always been like that. He and momma fight a lot. I don’t think she’s very happy about the new baby. I’ve heard her crying at night. I think she wishes daddy would just quit being a dragonrider and come back home.”
I could see the pain on her face, even if she didn’t realize she was showing it. I knew how she felt. Wanting her dad’s approval, or just a little of his time, was something I understood completely. “It’s not your fault, Beckah. It’s nobody’s fault. He’s got a lot to think about. His job is stressful, and dangerous. I’m sure he loves you.”
“Are you going to be like that, when you’re grown up?” she pointed an accusing gaze at me suddenly.
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I just sat there staring at her, and tried to think of a good reply, with my mouth hanging open. I couldn’t get any sound to come out.
“Don’t be that way, okay? You’re really nice, I can tell. So don’t be like that. Don’t forget about everyone else—especially the ones who need you the most.” She stood up to refill her bowl, and it seemed like she just wanted to get away from me for a minute. She was upset. I wasn’t very perceptive, and I knew nothing about girls, but even I could tell she wasn’t happy. Talking about her family made her upset. She wanted to go to the ball, but not for the same reason everyone else did. She just wanted to be near Sile.
“So what else do the adults do at parties? Other than eat too much dessert?” I gave her a hopeful smile, and tried to change the subject.
Beckah sighed loudly. “There’s always dancing, and they stand around and gossip about each other.” She came back to sit on the floor next to me, a little too close for my comfort. “Sometimes the men fight, but only when they’ve had too much wine and decide to act stupid.”
I smirked; that reminded me of Felix for some reason. “I don’t know any gossip, or how to dance.”
Her eyes popped open wide, and she grinned at me like she had a brilliant idea. Grabbing my wrist, she bounded to her feet and started pulling me toward the door eagerly. “Come on! I know where we can go and see the real party! I’ll teach you how to dance.”
Suddenly Sile’s warning that we should stay in this room was ringing in my ears. I dug my heels in. “We can’t go out. Your dad said—”
“My daddy just doesn’t want me to bother him. That’s how it always is. But we won’t get caught. He won’t ever know we’re there. I promise! Please?” She begged, and puckered her bottom lip out some. “Don’t you want to at least see the party?”
Of course I did. I also didn’t want to imagine what Sile would do to me if I broke any rules—especially ones about his daughter. I started to shake my head.
Then Beckah gave me the best begging face I’d ever seen. Her big, round green eyes blinked up at me sadly, and I folded like a wet napkin. I was helpless against that kind of manipulation, especially when her chin started to tremble.
“Fine, fine. Just a quick look, but then we come straight back.” I surrendered.
She started pulling me toward the door, opening it to lean out and peer left and right before we went outside. I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that this wasn’t going to end well. Even though the hallways were empty, I could still hear the sounds of laughter and music echoing faintly like whispers over the marble floors.
Beckah led the way through rooms decorated with expensive rugs and furniture. The further we went, the louder the music became, although it seemed to be coming from everywhere. We went through doors, down stairs, up stairs, and I was beginning to worry we’d never find our way back again. Reaching to grasp her hand tightly, I reeled myself in closer to her. I couldn’t get my bearings in this place at all, and if I lost her, I’d never find my way back to our room alone.
“How do you know where we’re going?” I whispered. We’d come up several narrow flights of stairs, and I was out of breath.
Beckah stopped on a landing where a sin
gle door was hidden in the shadows. She started opening it, and peeking through the crack. Light spilled in from the other side, and suddenly the sound of the music was much louder. It seemed to be coming from below us.
“Haven’t you ever been in an estate like this before? All rich people’s houses are basically the same, you know. Big, fancy, and with lots of hidden passages for servants,” she whispered back. She opened the door just enough for us to slip through, and quickly shut it again.
A broad open space stretched out before us. Overhead, the wooden rafters were visible going up into the gloom. Brilliant golden light bled up through the cracks in the floorboards, shining from the ballroom below. There were ghostly pieces of furniture standing along the walls, covered up with white sheets. I started to realize this was a storage room.
I could hear the music, the sounds of laughter and conversation, and even smell the food coming from party under our feet. It filled me with excitement, even if I was still worried about being caught up here. Neither one of us could resist the urge to squat down and peer through one of the cracks.
The ballroom was massive, sparkling with the light from big crystal chandeliers, and filled with beautiful people that stood around talking, drinking wine, or were twirling on the dance floor. There were officers with all kinds of uniforms. Ladies wore fancy ball gowns encrusted with jewels, and white gloves up to their elbows. I saw the other fledgling dragonriders carrying silver platters with wine glasses on them.
“Look, there’s daddy!” Beckah whispered, pointing toward a corner where there was a large group of high-ranking dragonriders gathered. They were laughing and drinking, probably telling war stories.
For some reason, seeing everyone like that made me sad. I sat back on my knees and sighed. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was as close as I’d ever get to a party like that. Granted, this was a lot closer than I’d ever been before. But was I really just kidding myself? Did I really have a place with people like that?
Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles) Page 11