I gave her my most serene, unworried smile in return … because I knew something that she didn’t: I was going to get so much more out of the next hour than she was!
As Sofia stepped up to join the two bored-looking fairy princes – neither of whom bothered to make way for her – the crown princess suddenly turned around. ‘Ah! Sofia, I’ve just had a charming idea. Do you think perhaps our ladies-in-waiting might show our other guests about the long gallery while we enjoy our chocolate?’
Aha. There it was. My beam intensified as Sofia’s face fell.
She let out a sigh. ‘How could I possibly say no?’
Princess Katrin gestured to the waiting footmen, who threw the great doors open. In a glittering, elegant swirl of colour, all seven royals swept from the room, with bobbing golden lights flaring all around them. It was such a breathtaking sight that the whole court watched it like a play.
Then the doors fell closed, leaving echoing silence behind.
Finally!
‘Now, then,’ I said happily to the fairy countess beside me. ‘Let us show you everything.’
Nearly thirty of us flooded out into the corridor once all the ladies- and gentlemen-in-waiting had been sorted out from the rest of the envious human courtiers.
With all of the royals safely gone, our party became far livelier within the next few minutes. The fairy king’s gentlemen-in-waiting might have been hard-faced adult men, but among the young princes’ gentlemen-in-waiting, some looked only a year or two older than me, and even the oldest of them could only have been seventeen or eighteen at the most.
Eerily glowing skin or not, they were still teenaged boys, which meant that three of them were jostling each other and sniggering within seconds; another one retrieved a glittering crystal toy from his robe and tossed it back and forth to himself as he walked; and two of the oldest ones slid into place beside Ulrike before we’d taken even five steps from the banqueting room.
Countess von Silberstein gave a huff of disapproval as she watched it all happen. ‘Oh, really!’ she began, starting forward.
But one of her friends among the queen’s ladies-in-waiting pulled her back for some low-voiced gossip just in time, leaving me free to slide ahead on my own, aiming directly at the target I had chosen: the skinny boy with the crystal toy in his hands, walking apart from all the other gentlemen-in-waiting.
Perfect. I even knew his name, because I’d heard one of the princes call out to him earlier.
So I slipped into place beside him, grinning. ‘Your name is Karl, isn’t it? I’m Silke, and that’s clever.’ I pointed to the toy. ‘Can I see it?’
Giving me a lopsided half-grin in return, Karl held his right hand up to show me. The crystal toy was shaped like a spinning top, but it never quite touched his skin as it twirled. Instead, it hovered half an inch above his glowing white palm, letting off an internal, sparkling light of its own, brighter than any diamond. The gasp that I let out as I looked at it was utterly sincere.
‘Can I –?’ I reached out one tentative finger.
‘Sorry.’ Karl smirked as the toy collapsed at my touch, falling down on to its side on his skin. ‘Doesn’t work for humans, I’m afraid. You need magic to play.’
‘Ah,’ I said knowledgeably. ‘Like dragons, you mean.’
‘Dragons?’ He snorted, tossing the toy back into the air as we rounded a corner of the corridor. ‘If you knew anything about dragons, you’d know that they don’t have any magic. They’re even worse than you lot. At least some of your mages can do a bit – the way our toddlers would, really – but dragons are magic-killers, the worst of all.’
‘Oh, really?’ I raised one eyebrow, keeping my tone carefully casual. ‘How do you know so much about them?’ Only two of the fairies’ golden lights had stayed with our big, chattering group, and they ranged one ahead and one behind the spread-out party – too far away, I hoped, to overhear our conversation. Still, I kept my voice lowered as I asked, ‘Haven’t you lot been underground for over a century?’
He snorted, giving the toy an extra-fast spin. ‘Why do you think we went underground in the first place?’
‘What?’ My feet stopped moving for a moment involuntarily as I absorbed that.
Aventurine had claimed the fairies always came after the dragons, not the other way around – and dragons were never shy about admitting their aggressions. If they had chased the fairies underground, Aventurine would have bragged about that victory with pride.
But why would the fairies bother to flee from dragons who hadn’t even attacked them in the first place?
I hurried to catch up with Karl. ‘Wait a minute,’ I said. ‘Are you telling me –?’
But before I could finish my question, a hidden door swung open in the wall just beside me and nearly hit me in the face.
‘Hey!’ I skipped backwards. ‘What – oh!’
It was Horst, stepping backwards into the corridor and carrying two large silver trays loaded high with chocolate. He winced as he looked around at the glittering crowd he’d stepped into; visibly relaxed as he spotted me; and then turned away in response to my warning glare, just as one of the fairy lights floated inquisitively towards him.
His eyes widened at that sight, but he’d served dragons and royals in the last few months, and he didn’t allow himself to be sidetracked.
‘Ahem.’ He ducked his head politely in the closest courtier’s direction. ‘My lords and ladies, if you’ll pardon me …’
Of course. We were just by the winding staircase that led to the crown princess’s private apartments. He must be on his way to make his delivery with the help of the maid I’d sent down earlier.
I let my gaze fall away from him with haughty aristocratic dismissal, drawing my silk skirts carefully out of reach and turning back to my companion …
And then I heard a much-too-familiar snort.
No. I spun around, my breath catching in my throat with a sudden burst of panic. It can’t be …
But it was. Oh, river mud, it was!
Didn’t dragons ever listen to common sense?
That maid I’d sent down to help serve the chocolate was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Aventurine swaggered into the corridor after Horst, balancing both of her own trays with careless strength. She didn’t duck her head like a respectable servant; no, she turned from one startled noble to the next, staring each of them down with her feral golden gaze, until she finally turned to me with unmistakeable satisfaction.
Argh. Dragons were impossible!
I couldn’t shout at her here. I wasn’t even meant to know her.
But I knew exactly what she was thinking, with absolutely typical draconic arrogance, as she met my gaze now: ‘See? I’m not afraid of any fairies!’
My teeth ground together. My fingers curled into claws.
The boy beside me gave a startled jerk. ‘Did you just growl?’
Ugh. ‘I beg your pardon,’ I muttered.
What was I doing? Unlike some people, I wasn’t a feral animal. I had self-control. I had a mission.
I had a best friend I was going to throttle the very next time I got her alone!
Now she was striding away from me towards the fairy royals – with all of their schemes and their terrifying magic …
Just like my parents had all those years ago.
As Aventurine and Horst walked through the door that led to the crown princess’s stairway, the fairy senti-nel that had been twirling towards them turned and fell back into place at the head of our party. It was only an advance scout, after all; there were plenty of others waiting ahead for my friends. The rest of those dazzling, sinister lights would all be gathered in the crown princess’s apartments, forming a sparkling golden spiderweb around their fairy queen and king.
When my best friend swaggered into the room, they would fly straight at her, surround her and investigate her from top to bottom, and then, the moment they discovered what she really was –
‘Um … ?’ Karl gave me a
tentative prod.
All the rest of the courtiers had started moving again, bustling towards the long gallery ahead, with its delicious opportunities for gossip and relaxation.
It was exactly where I needed to be … and when I glanced around, I found Countess von Silberstein and her gossipy friend standing close behind me, ready to poke my back with their long fingernails if I didn’t move out of their way quickly enough.
‘Aren’t you coming?’ Karl’s feet shifted beneath his ankle-length robes. His pale eyebrows lowered with what looked dangerously like suspicion.
I gave him my warmest and most trustworthy smile. ‘Of course I am!’ I said.
What choice did I have? I had to find out more!
If the fairies really did blame the dragons for driving them underground in the first place, they must hate them even more than I had imagined …
But my best friend – whose vulnerable scales weren’t even halfway hardened yet – was walking straight into their arms while I just stood there.
‘Well, young lady?’ Countess von Silberstein snapped behind me. ‘Are you planning to stop lollygagging any time soon?’
My mission was waiting ahead of me.
My best friend was walking into danger without me.
I had been right: there really was no choice.
‘Oh, I’m moving,’ I told her firmly.
I spun around. Scooping up my long skirts with my left hand, I slammed my right hand into the wall beside me. The hidden door fell wide open, revealing the darkened servants’ corridor beyond.
So much for blending in!
‘What –?’
‘I say –!’
As gasps and whispers broke out from every fairy and human courtier in my wake, I hurtled into the darkness and let the door fall closed behind me.
I had a dragon to rescue, whether she liked it or not.
CHAPTER 13
I could have run so much faster in my trousers, without a bothersome corset and petticoats to slow me down. But I didn’t let my ladylike constrictions stop me. I hiked my heavy skirts up to my knees and let my long legs do their work even as my corset did its best to squeeze all the breath out of me. Thank goodness for those restless, sleepless nights; by now, I knew my way around the secret stairways and passageways of the palace almost as well as I’d known the streets of my city.
I burst through the right door less than a minute later, panting, with a stitch in my side and my lungs burning. But I’d done it: I fell into the crown princess’s warm, luxurious private parlour just in time to see the public door start to crack open on my left.
Phew! I’d got there first …
… And the entire roomful of powerful, scheming royals had just gone silent with shock at my arrival.
Oops. I hastily dropped my skirts to the ground.
Three plush golden couches had been drawn around the fireplace, and every one of the royals sitting atop those lovely couches – fairy and human alike – was turned towards me now, gaping in open horror … including my own royal employer, who I’d promised to impress in my disguise as a proper lady-in-waiting. Only the ominous ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner broke the appalled silence.
I had navigated those narrow passageways just as cleverly as I’d ever cut through the alleyways of Drachenburg, yet in the process, not only had I failed to respect the royals’ request for privacy, but I’d used a servants’ path to do it – something no true aristocrat would ever do.
Time to think up a really good story, Silke.
‘Your Majesties.’ I swept my deepest and most perfectly polished curtsey to the two royal families.
Something popped in the fireplace.
The crown princess’s mouth snapped shut.
Her father scowled in obvious confusion beside her.
I smiled hopefully as I straightened … and kept smiling even as golden lights swirled and spun towards me from all across the room.
‘I do beg Your Majesties’ pardon,’ I said sweetly. In the corner of my eyes, I glimpsed Horst stepping through the public doorway, with Aventurine at his heels, but none of the fairy sentinels bothered with them; they were too busy swarming towards me in a buzzing cloud of suspicion.
Who could blame them? No real lady-in-waiting would ever act this way. Even I knew that.
My smile felt frozen and artificial on my face, but I forced myself to keep talking as the sinister lights closed in around me, blocking the royals from my view and filling my vision with sparkling, dangerous gold.
‘I know it’s terribly impertinent of me to burst in like this, but I couldn’t resist. I saw all of that delicious chocolate being brought here, and I was so excited, I simply had to beg a boon from my royal cousins. May I please serve the chocolate to our honoured visitors? It seems so wrong for them to be served by mere …’ A golden light zoomed much too close to my face and hovered blindingly between my eyes. ‘… Mere shopworkers,’ I finished weakly.
There was a muffled sound from the doorway.
Shut up, Aventurine. Shut up, shut up, shut up!
I breathed deeply, closing my eyes as the golden lights pressed against me from all sides.
Could they read minds? I didn’t think so.
I hoped they couldn’t.
I thought as hard as I could, just in case: I’m a lady-in-waiting. Only a lady-in-waiting. Really!
I was the worst spy ever. The crown princess might never forgive me for making such a spectacle of myself on my first day of blending in.
But if the fairy sentinels were swarming me, they weren’t swarming my best friend – and I wasn’t letting them steal anyone else I loved away from me.
‘Isn’t this the same chit who was pestering us with such offensive questions at the banquet?’ The fairy queen’s sharp voice was unmistakeable.
‘My newest lady-in-waiting.’ And that was Sofia, letting out a sigh that sounded worryingly satisfied. ‘We took her in as a favour because she’s distant family, but I’m afraid she hasn’t acquired any real polish yet.’
Ouch! That injustice stung. I had spent all week being polished and learning perfect court manners every bit as good as Sofia’s own.
But it was hard to argue about my sophistication now as I stood, still struggling for breath, in front of the wide-open servants’ door, while the golden lights that had stolen my parents swirled around me from top to bottom.
As I held myself frozen still, they brushed closer and closer against my cheeks and ears and hair, letting out a high-pitched humming noise that shivered against my bones until I had to dig my fingernails into my palms just to keep myself from lashing out at them in horror. Don’t scream, don’t scream, don’t scream …
‘I can send her back to my apartments for the remainder of your visit, if you’d prefer,’ Sofia offered sweetly.
That little sneak! Outrage punctured my bubble of terror. My mouth dropped open.
‘I’m certain that will not be necessary.’ The crown princess’s voice cut like steel through the charged air. ‘However, our impetuous young cousin does have a point. Perhaps our guests do deserve a more personal welcome. In fact …’ She paused. ‘Sofia, why don’t you serve our esteemed visitors?’
Oh, lord. I sucked in a breath.
I really was in trouble now. I didn’t need to see Sofia’s face to know how she would react to that command.
Princesses never served anyone.
But as the mass of golden lights around me began to thin, flocking back to their different outposts throughout the room, Sofia rose reluctantly to her feet and trudged, scowling, to where Horst and Aventurine waited by the doorway.
The older fairy prince sniggered and elbowed his younger brother. The younger one smirked.
Every gaze in the room was fixed on the outlandish spectacle of a princess acting as a parlourmaid … which meant that not a single fairy royal showed a fraction of interest in the mere chocolatier’s apprentice whose job Princess Sofia was about to perform.
&n
bsp; Perfect.
Sofia stuck out her jaw at a stubborn angle as she pulled the first heavy tray out of Aventurine’s arms … and then she staggered, cups clinking, under its weight.
I could have told her how heavy those trays were!
But I felt some reluctant admiration as the grumpy princess squared her shoulders and rebalanced the tray with a visible effort. For better or for worse, Sofia never gave up on anything. As soon as she had that first tray in place, she jerked her chin at Aventurine, who passed her the next one with ease.
With her face squeezed tight in concentration, the younger princess shuffled at a snail’s pace all the way back to the elegant table that had been placed in the middle of the semicircle of couches.
Cups shivered and rocked dangerously on their plates until –
Phew. I let out my held breath as she placed the second tray on the table. Nothing broken!
‘There.’ She nodded jerkily to Horst, who set down the next two trays. ‘You can go.’
He nodded and backed away in silence. Wise man.
My breath caught in my chest as I glimpsed the fury burning in Sofia’s eyes. For now, though, it wasn’t aimed at me.
She lifted the first of the tall silver chocolate pots. ‘Hot chocolate, Katrin?’ Her voice was sickly sweet.
‘Why, thank you, sister.’ The crown princess smiled back at her.
The door closed behind my friends at the other side of the room, and my shoulders finally began to relax.
Out of danger. At least, Aventurine was.
As for me …
‘You may leave us, Silke,’ the crown princess said as her sister poured steaming, dark hot chocolate into a delicate porcelain cup. ‘Unless you have any more burning impositions that must interrupt our private conference?’
My shoulders tightened all over again as the younger fairy prince let out a snort of laughter.
The Girl with the Dragon Heart Page 9