Lady Alma

by A. G. Marshall

  “You’ll be working with Renata again today, and she’s leaving for the market soon. You need to hurry if you want to eat breakfast first.”

  I took a deep breath to calm myself. Yelling at her wouldn’t do any good.

  “How are things at the castle?” I asked in my sweetest voice.

  “Complicated. The Salarians came back late and left early to work on negotiations. Your father sends you his love, but he won’t be home until things are settled.”

  Of course he wouldn’t.

  I stood, careful to keep the Rosas Rojas hidden beneath my pillow, and smoothed my covers so the maid wouldn’t discover it while making my bed.

  Donna Senona smiled at me.

  “I’m glad to see you’re learning responsibility. You might try picking up your clothes as well.”

  She gestured to the crumpled dress on the floor. I kept my mouth shut.

  One of Donna Senona’s maids brought in a yellow servant’s uniform, hemmed so I wouldn’t trip on the skirt. She snapped me into it, and Donna Senona nodded her approval.

  “The skirt is the proper length. Well done.”

  She handed me an apron.

  “Renata will meet you in the breakfast room.”

  I did my best to tie the apron around my waist after she left. It didn’t go well. Finally I tied it in the front and slid the apron around until it faced the right way. That wrinkled my bodice.

  I caught my reflection in the mirror and sighed. I still looked like a sloppy servant. Somehow it was worse having a dress that fit. It made the whole situation seem more permanent.

  I retrieved the fairy corset from under my wardrobe and tucked it into my apron pocket. If we were going to the market, this was the perfect time to find more information about fairy charms. Someone in the Dark Market was selling them.

  Someone had answers.

  Rodrigo and the other footmen glared at me when I entered the dining room. I couldn’t blame them. It looked like they had been up late last night.

  Chapter 13

  Rosa and Ethan entered the dining room as I was leaving. Neither acknowledged me as they walked past. They probably thought I was a maid clearing the table.

  Rosa wore a dark brown dress. Unflattering, but definitely not a servant’s uniform. So Donna Senona wasn’t making her work.

  They were deep in conversation. I had to stay near the dining room to meet Renata, so I watched them from the doorway.

  “They won’t teach me,” Rosa said. “I’ve asked.”

  “Because you’re a girl?”

  “Of course not! Both men and women may join any guild they choose if they pass their apprenticeship. I’m not allowed because I’m noble.”

  “Why does that matter?”

  “It’s the law. Magic is too dangerous for the nobility.”

  “Everyone else uses it. Why can’t nobility learn?”

  “Because centuries ago the king died while using magic. It caused chaos, and everyone decided that nobles should focus on ruling instead.”

  “But you don’t have anything to do with ruling the country.”

  “I know that, but no one is willing to break the law to teach me.”

  “Salarian nobles use magic all the time. Princess Ingrid encourages it.”

  They kept talking about how unfair the law was, completely ignoring their breakfast. I rolled my eyes, and Rodrigo the footman did the same. I smiled at him. He gestured to Ethan and rolled his eyes again. I nodded.

  Renata interrupted our silent conversation. I pulled her out of the dining room before Rosa and Ethan noticed us. She handed me a large basket and balanced another on her hip.

  “Good morning, Miss Alma. Ready for the market?”

  I struggled with my basket as we left the estate. Renata carried hers with ease. I settled for holding mine in front of me and bumping it with my legs as I walked. It jostled the corset in my apron pocket, reminding me of my mission with every step.

  We took a side path through the woods, too narrow for carriages. I caught glimpses of the castle through the trees. When we left the forest, the towers glimmered high above me, blocked only by the city wall. We walked around it, and I stared at the windows, willing Father to look down and see me somehow. Donna Senona had to be lying to him. There was no way Father would approve of my working as a servant.

  Lorenzo was up there somewhere. Would the bits of information I had gathered from Ethan and Renata help him? I had no way to deliver them unless he sent for me. No way except for dreams.

  I shook my head. Even if Lorenzo did see me from a castle tower, he wouldn’t recognize me while I looked like a servant. My own step-sister hadn’t, and we’d been in the same room.

  We turned a corner and reached the city gates. I walked towards the large main gate, but Renata pulled me through a small gate to the side.

  “This is the guild entrance,” she whispered. “You’ll attract a lot of attention walking through the carriage gate like that.”

  I certainly didn’t want attention dressed like this.

  We passed houses and shops and winding streets before entering an open area filled with carts. I had never been to the market before. Tía Teresa always did the shopping.

  Servants in various uniforms bustled around while vendors called out to them, proclaiming the superiority of their wares. Guild leaders inspected the carts to make sure they met regulations. A handful of dons and donnas strolled past, shopping at the nicer carts. People gave them plenty of room to walk, but everyone else had to shove their way through to create a path.

  I felt invisible in my uniform. Just part of the crowd.

  Carlo walked past, and I ducked behind Renata. He didn’t notice me. I looked around but didn’t see anyone else I recognized.

  Thank goodness.

  I lost sight of Carlo in the crowd and relaxed enough to remember my mission. I tugged on Renata’s sleeve and pointed to shadowed alleys between the buildings surrounding the open space.

  “Is that the Dark Market? I’ve always wanted to see it.”

  “It moves around,” she said. “And it’s too dangerous for you. Guilds have rules for a reason.”

  I clutched the corset.

  “But my-”

  “No, Alma.”

  We shoved our way to a laundry cart, using our baskets to push people aside. Renata blushed and smiled at the bald, muscular man selling the soap. He winked at her and adjusted the sapphire Laundry Guild pin on his chest. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t say why.

  “What kind of soap do you need today, Miss Renata?”

  “What kinds do you have, Tullio?”

  She pretended to examine the soap, but couldn’t keep her gaze away from the merchant. They stared deeply into each other’s eyes.

  Perfect.

  “How about I leave you alone for a moment?” I said. “I’ll set my basket here so you can fill it up. Wave at me when you have things to carry.”

  Renata nodded, but I doubted she actually heard me. She snapped her fingers and picked up a block of soap without touching it. Tullio did the same.

  I made my way to the edge of the market. Someone in the Dark Market had sold Tía Teresa my corset. They might know why it had attacked me.

  I tried to stay calm as I approached the alley. If Mirella could visit the Dark Market, so could I. Everyone here had their own errands. No one would care if a servant asked some questions. I glanced around to reassure myself of that and froze.

  Someone was watching me.

  A figure in a dark cloak stood in the shadows of a narrow alley. She had pulled her hood low over her face.

  I walked to the left so she wouldn’t know I had seen her.

  When I glanced up, she was still staring.

  I walked to the right.

  Her head turned with me.

  My heart beat faster, but I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay calm. Yes, my corset had attacked me. I didn’t know why or who had caused it.

  I n
eeded answers, and someone lurking in the shadows seemed likely to have them.

  I worked my way towards her, stopping at stalls and chatting with merchants as I moved. When I was across the market, I ducked behind a moving cart and walked with it until I reached the alley.

  The hooded figure scanned the crowd, searching for me. I cleared my throat.

  She jumped, and her hood slipped back just enough for me to see her face.

  “Tía Teresa?”

  She turned and ran into the alley. I followed, running as fast as I could. A breeze blew her cloak back, and I grabbed it.

  She tried to pull the cloak out of my hands. I pulled back.

  “Let me go, Hija.”

  “No! Not until you explain what happened!”

  My hands shook as I held tight to the fabric.

  “I can’t explain! I don’t know!”

  Tears streamed down Tía Teresa’s face. I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around her. She stiffened for a moment, then embraced me.

  “I have missed you, Hija. Oh, I have missed you.”

  “Don’t leave me,” I said. “Don’t leave me again.”

  “We can’t talk here.”

  She squinted past my head into the darkness.

  “Come with me. Quickly.”

  I followed her through the alley to a door hidden in shadows. She pulled me up a staircase and into a small room lit with a single candle.

  “Why are you dressed as a servant?” she asked before I could catch my breath. “What has that woman done to you?”

  I smoothed my skirts.

  “Father is at the castle serving on Prince Lorenzo’s council. Donna Senona is making me work in the laundry. She’s forcing me to learn magic!”

  Tía Teresa’s eyes glittered in the flickering light.

  “She wants to disgrace you and ruin your chances at nobility. I did not think she would stoop so low.”

  “She dismissed you. It would be hard to stoop much lower.”

  She took my hands.

  “I heard what happened from the castle servants. I was the one who bought the corset. Perhaps this is my fault. I should never have used fairy magic.”

  I pulled the corset from my apron and handed it to her. The drop of fairy blood glowed brighter than the candle. Tía Teresa inhaled sharply.

  “I found it in the fabric room with my dress and all the Rosas Rojas,” I said. “Donna Senona tried to keep them from me.”

  Tía Teresa stood.

  “Come with me. Someone owes us an explanation.”

  We wandered through the dark alley. At first we seemed lost, but eventually I noticed black smudges on the corners where we turned.

  “We’re going to the Dark Market?” I asked.

  “To one of the merchants.”

  We stopped in front of a door with a smudged black swirl on it. Tía Teresa knocked once, and we waited.

  And waited.

  “Should we knock again?” I asked.

  “Only one knock, Hija. One knock and wait. That is the signal.”

  After a few more minutes, the door creaked open. An old woman motioned us inside.

  Chapter 14

  The room was so tiny it was practically a closet, and the three of us barely fit inside. The old woman lit a candle. The flickering light revealed a face full of wrinkles. She grinned, and the wrinkles gathered together like ruffles on a gown.

  “A repeat customer,” she said. “To what do I owe this honor?”

  I stared at her. This what not what I had expected from the Dark Market.

  “Tía-”

  “No names!”

  Both women said it together.

  “No names,” the wrinkled woman said again. “Not here. I don’t want to know, and neither do you.”

  Tía Teresa handed her the corset.

  “Your fairy magic failed,” she said. “It tried to choke my lady.”

  The woman ran her hand over the corset. Spidery blue veins crawled underneath her skin.

  The drop of fairy blood flashed, blinding us for a moment.

  “It did not fail,” she said. “The charm is intact.”

  “Then what happened?” I said.

  She looked at me with piercing eyes.

  “Something failed, but it wasn’t the corset. Someone pulled the laces tighter and tighter.”

  “With salt magic?”

  “I couldn’t say, but someone wanted you dead.”

  I swallowed.

  “Me? I’m just a servant.”

  I gestured to my clothes. She shook her head.

  “You’re no servant, darling. No need to get so defensive. Your tía hasn’t.”

  “What happened, then?” Tía Teresa asked. “Why would someone want to harm her?”

  “How could I possibly know that?” the old woman said. “Someone pulled the laces tight, but they broke. You were lucky.”

  I crossed my arms. Despite the evidence, I didn’t want to believe that someone had tried to kill me. Faulty fairy magic would be a much easier explanation.

  “How do we know you’re telling us the truth? Maybe you’re lying to cover your mistakes.”

  “Don’t be rude, Hija,” Tía Teresa said. “No one at the ball would know how to sabotage a fairy charm.”

  “No one except her.”

  I gestured to the wrinkled woman. She laughed.

  “I didn’t make the corset. I just sell what I find, and they don’t invite people like me to balls. You can trust me, darling. Someone at the ball tried to kill you. They would have succeeded if the corset had stronger laces.”

  “Why? Why would anyone want to kill me?”

  She winked at me and snapped her fingers. Everything went dark. When the light returned, Tía Teresa and I were back in the dinghy room she had taken me to earlier. I staggered and grabbed a stool for balance.

  “What just happened?”

  Tía Teresa shrugged.

  “The Dark Market is tricky like that. People working without guild supervision are free to experiment.”

  She handed the corset back to me. I tucked it in my apron with trembling hands.

  Someone tried to kill me.

  “Do you believe her, Tía?”

  “I don’t know, Hija, but something strange is going on. There have been disturbances in the castle. Guild members aren’t happy about the treaty. Some say the Salarians have come to sabotage us and assassinate the prince. Perhaps you were their first target.”

  “The Salarians are staying with us. They seem harmless, but Ethan did give me a rose before the attack.”

  “That may have been a charm. Do you still have it?”

  “No. I managed to get Prince Lorenzo’s Rosas Rojas and the corset back, but Donna Senona has everything else from the ball.”

  “You’ve been having sweet dreams then, Hija?”

  She said it with a wink.

  “I dreamed of the prince. How did you know?”

  “How did it go?” Tía Teresa leaned forward like Mirella did when she was eager to gossip. “Has he asked for permission to call on your father?”

  “No, it isn’t like that. And anyway, it was just a dream.”

  Tía Teresa’s eyes got very wide.

  “Oh, Hija, didn’t she tell you? Don’t you know?”

  “Know what?”

  “Of course she didn’t. I was going to tell you when you came back from the ball, but she dismissed me. That woman is determined to sabotage you.”

  She put her hand on my shoulder.

  “Do you know why men give Rosas Rojas?”

  “To let the girl know they think she is pretty. The prettiest there.”

  “That is one reason, but an ordinary flower could do that. Rosas Rojas take a tremendous amount of magic to make. The souls of a hundred roses. Why go to all that trouble?”

  I swallowed, suspecting the answer and hoping I was wrong.

  “Was it more than a dream?”

  Tía Teresa nodded.

 
“Normally you would learn all this the night of your quince. The Rosas Rojas is a communication charm. It allows couples to get to know each other without a chaperon. The chaperon is unnecessary because they aren’t really together.”

  “So last night-”

  I couldn’t finish the sentence. Tía Teresa did it for me.

  “You really spoke to the prince.”

  My face burned. I had spoken to Lorenzo! About my undergarments! I tried to remember what else I had said. At least I didn’t have to worry about giving my report now. I had done it without realizing.

  “That’s why Donna Senona took all the Rosas Rojas,” I said. “She didn’t want me talking to the men.”

  “She is trying to isolate you.”

  My hands clenched into fists.

  “What does she gain from all this? Please come back to the house, Tía. Help me!”

  Tears glittered in Tía Teresa’s eyes.

  “I can’t, Alma. She dismissed me. According to the Fabric Guild’s regulations, I may not return to the house unless she invites me back.”

  I glanced around the room. Now that I looked, I recognized some of the items. Decorative tapestries on the walls. A familiar blanket draped over a chair.

  “Are you living here, Tía?”

  “I was dismissed in disgrace, so no one will hire me. I’m selling gowns on the Dark Market.”

  “Oh, Tía!”

  I hugged her and felt her shrug.

  “It is not so bad. Not nearly as nice as caring for you, but I will survive. Now, you must do your best not to learn any more magic. It would ruin your chances of becoming a donna.”

  “I’ve only practiced forming a soul loop, and I’m not very good. I haven’t worked any charms yet.”

  Tía Teresa’s face relaxed.

  “Thank goodness. Even if you learn to form a soul loop, it takes a lot of practice to channel it into a charm. You’ll have to pretend you’re trying until your father returns, but they can’t force you to learn anything.”

  “So I’m not close to working the dressing spell? I’ve been trying to find a way to get to Father, but I can’t do it wearing this.”

  Tía Teresa’s face paled.

  “Dressing spell? Hija, hasn’t she found a new seamstress for you?”

  “No. I don’t think she plans to.”