Echo in Amethyst

by Sharon Shinn

  “The driver will take me back to the palace,” she corrected. “But that’s not home.”

  Five minutes later, we had found the carriage stand and Marco had paid the driver and helped all four of us inside. He stood there for a moment looking up at her while she, her expression as serious as his own, gazed back.

  “Tomorrow then,” he said.

  “Tomorrow.”

  The carriage ride back felt much shorter than the walk out, though traffic was heavy enough to make the pace almost as slow. Seeming unutterably weary, Elyssa sat motionless on her bench no matter how many bumps and ruts we encountered, but I was so flooded with anxiety that I almost could not force myself to sit still.

  Tomorrow morning! She would set an assassin loose in the palace! I must tell Jordan, I must! I was tingling with so much nervousness and dread that I felt as if my whole body was a pincushion, and needles had been poked into every square inch of my flesh. But how could I get a message to him? Would he be at the dinner that night? Would he even look in my direction?

  And if he didn’t—? How could I have this dreadful knowledge and be unable to share it?

  It would almost be better to be an insensate block than to be this writhing ball of inexpressible terror.

  Jordan wasn’t at the dinner table. Neither was Cormac. More than half of the nobles failed to attend, and those who did barely exchanged a dozen words. No one lingered, and no one attempted to socialize afterward. Elyssa went straight up to her room and sat on the bed for two solid hours without moving. Behind the folded screen, I could not bring myself to sit or lie down, but merely stood there, tense and straining, my fists clenched, yearning toward the door.

  Even if I could walk through it without Elyssa’s knowledge, would I be able to find Jordan and tell him what I knew? Who else might I encounter in the hallway—servants, noble guests, the inquisitor? How would I be able to explain who I was and what I wanted? And what if Elyssa discovered me before I found Jordan? Oh, my life would be completely over.

  So because I was a coward, an assassin would slip inside the palace tomorrow, and Cormac would die, and it was all my fault.

  I forced my hands to uncurl. I forced myself to turn toward the bed and look at it as if I might someday lie in it again.

  Only then did I realize both of the other echoes were standing. Both had turned when I did, both were staring at their beds.

  They were copying me.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I woke with a start when I heard Elyssa moving about her room. I hadn’t expected to sleep at all, but I must have dropped off at some point because I had that sense of drugged disorientation that came from sudden waking. Judging by the uncertain light peeking through the window, it was around seven in the morning.

  Lady Marguerite was scheduled for execution at eight.

  And Cormac might be dead by midnight.

  During the hours of tossing and turning, I had come up with something like a plan. As Elyssa led us down the stairs and across the foyer, heading toward the malodorous back passage, I would be on the lookout for anyone else we might encounter in the hallways. Lourdes, if we were really lucky, but almost anyone would do. And then I would fall to the floor in a simulated faint, which would cause a great deal of consternation. If Lourdes was involved, servants would be called, and possibly even a physician; Elyssa would not be able to simply leave me behind, but would be subject to questions and her own examination from concerned onlookers. No doubt someone would insist on seeing her back to her room, and people would watch her solicitously all day. She would never have a chance to sneak to the back door and unlock it.

  Marco might find a way inside on some other day, but I would have done my best to keep Cormac safe at least for a few hours.

  Sitting up in bed, I listened closely as Elyssa moved from bed to washstand to armoire. She was getting herself dressed, I realized. Last night, she had told Gretta that she didn’t want to be disturbed until ten or eleven, which meant that she didn’t want the maid to know that she was planning to be up and about much earlier.

  Up and about and letting murderers into the palace.

  Suddenly she grew very still, as if she was listening intently. Then she crossed the room and pushed open one of the leaded windows that overlooked the palace courtyard. Instantly, the warm, heavy scents of summer came drifting into the room—and behind them, the muffled, excited chatter of a large crowd. I could hear indistinct sounds of people calling out to each other, or shouting insults, or just talking in loud voices to their friends. And then there was a swelling roar, as if something thrilling had just occurred. That heightened sound continued for another five or ten minutes before slowly receding, as if a large mob had moved off in one direction, leaving the courtyard deserted and eerily silent.

  I knew what had happened, of course. Lady Marguerite had been brought out of the palace while a crowd of onlookers gawked and jeered. Now they were all racing to Amanda Plaza so they could get a good seat for the execution. I wondered if all the other nobles, like Elyssa, had stayed in their rooms and watched from their windows, or if any of them had followed the procession to the plaza to bear witness. I could not guess which would be worse for Marguerite—to have none of her friends nearby at her desperate hour, or to have all of them watching, unwilling or unable to offer aid.

  I heard the window being closed and latched, and then the sound of Elyssa’s footsteps crossing the room. She was leaving! I scrambled to my feet and hastened around the corner of the screen, the other echoes behind me.

  Elyssa heard us and spun around, her hand already on the door. She was dressed in her plainest gown and her hair was covered with a lace cap that might actually have been one of Gretta’s, left behind some careless night. Someone would have to look very closely to recognize her or even realize that she was a noble. She grimaced when she saw us and shook her head. “No, echoes,” she said firmly. “You cannot come with me.”

  Before I could think what to do, she stepped through the door and pulled it shut. I heard the lock click from the other side.

  I stood there gaping for a moment, then flew across the room to try to open the door. The handle turned under my grasp, but the lock didn’t respond. We were truly trapped.

  Panic swamped me and I felt all my veins run with prickling heat. What could I do, what could I do? Should I beat on the door, lift my voice in a wail, try to draw the attention of a passing servant or noble guest? By the time someone heard me and fetched Lourdes or anyone else who had a master key, by the time the commotion was investigated, Elyssa already would have completed her terrible task. She would return to her room to find it in utter turmoil. How would she explain her absence? How would she explain leaving us behind? And what awful punishment would she visit upon us once we were alone with her again?

  Unless I was prepared to throw off all pretense, declare myself conscious and aware, and suffer whatever fate was reserved for echoes who tried to sever themselves from their masters, I could not risk myself by raising the alarm now.

  And Cormac would die.

  For a moment I stood there, my head bowed, my hands clasped, my heart still pounding so hard my blood felt that it moved through my body at twice its normal speed. I was vaguely aware that, on either side of me, the echoes had adopted my same pose.

  Then I took a deep breath, straightened up, and began hammering my hand against the door. If I was going to speak up later, I might as well speak up now, so I began calling out actual words. “Help me! Can someone unlock the door? Help me!” Beside me, the echoes slammed their hands against the walls and raised their voices in indistinguishable cries.

  But no one heard us. Or at any rate, no one answered. Every noble with rooms nearby had either followed the cart to Amanda Plaza or gone to the breakfast room to weep. And any servant who crept down the hallway this morning was too afraid to investigate strange sounds coming from a visitor’s room.

  No one came to the door.

  I finally fell sile
nt and slumped against the wood, breathless and quietly crying. I had never felt so bitterly helpless in my life.

  I was still standing that way—we all were—when I felt the tug of Elyssa’s presence and realized with a spike of fear that she was coming up the stairs. In a few moments, she would be at the room. Probably fifteen minutes had passed since she had left us; she had made efficient work of crossing the palace and returning. I backed away from the door, the echoes pacing alongside me, too stunned and bemused to realize that we should whisk ourselves behind the screen. So we were just standing in a dumb, anxious clump when Elyssa unlocked the door and stepped back inside.

  She started slightly when she saw us—and then, to my surprise, she laughed faintly. “Oh, echoes. Crying because I was gone for five minutes? Isn’t that a little pathetic? But I’m back and, as you can see, I’m fine. Now go lie down. I want to be by myself for a while.”

  Did you do it? I wanted to demand. Did you open the door to a murderer? Or did you have a change of heart? Are you truly without conscience or remorse? Or is there a spark of goodness somewhere inside you?

  But, of course, I said nothing. She brushed past us without another word. The echoes and I turned clumsily and shuffled across the room, slinking behind the screen. I felt Elyssa throw herself on her bed, and I could think of nothing better to do myself. I lay on the mattress and stared at the ceiling, my eyes burning so hotly that I thought tears might leave scars across my cheeks.

  Gretta came bounding into the room perhaps two hours later. “My lady! I just spoke to Lourdes, and it’s the most amazing thing! Oh, I do hope you’re awake!”

  I heard Elyssa stirring on her bed. “Yes, Gretta, what is it?”

  “The queen has invited you to go for a carriage ride! I think she wants to take you for a fancy luncheon.”

  “The queen,” Elyssa repeated. I couldn’t tell if she was excited or horrified by the prospect of a solitary outing with Tabitha. It didn’t matter, of course; she couldn’t say no to a royal invitation. “When does she want me to meet her?”

  “Lourdes said you should be ready by noon. We’ll have to work fast.”

  I heard the sounds of Elyssa throwing back the covers and getting out of bed. “Then let’s get started.”

  Gretta was always efficient, and within forty-five minutes she had Elyssa ready to face royalty. That didn’t leave her much time to dress the echoes, but it scarcely mattered how we looked: For this outing, all eyes would be on Tabitha.

  “There!” Gretta said as the four of us lined up at the door. “Think how jealous all the other ladies will be when they see you heading out with the queen!”

  “I imagine most of the other ladies have locked themselves in their rooms so they can recover from the events of this morning,” Elyssa said in an acid voice. “But if any of them should happen to see me going off with Tabitha, I shall be sure to look as smug as possible.”

  With that, she sailed out of the room and down the hallway, the three of us following close behind.

  There was no one awaiting us in the grand foyer except Lourdes and a few lurking soldiers. I glanced around swiftly, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like Marco hiding in the shadows. In fact, the great open space was as empty as I had ever seen it. I assumed most of the noble guests were up in their rooms, trying to determine how quickly they could pack up and head for home.

  Lourdes approached with her usual self-important glide. “Her Majesty is already seated in the carriage outside,” she announced.

  Elyssa nodded and headed out the door. The carriage was a somewhat smaller version of the big, lumbering vehicles we had used when hordes of noble guests set out on some activity. I guessed this meant that only Tabitha and Elyssa—and their six echoes—would be going on the drive this morning. Of course, there was still the driver and an escort of four soldiers, so we weren’t a small group, even so.

  A footman handed us in and we arranged ourselves in the two backward-facing benches while the queen coolly looked on. I happened to draw the seat next to Elyssa, across from Tabitha, so I knew I must be very careful. I kept my expression slack and my eyes blank as I focused my gaze on the queen’s embroidered shoes.

  “Thank you for agreeing to drive out with me this morning,” the queen said in her dispassionate way as the carriage jerked into motion.

  “I am honored by the invitation, Majesty.”

  “Recent events have made the air at the palace somewhat oppressive,” Tabitha continued. “It feels good to step outside.”

  Elyssa hesitated before answering, as anybody would have. It was hard to know exactly how the queen viewed these “recent events,” and so it was impossible to know how to reply. “Certainly, this is not how I expected the visit to unfold,” she said at last.

  Tabitha fixed her chilly green gaze on Elyssa’s face. “Had you made friends with Lady Marguerite?”

  “We had spoken a few times. She was a little quiet for my taste.”

  “Vivienne is even quieter,” the queen remarked.

  Elyssa allowed herself a flash of humor. “Well, I have not spoken much to Vivienne, either!”

  The queen looked out the window. We were passing a row of buildings that I didn’t remember seeing before; we must not have come this way often during our weeks at the palace. “My guess is that Cormac will petition his father to be allowed to marry Vivienne, after all,” Tabitha said. “I imagine Harold will agree, since Thelleron has always been loyal—and since its citizens do not seem bent on murdering Harold’s sons. And during these unsettled times, it would seem valuable to have something settled.”

  Elyssa seemed to be considering her response very carefully. “Do you think such a wedding might anger the western provinces?”

  Tabitha gave her a scathing look. “More than killing the most prominent daughter of Orenza? I think we have no hope of placating the rebellious regions after today’s events.”

  Again, Elyssa seemed to choose her words with caution. “These will be difficult times.”

  “They will indeed.”

  Elyssa didn’t come up with a quick answer to that, and a short silence fell while we all watched the view through the windows. The farther we traveled, the less familiar anything looked to me. We certainly weren’t headed toward one of the more popular destinations, such as the temple or the botanical gardens or Amanda Plaza.

  Finally the queen stirred and said in a voice that could not disguise her boredom, “So. Tell me about some of the sites you visited while you were here. What did you enjoy most?”

  Elyssa obligingly described the shopping districts and the castle ruins and the Garnet Reach Bridge that was under construction. “And, of course, I enjoyed the chance to spend time with Jordan and Cormac and all of their guests,” she added politely.

  Tabitha surveyed her again, making it obvious that she was conducting a thorough inspection. “Jordan doesn’t like you,” she observed.

  I felt Elyssa stiffen, but she kept her voice calm. “I’m sorry to hear that, Majesty. I have always tried to present myself to him in a favorable light.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Tabitha went on. “He must marry you anyway. There is no other reasonable choice.” Elyssa didn’t answer, and the queen continued, “Now that Marguerite is dead, you are the only other high noblewoman of marriageable age who lives in the western provinces and has three echoes.”

  Elyssa made the faintest shrug. “He could marry a high noble with two echoes. They’re littered all over the western provinces.”

  Tabitha greeted that comment with a wintry smile. “He could—but it would be less than ideal for all concerned. If Cormac marries Vivienne for love, then Jordan must marry you for the good of the country.” She paused, made an equivocal gesture, and then said, “At least, marriage to you must remain an option. Which means you cannot be allowed to imperil your prospects.”

  Elyssa could not contain her bewilderment. “Your Majesty?”

  Tabitha’s expression was absolutely glaci
al. “You have been observed, Elyssa, meeting known revolutionaries in public places. If Harold had known of your indiscretions, you would have been up on that dais with Lady Marguerite, facing the archers’ arrows.”

  There was utter silence in the carriage. Through the windows, I could see we were passing through a more industrial section of the city, filled with wagons and warehouses and workingmen. The sounds that drifted in were of coarse voices shouting orders and large items being shoved and shifted. The smells were of horse and sweat and lumber.

  Finally Elyssa said, “Then why am I instead in a carriage with you?”

  “Because I am of a practical turn of mind,” Tabitha answered. “If you are the best choice for Jordan, I want to make sure your name is unsullied. I will protect you as long as I believe you are worth protecting. But if circumstances change, I will withdraw my favor. It is no more complicated than that.”

  Elyssa took a hard breath. She was clearly struggling to understand how much the queen knew and how much danger she was in. “And Harold knows nothing about my—activities?”

  Tabitha permitted herself that chilly smile again. “There are certain members of the household staff who report to me first and share information with the king only when it is necessary.”

  “The inquisitor,” Elyssa said under her breath. I thought she had not meant to utter the words aloud, for she cast a quick, dismayed glance at the queen.

  But Tabitha gave a composed nod. “Indeed. Malachi is an old friend from Empara. We have the same goals for the well-being of the kingdom.”

  Elyssa lifted her chin with a show of spirit. “What do you intend to happen now? I shall return to the palace, chastened and grateful for your support?”

  “You may return to the palace sometime, but it will not be today,” Tabitha said. “I am taking you to an inn at the edge of the city, where you shall spend the night. I will return to the palace, where your maid will be informed that you have been called home suddenly. She will join you as soon as possible, with all your belongings, and you will set out for Alberta.”