by Sharon Shinn
I did not. In fact, I found the whole situation supremely distasteful. But I could not help wondering what it would be like to experience those emotions, those sensations, firsthand, in the company of a man who cherished me, in the arms of someone I loved.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
It was no surprise to me that Elyssa managed to secure an invitation to the festivities commemorating the engagement of Lady Sorrell of Alberta to Lord Clath of Thelleron. Both her father and her aunt seemed pleased that she was interested in going, and Bentam spent some time with her beforehand, outlining the political leanings of all the families who were likely to attend. Hodia also spent a few hours preparing Elyssa for the event, but she was more concerned with the eligibility of the various young lords who might be present and the advantages of possible alliances. Elyssa gratified both of them by appearing to listen closely, but I was not fooled. All she could think about was that she would have the chance to see Marco again.
We took a single carriage across Alberta for the day-and-a-half-long journey to the city of Wemberton, where Lord Vincent, his wife, and his daughter lived. Weather was cold and sleety for the entirety of the trip, so I didn’t get much chance to admire the landscape, which was flat and dull anyway. But the sun managed an invalid’s weak appearance the afternoon that we arrived in the city. Wemberton wasn’t nearly as big as Camarria, but it appeared prosperous and tidy. Elyssa must have been here many times in the past, but my capricious memory yielded no glimpses of those previous visits. It was all new.
The governor’s mansion was larger than Bentam’s place but smaller than the king’s palace, boasting a checkerboard façade of white stones alternating with black. The pattern continued in the small courtyard spread out before the wide front doors.
“Pretty,” Trima commented.
“A little ostentatious,” Elyssa replied.
“I suppose Lord Vincent has a right to be showy if he wants.”
“He only has one echo. How showy can he be?”
Trima surveyed her. “And yet you always complain about how much you hate your own echoes.”
Elyssa hunched one shoulder pettishly. “I deserve them. That doesn’t mean I like them.”
Trima snorted and shook her head.
Soon enough, we had disembarked and were being greeted by our host and hostess, each of them short, richly dressed, and trailed by a single echo.
“We were so happy to learn you were available to join us,” said the governor’s wife, kissing Elyssa on the cheek. I had to wonder if she was sincere.
“I can’t wait to congratulate Sorrell. When will be the wedding be?”
“In six months, we think. We’ll be sure to send you an invitation.”
“How delightful.” I could almost hear the words Elyssa didn’t add aloud. But if Marco won’t be present, I have no intention of attending.
We were shown to a suite that was small, but mercifully included two rooms. One was clearly intended for the maid, as it was perhaps a third of the size of the main room and included only one bed, but Elyssa pointed to it and said, “Echoes. Go sit in there and don’t come out.” As we filed through the narrow door and perched on the hard mattress, I heard Elyssa say to Trima, “I suppose we can get someone to move one of these beds into the other room.”
“Where do you think I’m going to sleep?” the maid asked.
“You can be in the main room with me. Unless you snore. Then you’re sharing a bed with an echo.”
“Sometimes you’re the most unpleasant girl.”
“I know. But you love me anyway.”
“Lucky for you I do.”
The first evening at the governor’s mansion was very similar to all the evenings at the royal palace in Camarria, except there were fewer people present, many of them were much older than Cormac’s guests, and there weren’t quite so many echoes. But before dinner, during dinner, and after dinner, people fell into small groups to talk about everything from society gossip to royal politics. The newly engaged couple were introduced with a few toasts and polite applause. They looked comfortable with each other if not madly in love, so I thought their marriage might be arranged but satisfactory to both of them.
Unlike the marriage Prince Jordan might have to make.
He was on my mind, of course, because the situation in Wemberton reminded me so much of the one in Camarria. And because he was usually on my mind. Then someone mentioned his name.
It happened after the meal as Elyssa was standing with a few of the younger lords. She was so bored that she almost looked happy to see Lady Cali approach.
“Well, hello, Elyssa, how unexpected to find you here,” Cali said.
“Oh, but I simply had to come offer my best wishes to Sorrell!” Elyssa exclaimed. “I had no idea I would have the pleasure of your company as well.”
Cali offered her usual warm smile in return. I liked that she never seemed to care what Elyssa said and never seemed to lose her general air of good nature, but somehow managed to give as good as she got. “Oh, yes. Sorrell and I have been friends forever. I’ve spent half my life in the governor’s mansion.”
“Do you know what kinds of activities have been lined up for the celebration?”
“I believe there is to be a theatrical production tomorrow night—some new play that’s all about the triumph of love. Sorrell’s very excited.”
“A theatrical performance,” Elyssa repeated. “It would never have occurred to me to plan something so—unusual.”
“No, I’ve always thought you were quite conventional,” Cali replied, still smiling.
Elyssa laughed. “Conventionality,” she said. “My most obvious sin.”
“Then there’s to be a ball the following night, and after that we’re all supposed to go home,” Cali went on.
“A short visit,” said Elyssa, “but I’m sure it will feel long enough.”
“Sorrell’s disappointed, though,” Cali said. “Lord Vincent invited Prince Cormac, but he won’t be able to make it.”
For a moment, Elyssa went entirely still. I could tell what she was thinking. Prince Cormac at this event? Is that the real reason Marco planned to be here? But he told me he was no longer planning to assassinate the prince. Then a slight shake of her head. What do I care? The king killed poor Marguerite, so it serves him right if someone kills his son in return. “How exciting that would have been!” Elyssa said. “But I suppose we shall just have to make do with a few high nobles.”
“There is some talk that Jordan might come in his brother’s place,” Cali added. “But it seems unlikely.” She paused to give Elyssa a quick inspection. “Or do you know something I don’t? Perhaps that’s why you’re here.”
Elyssa laughed again. “To meet up with Jordan? Oh, my dear. You shouldn’t listen to gossip. There’s no special understanding between the prince and me.”
“No?” Cali said with another smile. “How frustrating for you. You must be even more disappointed than Sorrell.”
“Not at all,” said Elyssa. “I find the world rife with possibilities.”
After this edged exchange, I thought both women were relieved when they were joined by Sorrell and Clath. The conversations continued, but I had stopped listening. Jordan might come here? To this very place? Would there be a chance for us to speak, or at least to exchange a glance or two? Would I find it impossibly frustrating, as Cali said, to be so close to him, but still unable to communicate? Or would the joy of seeing his face be enough to sustain me?
I wanted to see him, I decided. Even if I had no contact with him except through the medium of his echo’s touch. I wanted just another hour’s proof that he was still alive and still remembered me.
As I was not used to getting what I wanted, I assumed this meant he would stay safely in Camarria. And truthfully, if Marco was here, it was probably better if Jordan did not make an appearance.
As the night wore on, that became the central question: Was Marco, in fact, at the governor’s mansion? I c
ould tell that, although she tried to be casual about it, Elyssa was watching for him closely. She inspected all the footmen who passed through the rooms, in case Marco had managed to insinuate himself into this household by posing as a servant, but he was not among them. Perhaps he had hired on as a groom or a gardener. Perhaps he was making deliveries to the kitchen door. Perhaps something had detained him on the road and he would not be here after all.
Elyssa had much too much poise to show her bitterness and disappointment in public, but I could feel her unhappiness mounting as the evening wore on. I wondered what kind of temper tantrum we would be subjected to once we returned to her room.
It was therefore with some trepidation that I followed her up the stairs after the dinner party finally concluded. She stalked down the corridor to our suite and barely waited for the last echo to step across the threshold before she slammed the door shut. Trima looked up in surprise from where she sat by the fireplace, sewing a bit of lace.
“What’s put you in such a mood?” the maid asked. “Didn’t you enjoy the dinner?”
“I hate Sorrell and Cali and all the rest of them! So smug and insufferable.” She picked up a decorative pillow and threw it across the room.
I didn’t wait for instructions. I led the echoes into our little room and swung the door so it was almost closed. Not enough for her to notice the sound of the latch engaging. Not enough to prevent me from hearing the rest of her conversation.
“I thought it was your idea to come here!” Trima said.
“I’ve changed my mind. I want to go home. Can we leave tomorrow morning?”
“That’s too rude, even by your standards. And your father will be displeased if you offend Lord Vincent.”
I saw another pillow fly across the room, almost knocking a vase to the floor. “I hate my father, too.”
“Be that as it may, I don’t think you want to make him angry. Now come here. Let me unlace your dress and take down your hair. You’ll feel better in a few moments.”
“I won’t,” Elyssa said pettishly, but I saw shadows move across the room, and I assumed that she submitted herself to Trima’s ministrations. For a little while, there were only the muted sounds of fabric rustling, hairpins dropping to the top of the dresser, jewelry being laid aside.
“Here, let me wipe your face,” Trima said. “Oh, I almost forgot. One of the maids delivered a note this evening.”
“A note? And you didn’t tell me? Where is it?” She must have spotted it at that exact moment, for I heard her cry of satisfaction and then the sound of paper ripping open. There was silence while she scanned the contents, and then she laughed softly.
“Well! This changes everything!” she said, in an utterly different voice. Low and throaty and silken and pleased.
Trima’s voice, by contrast, was full of disapproval and doubt. “Who’s that letter from?”
“Never you mind.”
“Some ineligible boy, I suppose. Who is he? How did he learn you were here?”
“You don’t need to know any of that.” A sudden change of tone, almost threatening. “And don’t you tell my father.”
“I never tell your father anything. But don’t you do anything stupid.”
“I’m too clever to do stupid things. But I need to think about this—I need to come up with a plan for tomorrow night—”
“What’s happening tomorrow night?”
Another laugh, light and delighted. “Among other things, Lady Sorrell is presenting a theatrical performance. Which I will need to figure out—hmm. I have to think about this.”
“Elyssa—”
“Don’t worry, Trima. I shall be very careful.”
Trima answered under her breath. “When people are set on mischief, no one is ever careful enough.”
The echoes and I fell into an exhausted sleep, but it seemed that Elyssa had lain awake half the night, plotting, because in the morning she knew exactly what she wanted to do. I could only guess that the note had come from Marco, that he was nearby, and that he wanted her to meet him that evening while the play was being performed. I couldn’t imagine how she planned to make it to a rendezvous, but it seemed Elyssa had already planned every detail.
“I’m only taking two echoes down to breakfast,” she told Trima when the maid began to dress us for the day.
Trima gave her a long, suspicious look. “Why?”
Elyssa smiled. “Does it matter? Be glad I don’t leave them all behind.”
Trima pressed her lips together and said nothing more. I made certain that I was one of the echoes who was dressed for the day. I could not be left behind. I had to know what Elyssa was plotting.
Most of the guests were already seated around the breakfast table when we arrived and took our places by Cali and her echoes. I was surprised that Elyssa would seek out someone she disliked so much, but then I realized she was counting on Cali to be both observant and spiteful.
“Good morning, Elyssa, I hope you slept well,” Cali said, making room for her. “But you look so disheartened—what’s wrong? And aren’t you missing an echo?”
Elyssa laughed faintly. “I thought maybe no one would notice, but I see I was too optimistic.”
“I’m sorry, pretend I didn’t say anything.” Cali took a sip of juice. “But really. What happened?”
Elyssa sighed. “You might not remember, but when we were in Camarria, one of my echoes injured her ankle.”
“Oh, I do remember hearing that. It seemed so odd.”
“Well, apparently it’s never properly healed, and this morning when she got up, it was all swollen again. She could hardly walk. I left her upstairs with my maid, and I hope she’ll be better tonight but—” Elyssa shrugged. “It’s so embarrassing.”
“Unfortunate, perhaps, instead of embarrassing?” Cali said quizzically. “And painful for the poor echo, I would think!”
“I suppose. But to be at a gathering of high nobles, wanting to present the best appearance—and have an echo missing. I am embarrassed.”
Cali, as always, was smiling. “And here I thought absolutely nothing damaged your sense of self-worth,” she said. “I see I was mistaken.”
Fortunately, at that moment servants began bringing the food around, and Elyssa could break off her conversation with Cali and begin talking to the young woman on her other side.
And I could puzzle over how exactly she was planning to turn a missing echo into an opportunity to meet her lover in secret.
The morning’s entertainment consisted of a gaggle of local painters setting up easels in a well-lit drawing room and dashing off quick watercolors of any visitors who wanted to sit for portraits. All the women seemed delighted with the idea, though the men were less enthusiastic, with the result that Lord Clath took half of the male guests off on a trek through the city.
After her own session with the artist drew to a close, Elyssa made her way across the room to where Sorrell’s mother was standing alone. The woman offered Elyssa a friendly smile and asked, “Was there something you needed?”
Elyssa produced a rueful laugh. “I have a favor to ask you, but please, please feel free to tell me no.”
The governor’s wife raised her eyebrows and said, “I will, but I’m certain you can’t ask for anything I would be unwilling to give. What is it?”
“It’s my maid. Trima. When she was a little girl, she wanted to run off and join an acting troupe, though her mother made sure she took up a much more respectable profession! But she’s always had a fascination with the theater. When she heard there was going to be a performance here tonight, she begged me to find out if she could attend. Of course I said no, but she—”
“But how charming!” Sorrell’s mother interrupted. “A servant with a longing for the stage! I certainly don’t mind if she wants to sneak in and watch the production.”
“I would make sure she sat in the very back row,” Elyssa promised. “No one would even notice she was in the room.”
“Then I see
no problem whatsoever.”
“Oh, that’s so kind of you!”
The governor’s wife smiled. “We are gathered to celebrate a joyous occasion,” she said. “How nice if we have opportunities to spread that joy a little further.”
I listened to the conversation with growing bewilderment. Only two echoes to follow Elyssa around all day. Trima to join the audience for the night’s theatrical performance. I couldn’t see how either of these developments would enable Elyssa to slip out of the house to meet Marco. Out of sheer curiosity, I was almost as impatient as Elyssa for the evening’s festivities to begin.
For dinner, Elyssa, one of the other echoes, and I were all dressed in dark-purple silk gowns that laced up the front and showed off the Alberta amethysts to perfection. Elyssa put on her favorite gold necklace, the one with the three intertwined circles and the massive jewel set at the center. Of course, everyone at the dinner table wore similar colors and jewels, so the dining room looked like a field of lilacs and violets. It was a rather pretty effect, I thought.
After the meal, the group filed from the dining hall to the ballroom, which had been transformed into a theater, complete with one long, hastily built stage facing many rows of ornate chairs. Elyssa paused at the door to whisper to the governor’s wife. “I must go fetch my maid. Thank you so much for this! Make sure no one else sits in the back row.”
“I’ll shoo everyone else away.”
We flew back up to the bedroom, where a deeply unhappy Trima had dressed the third echo in an identical purple gown. “I do not approve of this foolish scheme,” the maid said.
“Who cares if you approve or not?” Elyssa replied. Too impatient to wait for Trima’s help, she began unlacing the front of her dress.
“If your father ever learns—”