The Handmaiden’s lips mimicked mine. “The Queen requests your presence.”
My smile disappeared.
“Hot water is being brought to your bathing chamber,” Millicent announced as she crossed the bedchamber and dropped into the chair by the bed. “Once you’re presentable, you will be escorted to her.”
“We will be escorted to her,” Kieran corrected.
“If that’s what makes you happy, then by all means, please feel free to join your much beloved Queen.” She lifted a half-gloved hand. Another Handmaiden entered. A swath of white lay across one arm as she headed to the wardrobe.
“You can stop right there,” I said. “I’m not wearing that.”
The Handmaiden halted, looking at Millicent, who had readjusted herself so her shoulders were on the seat, and her legs against the back of the chair, crossed at the ankles. Her head hung off the edge of the seat, and I really had no idea why she was sitting like that or how she’d gotten into that position within seconds. She gave me an upside-down frown. “And why not?”
“She wants to put me in the white of the Maiden.” I stared at the gown. “I don’t care what her reasons are, but she will never have a say in what I wear again.”
Those pale eyes watched me from behind the painted mask. “But that’s the only gown I was given.”
“Not my problem.”
“It’s not mine either.”
I faced the Handmaiden. “Your name is Millicent?”
“Last time I checked.”
My spine straightened. “I need you to understand something, Millicent. If she wants me to come to her, you will find me clothing that is not white. Or I will go to her as I am.”
“You have dirt and blood and the gods only know what else on you,” she pointed out. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten, but your mother has a thing for cleanliness.”
“Do not refer to her as my mother.” Eather vibrated in my chest as I stepped toward the Handmaiden. “That is not who she is to me.”
Millicent said nothing.
“Either you find me something else to wear, or I go like this,” I repeated. “And if that is unsuitable, I will go to her with nothing but the skin I was born in.”
“Really?” She drew out the word.
“Really.”
“That would almost be worth letting you do, just to see the look on her face.” Millicent was still for several seconds and then kicked her heels off the back of the chair. I crossed my arms as she half-rolled, half-flipped out of the chair onto her feet. She pivoted toward me, the flat, patchy hair half in her face. “Then it is my problem.”
“Yep.”
Millicent exhaled loudly. “I don’t get paid enough for this.” She grabbed the gown from the other Handmaiden. “Actually, I don’t get paid at all, so it’s even worse.”
“Fucking weird,” Kieran muttered under his breath as we watched her…flounce from the chamber.
The other Handmaidens remained, still and silent, their features obscured by their painted masks. How had I forgotten about them? I suppressed a shudder at the memory of them moving silently through the halls. And my mother, the only woman I knew as one, had been one of them?
“Do you all have names?” Kieran asked, watching them closely. Silence greeted him. “Thoughts? Opinions? Anything?”
Nothing.
They didn’t even blink as they stood there between us and the open doors. I let my senses reach them. I found walls similar to Millicent’s, and in my mind, I pictured tiny cracks in those shields. Just little fissures that filled with silvery-white light. I squeezed through the openings, feeling—
One of the Handmaidens gave a little jerk as I tasted something airy and like sponge cake. Peace. Surprised, I pulled out and almost took a step back. How in the world could they feel peace? That was nothing like what I’d picked up on from Millicent.
“Makes you wonder why the other one is so talkative,” Kieran observed. “And these aren’t.”
“Because I don’t think she’s entirely like them. Is she?” I asked the Handmaidens as Kieran sent me a quick glance. “She’s different.”
“In ways other than the obvious?” Kieran drawled.
“She doesn’t smell like them.”
Kieran’s brows pinched as he turned back to the other Handmaidens. “You’re right.”
Millicent returned shortly after that, carrying garments as black as the ones she wore. She stomped past Kieran and me, dropping the clothing onto the bed. “This is the best I could manage.” Turning to me, she planted her hands on her hips. “I hope this makes you happy because it will surely annoy her.”