SEVENTEEN
THREE DAYS LATER, MISTRESS EIRA COMES to release me. She brings a shaman with her, and he removes the gold bands from my ankles and wrists, my skin warm and shivery from his magic. It only takes a few minutes. When he’s gone, I lift my arms, rolling my hands, marveling at how light my limbs have suddenly become, as though they might float away from me. But when Mistress Eira helps me to my feet, I pitch forward. My body is just as heavy as if I were still wearing the bonds. I have to cling to her to stop from collapsing.
“You’re weak,” she says. “You need to eat. I got the kitchen to prepare you a special meal. It’s waiting in your room.”
“Just the one?”
She gives me a smile. “Today, Lei, you can have as many meals as you want.”
With Mistress Eira’s help, I shuffle to the door. She’s only just started to slide it open when a teary-eyed Lill runs inside and barrels straight into me, knocking me half to my knees. “Mistress!” she cries, looping her arms around my waist. Her doe ears flutter against my cheek. “I’m so glad you’re all right!”
I squeeze her back. There’s the pinch of tears in my eyes and I blink quickly to stop them from coming. “Of course I am,” I say, trying to keep my voice light. “I’ve handled Blue first thing in the mornings. Everything else is easy.”
Lill doesn’t laugh. From the doorway, Mistress Eira gives me a nod before leaving us alone.
I unravel myself from Lill. “It’s so good to see you.”
She doesn’t return my smile. Though her young face is still lovely, there’s something anxious in the pinch of her small mouth, and I notice dark patches beneath her eyes, like a pair of bruised figs. My heart gives a little kick.
“Has Madam Himura been cruel to you?” I ask, curving my hand round her shoulder.
“Not any more than usual.” She bites her lip. “But I wouldn’t have even noticed. Oh, I’ve been so worried, Mistress.” Her gaze moves over me. “You look…”
“Radiant? Ravishing?” I mean it as a joke, but in an instant tears well over her lashes.
I swipe them from her cheeks with my fingers. “Oh, Lill,” I say. “I’m sorry. And I’m so sorry for worrying you. I haven’t had the best week, either.” My stomach tangles with how much of an understatement that is. I force a smile. “But I’m fine now. I got through it, and so did you. That’s what counts.” She sniffs, and I pull her back against me, cupping my hand round the curve of her head. When I can tell she’s stopped crying, I draw back. “Mistress Eira said there’s food waiting in my room. Want to eat it with me?”
And finally—a smile.
Lill scrubs the back of her hand across her eyes. “If you don’t inhale it all first,” she murmurs with a sniff.
I laugh, such a strong rush of affection hitting me then that it temporarily pushes aside the exhaustion. And even though it takes us twice as long as it should to make the trip back through Paper House to my bedroom because my steps are shaky and I have to keep stopping to swallow down surges of nausea, I keep a smile on my face for her.
After we eat the food Mistress Eira ordered for me—and two more helpings after that—Lill takes me for an early bath. There’s a while before the rest of the girls wake. Though the sun has just broken the horizon, night still clings to the air. Because of the late summer heat we’ve been experiencing, it’s been easy to forget that autumn will arrive soon with the turn of the tenth month, but the days are noticeably shorter now. The morning air is crisp. Herb-fragranced steam rises from the bubbling tubs.
Taking care to be gentle, Lill helps me out of my grubby robes. The fresh air is as welcome as kisses on my skin.
Then I remember the last time I was naked.
Not kisses, but teeth on my skin.
I scramble into the water, slopping it over the sides of the barrel in my hurry. Lill comes forward to wash me, but I cup her hands and take the sponge from her. “I’d like to do it myself, if that’s all right?” I ask, and she nods, seeming to understand.
Slowly, I draw the sponge over my body. I take my time, methodical, careful to reach every inch, every spot of pale skin. I’m not nearly as dirty as when I had the bath that first night I arrived at the palace. At least, not physically. But it’s a similar feeling of cleansing as I wash, of my body becoming lighter the murkier the bathwater gets. And with the shrill song of the birds in the eaves and the familiar sounds of Paper House waking, I finally start to relax. It’s so good to be able to move my limbs freely, especially now that my energy is coming back after that gigantic breakfast, and I tilt my chin up to the sky, swishing about in the tub as my hair fans around me in dark waves.
We get back to my room just as the morning gong sounds. Seconds later, my door slams open. Aoki bounds in, still in her nightdress and her short hair a mess.
“Lei!” she gasps. Just like Lill, she dives straight at me. Her heartbeat jangles against mine as she clutches me fiercely. “I was so scared when Madam Himura told us what you’d done! I thought… well, you don’t want to know what I thought. When she said you were being confined for a week as punishment, I actually felt relieved.”
“I guess I’m lucky the King didn’t throw me out,” I say as she lets me go.
Or kill me, I add silently.
Aoki’s lips flatten. “He must really desire you.” There’s a strange constriction to her voice. Then she takes my hands and leans in, face gleaming. “Oh, it’s been horrible without you here, Lei! Madam Himura’s been even worse than usual, snapping at every little thing—”
“What have I been doing?”
Aoki’s eyes almost pop out of her head.
She spins round. Framed in the doorway, Madam Himura glares down at us, her beaked chin jutting into the air.
“M-Madam Himura!” Aoki stutters. “I didn’t mean—”
The eagle-woman jabs her cane on the floor. “Quiet, girl! It’s too early for your blabbering.” Glowering, her cool eyes fix mine. “I expect you to perform your best in every one of your lessons from now on, Lei-zhi. The teachers will be reporting to me on your progress after each class. And to make sure you’ve got the right kind of influence around you”—she cuts a scathing look in Aoki’s direction—“I’ve ordered one of the other girls to accompany you for the next few weeks. You could do well to learn from her.” She waves a taloned hand. “Now, get ready for your classes! And you—get to the bathing tubs. That filthy mouth of yours needs scrubbing.”
As the eagle-woman drags her from the room, Aoki looks back over her shoulder, an expression of pure terror on her face.
I restrain a laugh. She might still be terrifying, but there are far worse things than getting shouted at by Madam Himura.
When I leave my room a while later, I find Wren waiting in the corridor. The memory of her closeness a few nights ago, how intimate we were with each other, makes me flush. She looks just as she did that night, face bare, hair relaxed and wavy, falling in soft drifts over her shoulders. My hand lifts toward her, an impulsive movement, and I quickly cover the gesture by smoothing down the collar of my robes.