Riley did not wave back at her father’s men as she burst across the bridge and under the towers.  She nearly ran her horse into a carriage in the courtyard, a black shadow in the autumn twilight.  She hauled on the reins, and Sugarsnap skidded to a stop. 

Vaulting off her mare, she landed in a sprint under the second iron grate.  Her breath came ragged and her mouth tasted like copper.

The woman’s blood-smeared cheeks burned in her mind.  She pushed the thought down.

Father will know what to do.

She ran up the spiraling passage in the gatehouse, her lungs aching.  The bandage cut into her thigh.  The soldiers at the top stared at her, and she begged them to stable her horse without breaking her stride.  One spoke, but she had no air left for words.  She pushed past the pain and descended the inner stairs, stumbling against the curved wall.  Two and three steps at a time, the corset on her chest chafing her skin.

The door at the bottom opened into the inner grounds.  She trampled flowers along Mother’s reflecting pool, ignoring the winding path.

Slamming into a door with her shoulder, she fell into the dining hall. 

Staggering to her feet, she heard a nasal voice say, “I thought your daughter had been injured today?”

Riley stumbled to the head of the table looking for Father, but he wasn’t here.  

“Rileya, my dear, shouldn’t you be nursing your injuries in bed?” Mother said without looking up from her plate.

Even now, she won’t call me Riley.

She put her hands on her knees and gasped for breath.

She felt like she had left the real world back at the spring with the dying woman.  This wasn’t reality.   This was a painting of a duchess dining.  The sedate decorations, the doublespeak, none of it mattered.

The whole ride back to the castle, she had been thinking that she would be safe behind these walls.  Safe as soon as she told Father.  Without him here, she felt more exposed than ever.

Her mother had asked her why she wasn’t in bed.  She was supposed to be here.  The Duke’s daughter, sitting like another ornament at the table.

 “There was a woman out in the woods.  She was terribly ill.  She died.  She died right in front of me, Mother!”  Riley scowled and grabbed her mother’s shoulder.  “Her face—“ Riley gestured to her own, dragging her fingernails down from her eyes to her lips.   “It was covered in—”  

 Mother squirmed out of her grasp, leaving Riley with a handful of silk. 

Riley turned at the sound of a heavy chair scraping against the stone floor.  A Guild Master dressed in black was scrambling to his feet at the end of the table.  His chair fell to the floor with a clatter.  Her brother stood up and went after him.

Guild Masters, her mother, and Gavin.  All dressed in lies.  Polished wood and shining silver in dim candlelight.

This isn’t going to work without Father.

Her friend Cora was the only person at the table who would meet her eye.  The servants behind Mother were all staring at the floor.

Gavin reached for the man, but he scurried towards the door and said, “You didn’t touch her, did you?”  His eyes were full of fear.  He looked like a black stork getting ready to fly.