Twelve days of bread and water. The meat and the bandages were a distant memory. Cora gathered the fork out of her shirt and scraped it slowly against the stone floor.
She tested the side against her thumb. The flimsy metal took an edge with patience.
It’s something to do. Have to get that thread out of my leg somehow.
The silence was not complete. Distant screams. The daily clank of the cell grate. The thud of bread on the floor and clatter of the water pail. In full and out full.
She could feel the texture of the cloth on her skin changing. The film on the inside grew stickier. The color at the edges of her sleeves was spotted with tears wiped weeks ago. She scraped the fork slow and quiet, listening.
Footsteps, not boots. Soft soles. Precise. Cora hid her fork.
She could almost hear him counting under his breath.
Then she could.
That crazy bastard. He’s not even mumbling it anymore. At least in Ariland he had the sense to be ashamed.
“Thirty-nine. Forty. Forty-one.” Click. The sound of the door opening.
She turned and saw him. Gavin was taller and thinner. He held his chin high and peered down at her. A baton swung from his hand, silver with a black, sparkling end. She examined it instead of his face. The stench of mint mixing with decay invaded her senses.
The baton held her gaze. It was decorated with shattered black ice.
I wonder how they got it? It’s terrible craftsmanship. The Nomads would throw those pieces away.
“I was informed of who you were four days ago. They thought you were an engineer.”
They did not. I told them who I was.
He counted aloud as he walked into the cell before continuing, “I would have come sooner, but matters of state required my utmost attention.”
“Aww. That sounds hard.” She put her knees up in front of her and hugged her arms around them, letting her pants ride up on her bandaged calf. “How can I help you, Gavi?”
He cleared his throat. “It is I who will help you today, Cora.”
She raised her eyebrows in a plaintive gesture.
“These quarters are unbecoming of a prisoner of your station.”
“I am Coretta Hart, Duchess of Terndowns.” She smiled.
“Yes. You are. The Dragon and I have decided that after the reconstruction, you will be permitted to return to that station.” He slapped the baton into his other hand. “Under probationary conditions.”
She wiggled her bare feet and stared at them.
“The Dragon seeks to instate a regent in your place. Lady Maribelle was a symbol. I convinced him that you could be as well.”
Cora grinned despite herself.
Gavin wrinkled his nose and spoke faster. “We can discuss all this in your new quarters.” He pointed at the door with the baton.
She waited in the silence for a few heartbeats.
He is so impatient. This won’t take long.
“Unless you are comfortable here.” He looked around at the tall, cramped cell. “In your cage.”
She opened her mouth and leapt to her feet. “You mean right now?”
He took a few steps back, looked around and muttered, “One, two, three.”
Cora swallowed hard. She put her hands folded behind her back and swayed her hips as she walked out the door.
Gavin hurried in front of her. She made a show of letting him pass.
The hall was full of soldiers. They all wore black armor with large plumes of feathers on their helmets.
Those are flight feathers. Vultures? That black must be sweltering in the sun.
He led her up a spiral staircase out of the dungeon. Gavin restarted his step count at the top and bottom of the stairs.
Fifteen. Two. Forty-three. He hated when I would interrupt him.
She walked in silence through a hall to a lobby and realized she was in Kalden Castle. The paintings had been removed from every wall, but besides that, it was much the same. Everyone they passed averted their eyes from Gavin. She took to staring straight into the back of his head.
Another staircase. This one leading up a tower. Gavin unlocked the door with a key from his belt. He gestured with the baton.
She skipped and squealed when she saw the bathing tub and bookshelf.
It’s empty, but it won’t be for long!
“You will have two maids. They will draw you a bath.” He held a handkerchief to his face.
Cora wafted the shirt she was wearing. “Wonderful, to be sure.”
He pointed at a desk in the corner. “There is paper. I remember how much you like writing. I will be reading everything you write.”
Let’s see him try.
“The maids are both mutes. Their families are indisposed. Even if they could speak, it would not be worth that many lives to pass a message.”
Cora frowned and sat at the desk chair. “Could I have the blue glass necklace back?”
“I will see to it. Make a list of the books you would like, the maids will be up with water for the bath.”