Valerie

Chapter Seventeen

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Mistress Mary, quite contrary

How does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockleshellsAnd pretty maids all in a row.

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I woke up feeling like Aeneas was right; I hadn't gone mad. The sheets were stained with his blood and my skin had the dewiness of slept-in sweat. Aeneas's hand curled around my hips. "You're an early riser," he said.

"And you're supposed to be too."

"It's five in the morning. This is early." He kissed my forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Better."

"Didn't I tell you?"

He rang the bell for breakfast and I sat up in bed. It was done. No more education, no more procedures. Most of the pain was done. Sure, it had jostled and ruined me like Hilla said it would, but I was pretty sure I didn't come away soft and sweet. "Are you training this morning?"

"Why?

"I want to watch." There was a knock on the door and Aeneas brought in a tray of eggs and two steaks, extra rare. On the side was a smoothie. He might've been watching, to see what I was reaching for. I picked up a fork and sank it into the steak. It oozed blood. I brought it to my mouth and expected to shrivel at the light iron tang that remained. But I didn't. It made my mouth water instead. His eyebrows lifted.

"I'm just surprised, that's all." He bit into his own steak. "Why do you want to watch?"

I shrugged. "I hear noblewomen train against each other for novelty. I think I might be good at it." He seemed to like the idea because he nodded. "And we could go hunting too. I've never done that before."

"You're moving fast on this." His eyes turned suspicious. "Are you sure you want to do all these things?"

"What else would I do with all my time? I don't have a job. I don't have any hobbies. I don't have friends."

His face filled with pity. It almost made me push my plate aside. "You will, but all in time. After all your treatments are done, this will feel natural. You won't remember what it was to be human. Then you could be the center of the court if you wanted to be."

"The center? How? With what intrigue, what skill?"

"You could dance, and sing, and tell them how awful their taste in books is." He wanted me to laugh, I think. His eyes still shined with pity. "You're the most beautiful, easily, Valerie." His face grew closer to mine. "And certainly the diamond of my eye."

"Isn't it too early for this?" I whispered.

"For what?"

"I'm not stupid, I can feel your emotions in mind. You never try to hide them." He grinned and began his rain of kisses.

"You're running late," I said. He pulled a sigh out of me. "Get up."

"I think I could hide from my court for at least a day."

I drew away from his mouth. "You think I want to lay in bed all day?"