A Grace of Crowns | ☑ Queenkiller, Kingmaker #1

[02.3] The Fugitive and her Shadow

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Isla woke to the bitter scent of rue, and she thought immediately of the body they had left rotting in the woods.

She did it to protect us. Isla knew it, loved Noi more for it, but still it did not stop the wave of nausea building in her stomach. She left the warmth of her bed. Whitebill greeted her from the window. The days were getting colder; soon she would not be able to leave it open for the erne. She hoped Haana did not freeze in her sleep, but her pallet was already folded neatly against the wall.

She found her by Noi's door, cringing at the trail of smoke snaking out from the gaps. 'Did she set herself aflame?'

'Don't.' Isla gripped Haana's shoulder just as the girl was about to knock. 'She'll be in there the entire day.'

'But the smell upsets my stomach.'

'It can't be helped. She's praying.' Isla pressed her ear against the door, caught whispers of Noi's orisons. Her handmaid was devout to Lumē and kept a small altar for the patron deity of life. Now that the drink had gone from her blood, the weight of her transgression had finally hit – and hard. 'You'll have to get used to the incense. Come to the sitting room; we'll open the windows.'

'Then you let inside all the cold air!'

'It's either the cold or the smell. Choose.' Isla did not wait for a response, instead made her way to the adjoining room. She was not Haana's mother. It was not her job to coddle. 'There are furs by the fireplace. Open the window. Wrap yourself up. I'll make some breakfast – and then I'm afraid I'll have to leave.'

'Leave? Where do you go?' Haana limped towards the cushions by the hearth as Isla busied herself in the kitchen.

'To make money, of course. Juri will have a fit if she has to care for business on her own. That's our barmaid.'

She could hear Juri's voice in her head: 'It's barmaiden, for the last time.' So she liked to insist, despite being plenty years and a virtue short of a maiden.

Isla returned her attention to Haana. 'You'll be helping as well, once Aldir brings your papers and you are well enough.' Which would take some time yet. Haana could not walk a minute without doubling over. Isla uncorked the flask containing Haana's medicine and poured a teaspoon into the girl's drink.

'What am I to do while you are away?'

'You can read.'

'You have nothing I have not read before.'

Isla looked up from the counter, but all she could see across the room was Haana's back where she faced the unlit fireplace. So she did come from an affluent family. Then why did she travel so poorly? 'You can read them again.'

'History and politics? As if once was not enough.'

Isla pulled out a chopping board and started on her carrots. 'You can practise your Eling, though yours is excellent, especially considering you've never lived here. I suppose your mother must have taught you.'

'We practised together. She did not want to forget, she said. But it is no fun practising on my own. We both know Noi will not be up for it today.'

'All right ...' Isla sighed, thinking. 'There are some oils in the box under my table, if you paint.'

These wealthy girls ... they all paint.

She shook the thought away. Tam Mai had loved to paint, and they certainly had not been wealthy.

'I can't say they'll work. They've been untouched for as long as we've been here.' They had belonged to her sister. Isla herself was not gifted when it came to the arts, nor did she have the heart to use them.

'Paint oils may last tens of years as long as they are sealed properly.'

So she knows her paints as well as her politics. A girl five years younger than myself. Sir Edric would be proud. 'I'll leave them to your expert hands, then.'

She set the table for two. Noi did not come out for breakfast, leaving them to talk over their egg and vegetables. A simple dish, but Isla was running late. When she left, Haana followed her as far as the door and waved goodbye from the window. Isla made her way to the Eastern Markets, smiling ear to ear.

By the time she sensed the man following her, it was too late to turn back.

   
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