Kira waved her own bandaged hand and smiled. “We’ll match.”
Ussay laughed.
“Do you want me to cauterize it again? With the hotter coals of the fire it might take this time.”
Ussay wrinkled her face in protest. “It hurts when you do that.”
“I know, but you won’t be able to work at the castle if it’s still bleeding. Besides, you have to help me pick something out for Octavion.”
Ussay hesitated for a moment, then removed the bandages and gave Kira her hand. This time the point of the knife they used glowed red with heat. Kira was careful to barely touch the tip of the blade against the cut, completely stopping the bleeding. She gently wrapped Ussay’s finger with a clean bandage.
Their first stop of the day was at Kueelok’s. Kira wanted to see if he’d finished her necklace and talk to him about doing some hand tooling on a small piece of silver for Octavion’s arm band. Kueelok was more than happy to show her a few examples, but she wanted something more unique. After turning down several of his ideas, she settled for an oval piece of silver with the face of a wild cat tooled in the center. The idea itself wasn’t unique, but the way Kira arranged the facial features was. The medallion depicted a hybrid cat-half the face of a lion and the other half a tiger. Kueelok quickly sketched the design on a piece of parchment for her approval, making only one change at her request. Near the top and to one side of the disk she had him make a light impression of two crescent moons.
Once she had that taken care of, she asked to see her necklace. After learning of Serena’s, she thought she might not want it, but spending the night in Octavion’s arms had made her reconsider. She loved the idea of sending her thoughts to him.
Kueelok seemed confused at first, claiming Octavion had already retrieved it. But when he realized she hadn’t yet received the piece, he declared his ignorance and scooted the girls out the door. Kira’s own theory was that Octavion planned to surprise her with it-which would be even better than picking it up herself. She promised herself she’d act surprised when he presented it to her.
They stopped next at the leather smith’s booth. The old man standing behind the table grew crotchety and almost angry when they refused to look at his more expensive goods. He seemed to think the small piece of leather she requested to be an insult. He promptly ignored the girls and turned his attention to the other customers.
Ussay and Kira rummaged through a few boxes of scrap strips of leather and found the right color and length Altaria requested. Of course, Kira had to lie, saying she was the one making the arm band, but Ussay didn’t seem suspicious.
A beautiful young girl came out of the nearby home to help the older man when things got busier. Her kind patience seemed to sell a lot more merchandise than he did with his grumbling. As they waited, the girl turned her back to them long enough for Kira to see the way she’d braided her hair. It wasn’t so much the design, but the way it wound around itself making a ribbon at the end to hold it unnecessary. Kira was suddenly aware of the rats nest atop her head. When she turned to question Ussay about the braid, she had the same expression on her face as Kira imagined on her own. Neither of them had been able to do anything with their hair because of their fingers.
“Do you think she would braid our hair?” Kira asked.
“She would be honored. To do anything for royalty is much desired. If others find out, it is good for business.”
When they were finally able to gain her attention, the young girl took one look at Kira’s sparkling green eyes and red hair and almost fell over from overzealous curtsying. She called for her grumpy old father to relieve her so she could service the future wife of the prince.
“My name is Zahra,” she said as she led them inside her tiny cottage. She took a stool from beside the fireplace and sat it near the window in full view of the street.
As Kira sat, she could see several women outside whispering and pointing in their direction. What Ussay had said about increasing the girl’s business suddenly gave Kira an idea. She picked up the stool and strutted out the door, setting it in full view of the gathering crowd. Zahra and Ussay were not far behind.
Kira sat on the stool, keeping her posture perfect so she better portrayed a true Royal. Then she instructed Zahra to make her beautiful. Zahra blushed, but got quickly to work. It didn’t take any time at all to do both Kira’s and Ussay’s hair.
When she finished, Kira made a big deal about it in front of everyone, promised to compensate her generously and invited her to come to the castle to do her hair on another occasion. When they left, there was a line of women that ran the length of three cottages waiting to have the girl do their hair.
As soon as Ussay and Kira rounded the corner they ducked between two cottages and released their pent-up laughter. Kira couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard.
“You did not see her face when you left with the stool. I thought she was going to faint.” Ussay held her side, trying to suppress another bout of hysterics.
“Did you see her father?” Kira asked. “He didn’t look very happy when everyone paid attention to her and not his leather business, especially that group of young men standing across the street.”
“He will feel better when he sees the money she will make. Perhaps it will bring her a suitor. A rich dowry is tempting to a young ambitious man.”
“So how is your suitor,” Kira asked.
They’d finally gotten their giggles down to a minimum and ventured back out onto the street. Ussay blushed from Kira’s question, but remained silent.
Kira nudged her arm in jest. “Did he kiss you?” she whispered.
Ussay turned even redder. “A lady does not reveal such things.”
“He did. I knew it. Way to go, Cade.” Kira put a little skip in her step as they turned another corner and the other merchant booths came in to sight. Immersed in her conversation, Kira had been too busy having a good time to keep track of where they were until she saw the booth with woven shawls displayed on the table in front of her. Her feet suddenly refused to move and she couldn’t take her eyes off the view in front of her. Octavion stood in front of Serena, her hand in his while they laughed together.
Kira felt the blood drain from her face and her heart stop beating. It was all a lie. Every word. Every kiss.
Ussay walked a few steps ahead before she spun around to see why Kira stopped. “Kira, what is it? You look ill.” Her voice seemed to come from very far away.
Kira couldn’t answer. Couldn’t take her eyes off Octavion as he bent to kiss Serena’s hand and then brush a strand of hair away from her face much like he’d done so many times with her.
Serena blushed then laughed with the voice of an angel.
“He. . lied,” Kira managed to say as the tears filled her eyes, then streamed down her cheeks.
Ussay looked in the direction Kira stared. Her gasp sent shivers through Kira’s entire body. Ussay had seen it too. It wasn’t a nightmare-this was real.
“Oh, Kira,” Ussay said. “I am sure it is nothing. We should talk to him and. .”
“NO!” The word shocked Kira out of her trance. She grabbed Ussay by the arm and pulled her back against one of the structures so they were out of Octavion’s view. “You can’t tell him. Promise me you won’t say a word.”
“Kira, I. .”
“No, Ussay. Promise me.”
She nodded.
Kira wanted to scream, but knew it would only bring more attention to something she wanted to forget. Her second thought was to run. “I’m sorry, Ussay. I need to go.”
She pushed past the girl and ran as fast as she could through the market and up the road leading to the castle. She didn’t notice if the guards tried to stop her or if they followed. She only paused long enough to open the door before flying up the stairs and into her room-Lydia’s room. The same feelings of displacement she’d had in the clearing came flooding back stronger than she could have ever imagined. She didn’t belong here. Nothing in this place was hers, not even the man she loved.