All of her memories before she escaped into the real world. .
Wearing a dress simply felt weird, but Escalla bore it. She sat staring at the fantasies conjured by the windows, until a knock at the door brought a presence sweeping into her room.
With a flurry of servants and a flutter of gorgeous wings, Cavalier Tarquil stood at the entrance of Escalla’s apartment and sank into arather oily bow.
“Brightflower Maid! How much more refreshing than the dawn isyour brilliant smile.”
Escalla rose, flipped out her wings, and made a curtsy carefully measured to keep the suitor at bay. Even so, she felt his eyes travel down her cleavage as she bowed. Escalla hissed, caught herself, and pulled part of her face into a smile.
Her mother had spies all around. A scrying spell would be on her, and there would be an invisible creature lurking in every room. In a society of shapeshifters, any object of the right size and mass was instantly suspect. Escalla had already kicked most of the furniture and felt tremors of pain in reply.
They were watching her for spells, for any attempt to escape. They would be reporting Escalla’s right behavior to a mother who was as deadlyas a dracolich. Escalla kept her face stiff and her thoughts to herself as she turned to invite the cavalier onto her balcony.
“Cavalier.”
The man had a bodyguard, a scarred duelist from his own clan that clandestinely cast a detection spell. Leading the way to the balcony, Escalla caught the motion from the corner of her eye.
“Oh, I can assure you we are being watched. There’s no pointin wasting a spell.”
“Ah, dear maid. It is not whether there is a spell, butwho has thrown the spell.” Tarquil’s voice was polished and as silky as hissilver sword. “Sad to say, a man can sometimes acquire enemies.”
Cavalier Tarquil wore twelve kill ribbons on his sleeves-mementos of duels gone by. Escalla gave a sarcastic lift of her eye andsaid, “I can’t imagine why.”
“You disapprove of dueling, dear?” Tarquil snapped hisfingers. A servant ran forward to supply him with wine. “It is a righteoussport.”
“Sport?”
“Of course.” The cavalier gave a mocking smile to Escalla.“Shall the pot call the kettle black, my dear? You have an impressive killrecord of your own-monsters, creatures, brigands. It sounds like quite thelittle crusade.”
Escalla bit back a savage reply, half turned away, then flew over the balcony railing to land in the garden. Today, her father’s gardens werea fantasy of roses. Even the grass seemed to be fashioned out of tiny little flowers, all illusory, all slightly false to an eye that loved the glorious imperfections of the real world. Escalla walked onward for a way then stood still as she felt eyes running over her from behind.
She turned and glared at the cavalier.
“Quit looking at my butt!”
“Your pardon, maid, but it is a most noteworthy rear.” Thecavalier toyed with his sword. “When my father informed me of this match, Inever once thought that it might prove to be so… beneficial.”
Escalla flicked her shirts out to hide the benefits in question.
“The benefits aren’t yours yet, bub!”
“No? A shame.” The cavalier took a swift, searching lookacross the open garden. “Shall we move into the shade?”
“You mean into cover.” Escalla looked a the man in suddenintuition. “Who’s trying to bump you off?”
“Perish the thought. A mere habitual precaution, nothingmore.”
She took him into a rose bower-a bower carefully searched byTarquil’s bodyguard before he entered. Standing in privacy with Escalla, the manvisibly relaxed. He leaned against a towering rose trunk and looked Escalla appreciatively up and down.
“A flower in the wilderness.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Bloom bloom bloom.” Escalla lifted up theslowglass necklace that hung about her throat. “This is yours?”
“Of course. Slowglass is rare. Slowglass is beautiful-almostas rare and beautiful as you.”
“Oh, your clan must want me somethin’ awful. Where the helldid you find the slowglass? This stuff is rarer than hen’s teeth.”
Tarquil twittered his fingers and replied, “Your sister foundit for me. Your family was keen to help me pursue my suit.”
“I’ll bet.”
Escalla sniffed and turned away. A moment later, she felt a very unwelcome presence behind her. Tarquil set his hands upon Escalla’s bareshoulders and leaned his face into the curtain of her hair.
“I am in your own old rooms. The mirror, the bed… placeswhere you must have dreamed so many restless adolescent dreams.” The man nuzzledat Escalla’s ear. “Dreams can be so much tastier when we snatch them secretly.Perhaps you want to sample a little piece of the cake before eating it becomes simply a duty to be done…?” Tarquil leaned much, much closer. “Your oldmirror might show you something you might like.”
He slid his hand onto her breast. In one blindingly fast movement, Escalla whirled, balled her fist, and struck him in the face-theforce enough to send him staggering.
“Touch me again, and I’ll kill you!”
With a look of private amusement on his face, Tarquil touched at his cheek. “You had best get used to it, my dear.” The faerie hissed as heprobed the bruise on his cheek “Yes, you are exactly as we thought. Howgratifying.”
In a whirl of his blue cloak, Tarquil turned and left the bower. Escalla watched him go, flexing her hands and trying to hide the fury in her eyes.
“No one touches the faerie.”
A slither in the shadows behind Escalla told her that mother’s invisible spy was still at hand. Without looking at it, Escalla angrilypicked up her skirts and passed it by.
“Go tell Mother: no free samples until the deal is signed andsealed!”
Beneath a flame tree in the gardens, Lord Faen quietly approached Lord Ushan. Ushan of Clan Sable stood stroking his chin, his eye on the distant rose bower that held his nephew and the bride to be. As Tarquil walked silkily forth, dusting at his clothes with a smile on his face, Lord Faen came to stand at Ushan’s side.
“You seem agitated, colleague.”
“New alliances always bring birthing pains.” Ushan’s flamerobes made colors dance within his quiet eyes. “Still… romance makesinteresting viewing.”
“Quite so.” Faen smoothed his goatee, his eyes on Escalla asthe girl walked disdainfully through an illusory bridge and stream. “Aninteresting creature.”
“She’s a savage.” Ushan glared at Escalla as though she werean unwanted scientific specimen. “She wallows in the real like a beast in mud.”
Faen made an exasperated sound. He turned on Ushan with his antennae held low and said, “Ushan, the drow are moving. There is a dark Seelie,my friend, a reflection of all that we are. The old court of the Queen of Wind and Woe has been approached by the dark elves, and with the dark elves comes the demon Lolth, the Spider Queen!” Faen’s voice hissed low in Ushan’s ear. “We haveenemies gathering, Ushan. We need allies on the material plane if we are to protect our flanks.”
Lord Ushan clicked his fingers. Two of his serving girls brought a sedan chair to his side.
“The Queen of Wind and Woe was once Lolth’s mistress. If wehandled the dark queen, then we can handle her pet spider well enough.”
“We did not handle the dark queen! It was Nightshade.Only they have the secret!”
“Then if we give Nightshade what they want, we can trade. Youhave made your point, Faen.” The sedan chair turned away. “The wedding willproceed. Prepare your list of which court positions you want Clan Sable to abandon to the barbarians and present it to me tonight.”