I am tired. I killed fourteen men today, and yet only now is it that I feel… unclean. It wasn’t like this before. Not in battle.
“How is that commendable?” Caroline asked.
“It means he’s a safe man. It means he would make an excellent husband.”
Kara dropped her hand in time to see Anne’s blue eyes widen in emphasis.
“Oh. Oh!” Caroline covered her mouth with embarrassment. “Oh…”
No one spoke again and the carriage continued its slow journey. Eventually it came to a stop at a two-storey grey-stone building at the south of the square. Green-tinted stained-glass windows gave the building an expensive look. Outside, guarding the door, stood a wide-shouldered man with a heavy wooden cudgel. On the lookout for thieves, Kara guessed.
Perhaps he will mistake me for Pia? That could be interesting.
“Come along, Kara. And stop grinning like that.” Anne looked at her with visible distress. “It’s… unnerving. The carriage and escort will wait for us.”
“It would have been quicker to walk,” Kara commented.
Caroline tittered behind her. Anne just stared for a moment, then spoke.
“That would not do,” she said icily. “You have much to learn if you wish to be a lady in court, Kara-Meir, very much.”
The door to Thessalia’s Fine Clothes led into a small passageway where a second door, stouter than the first, stood ajar. Inside stood a thin old woman with greying hair, and behind her waited a second woman-younger, with obvious similarities. Her hair was straight and blonde, her body thin and tall, her straight back and demeanour the sign of rigorous training.
Mother and daughter, Kara realised.
“Ah, the kind Thessalias,” Anne remarked as she led the way into the room. Kara stepped after her, her hand resting naturally upon her sword hilt. The chamber was large and square, with a multitude of dressed mannequins off to one side, and drawers filled with fabrics stacked all the way to the ceiling on the other.
“I hope you will be pleased with your gown for tonight, my lady,” the older Thessalia said, bowing quickly to Anne. Behind her, the daughter offered a curtsey which Anne acknowledged with a smile.
“I know it will be perfect, Madame Thessalia,” she said to the older woman. “Now, I need you both to turn your talents to this young woman. The King requires that she be well-presented at tonight’s dance.”
Madame Thessalia examined Kara with her piercing grey eyes, making her feel uneasy. She hummed to herself as she did so, taking her time. Every so often she would glance to one of the mannequins, and then back again. Sometimes she would shake her head and make a disappointed clucking sound with her tongue. Once she even wrinkled her face up, as if she had witnessed a dreadful accident.
“No, that won’t do,” she mused to herself. Kara caught sight of Anne’s face in one of the many full-length mirrors. She couldn’t be certain, but she believed the noblewoman was smirking. Then the older woman spoke.
“With such a short notice it will be a rather rushed job I am afraid, my lady,” Madame Thessalia warned. “Many of my best gowns have been sold already for tonight, of course.”
“Perhaps she should bathe first, mother?” the younger Thessalia said innocently. “I can ask Rupert to prepare the tub upstairs.”
Anything to get me away from those eyes, Kara thought. “I think that is an excellent idea,” she said aloud. “I haven’t had a chance to bathe, and I would like to do so. Now.”
The mother nodded and the daughter led Kara upstairs. The rest of the group followed.
Surely they are not going to watch me bathe, as well?
“I am sorry to have to inform you of some bad news, Lady Anne,” Kara heard Madame Thessalia say behind her.
Hopefully you’ll have left a pin in her gown.
Kara found herself smiling again. She turned to deliver the most unnerving grin she could summon. Her efforts were rewarded as Anne looked quickly away.
“Yes,” the dressmaker continued, “I am afraid that one of my suppliers-a tailor-passed away very suddenly.” She hummed uncomfortably. “It seems as if he and his family fell to the plague. I believe his wife has been isolated. It means that the mink gloves you ordered won’t be ready on time.”
Kara didn’t hear Anne’s response as she turned the corner in the stairs and emerged into the bathing room. Green light, filtered through the stained-glass windows, gave the room a natural ambience. Comfortable chairs were arrayed in the manner of a private lounge, and an unfamiliar yet attractive fragrance caused her to breathe in deeply. Upon each side of her, the room was broken up by two wooden screens. Behind the one to her left she heard the splash of water being emptied from a bucket into a bath.
“Rupert?” the younger Thessalia called. A young man appeared from behind the bathing screen. “The lady will take her bath now. Go and fuel the stove.”
Rupert bowed nervously and disappeared down the stairs as the daughter took Kara’s satchel from her shoulder and placed it carefully on a three-legged stool beneath the window.
“Remove your clothing and take your bath,” she instructed. “Go behind the screen if you wish to be modest.”
Anne settled upon the nearest chair, inspecting the cushion before she did so. She shot Kara a look of impatience. To her right sat Caroline, who occupied herself by looking over an open drawer of dyed fabrics.
Am I boring you ladies?
Caroline looked up, and she gasped.
“Oh!”
For Kara was swiftly undressing. She had thrown her cloak down onto the stool, quite deliberately draping it over her satchel. Her shirt followed, and then she reached for her leggings.
“Oh,” Lady Caroline said again, covering her mouth. “Oh, gosh…”
Anne’s eyes met Kara’s coldly as she dropped her leggings onto her shirt. There was nothing left for her to remove. She held only her sword, still in its scabbard.
“Modesty is only a fool’s pride, Lady Anne,” she said lightly. “It is the first casualty when you hunt murderers in The Wilderness for weeks on end,” she added with relish. “I have bathed in lakes and rivers under the sun and stars while my friends kept an eye out for enemies. Now I will take my bath, and I will take my sword with me, for I don’t like leaving it out of reach. It’s a habit of mine.”
The tub was enormous, and Kara sank into the hot water gratefully. She rested her hands on the copper rim. Steam rose from the surface and condensation dripped from a fogged mirror that hung on the wall to her immediate right, above a slate shelf. Next to the tub sat a small stool. She could feel the heat rising from below, for Rupert, downstairs, would be piling wood into a stove that would keep the water warm.
I just hope he knows how much wood to put in, or else I will boil. Despite that, the water felt wonderful on her skin.
The older Thessalia was saying something beyond the screen, but Kara didn’t catch it. Her daughter made a remark, and then Anne replied with a sharp tone. As ever, Caroline giggled. Kara could imagine the dark-eyed pretty girl with her hand over her mouth again.
The conversation ended as one or both of the Thessalias opened drawers and lifted cloth from cupboards. Basking now in the warmth, Kara was content to let them get on with it. Her muscles needed a soak, and she had looked forward to a bath for some days now.
She peered at the slate shelf below the mirror. A dozen bottles with granules of varying colours were lined up, ready for use. Kara didn’t know whether to eat them or pour them into the water. She picked up one with a red colour and a cherry scent, and suddenly she had a vision of running out into the room after smearing it around her mouth and face, grinning insanely and holding her sword aloft, waving it at Anne.
How she would scream.