“Would it not be better to trace them by the slipper?” Lakshmi touched her bodice, as though reassuring herself the little garment was still where she’d left it.
“It would be as good,” Jimena conceded, “but not better. Where do you find the beginning of a circle, my dear?”
“Why …” Lakshmi gazed off into space a moment, thinking. “Anywhere!”
“Exactly.” Jimena nodded, settling back in her hourglass chair. “And Lady Eldori will start us as well as your babe’s bootie. Come in, milady!”
Lady Eldori entered with furtive glances at Lakshmi. Ramon rose in respect.
“Please sit, my lord,” Lady Eldori said automatically. She glanced at Lakshmi and tilted her chin up with a sniff of scorn for the scantiness of the guest’s attire.
Jimena said, “Lady Eldori, may I present the Princess Lakshmi.”
Lady Eldori stared, then, flustered, dropped a curtsy. “Your Highness! My pardon for not recognizing your exalted station!”
“Granted,” Lakshmi said, amused.
With a nervous glance at her, Lady Eldori turned to her mistress. “What further help can I be, Lady Mantrell?”
“Only to repeat what you spoke before our interruption, milady,” Jimena said. “Whose turn was it to care for the prince and princess when the castle was under attack?”
“The Lady Violette’s, as I said—and she is not here.”
“Have you searched while we dealt with the disturbance?”
The disturbance, sitting next to her, blushed.
“We have, milady.” Lady Eldori lifted her chin again. “She is not to be found.”
Jimena frowned. “Nowhere within the castle?”
“Nowhere at all.” Lady Eldori‘s voice was heavy with censure. “Not in her apartments, nor in the nursery, nor anywhere that we can find.”
“So the children’s nursemaid has disappeared with them?” Lakshmi asked, wide-eyed.
“I would not have put it that way, Your Highness,” Lady Eldori said, “but that is the gist of it, yes.”
Lakshmi turned to Jimena, frowning. “Why would the kidnapper take the nursemaid also?”
“Perhaps because she clasped the children to her,” Jimena suggested.
“There is a less pleasant possibility,” Ramon said in a somber tone.
All three women turned to him, bracing themselves. “What is that, my husband?” Jimena asked.
“It may be that Lady Violette is herself the kidnapper,” Ramon said.
Jimena and Lady Eldori stared, taken aback, but Lakshmi’s eyes narrowed. “I should have seen that.”
“But … but why would a lady-in-waiting steal her own charges?” Lady Eldori protested.
Ramon shrugged. “As I remember, she is young and unwed. Perhaps a handsome gentleman played upon her affections—or a less handsome one upon her greed.”
A shadow crossed Lady Eldori’s face. “She had a great fondness for fine gowns and other luxuries …”
“And a yearning for freedom?” Ramon suggested. “Life within these castle walls might seem confining to a young woman still in her teens. The promise of money and the freedom to enjoy the pleasures it could buy might persuade her.”
“She is young and foolish,” Lady Eldori snapped. “Such fripperies might move her indeed.”
Storm clouds gathered in Lakshmi’s face.
To avert the blast, Jimena said quickly, “Let us discover where she has gone, then—and trust we shall find her alive.”
Lakshmi spun to her, appalled. “I had not stopped to think … but of course …”
“That Lady Violette might have died in defense of her charges, and her body hidden so that we should waste time searching for her?” Jimena nodded. “Still, do not be too quick to pity her, Highness—we may yet find her alive, well, and enjoying the fruits of her treachery.”
Lakshmi’s face hardened. “We may indeed! Bring me some article that belonged to this woman—clothing, or a kerchief, or something else that touched her body.”
Lady Eldori stared in confusion, but Ramon only observed, eyes kindling with interest, and Jimena turned to the lady-in-waiting and nodded. “Find something of the sort, Lady Eldori, and bring it to us, if it pleases you.”
“It will most assuredly please me!” Lady Eldori bustled out the door.
She was back in two minutes with a handkerchief, and presented it to Lakshmi with a curtsy. “Will this do, Highness?”
Lakshmi sniffed the square of linen, then nodded. “It has still her scent, and has not been laundered since last she used it. It will do admirably.” She turned to Jimena. “May I see the nursery?”
“Of course.” Jimena rose and led the way.
The emptiness of the room still tugged at her heart, and at Lakshmi‘s, too, to judge by the tears that filled her eyes. But she blinked them away and waved a hand over the handkerchief, fingers writhing in intricate gestures, and chanted a verse in Arabic.
Footprints glowed, brightening slowly on the floor and the carpet.
Lady Eldori gasped. Ramon and Jimena blinked, and wished they understood Arabic.
“Let us see where she has gone.” Lakshmi paced the footprint-trail from the doorway. The marks of the noble nursemaid’s shoes went in and out the door several times and here and there about the chamber, as anyone’s caring for small children would. Lakshmi picked up a brightly colored ball and gestured over it, reciting her spell, and tiny footprints glowed, too, here and there about the chamber. Finally, though, the lady’s trail led to one set of small footprints, which ceased, then to the other, which also ceased.
“Here she picked them up.” Ramon pointed.
“And there she went with them.” Lakshmi traced the path to the door, her face grim.
“She did steal them!” Lady Eldori went pale, and Jimena, looking at her, could see she hadn’t really believed in the possibility until then.
“Follow,” Lakshmi snapped, and paced alongside the footprints as they left the room.
Ramon and Jimena came after. With professional curiosity, Ramon murmured, “How can she know these footprints are only a few hours old? Surely Lady Violette has come and gone from that chamber a thousand times!”
“No doubt the spell limited the trail to that duration,” Jimena answered. “Perhaps Lakshmi commanded only the most recent footprints to show.”
Ramon nodded and followed.
Down the stairs they went, out the door and into the courtyard. When the trail led to the postern gate, Ramon called for horses and a dozen soldiers.
Accompanied by the small troop, they rode out of the castle and down into the city. Jimena reflected that it must have been only courtesy that kept Lakshmi riding by their side when she could have drifted like smoke over the trail far faster than they rode. She seemed quite at home on horseback, though her mount wasn’t anywhere nearly so calm—it rolled its eyes and fought the bit, wanting to run from the very creature it carried.
“Animals always know when magic is about,” Jimena commented.
“Their instincts are sure,” Ramon agreed, and wondered about the stray cat who had visited the castle so recently. Had she left because of the taint of magic about Matt’s person?
The footprints sprang into light a dozen yards before Lakshmi and died out a dozen yards behind. She followed them unerringly, right down the main street of the town. The sergeant of their troupe pushed his horse to the fore, riding ahead and calling, “Make way! For Lord and Lady Mantrell, make way! For the Princess Lakshmi, make way!”
The townsfolk cleared the road with amazing speed.
“They all know we are wizards,” Jimena said with a smile, “and wish to have as little to do with magic as possible.”