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I slipped in through the back door, weaving through the disinterested servants. As I made my way toward the back staircase, someone called, “Milady! Milady!”
I cringed and glanced over my shoulder, just in case they weren’t calling for me. But it was Amity who was trying to get my attention; she hurried out of the bustling kitchens. “Milady! Are you all right?” She raised her eyebrows at the cloak, then wrinkled her nose. “What on earth is this?”
Oh, gods. I hadn’t even thought about that—the Nightfall wolves were so sensitive, did she smell the king? Did all the servants know that I had—
“That smells like you pulled it out of a river!” she exclaimed. “What on earth happened?”
Rue appeared from the kitchens, too. They corralled me into the laundry room and closed the latch behind me. There, Amity took the cloak with her nose wrinkled in disgust. Amity dressed me in a clean servant’s dress, pulled from the closet in the laundry room, and a plain shawl which I pulled over my dirty hair. I didn’t want anyone to recognize me as I made my way back to my room. The fewer people knew about this, the better.
My maidservants and I made it back to my room thankfully undisturbed. Once Amity had locked the door behind me, she took the shawl and sighed. “We were so worried last night, milady,” she said. “We heard what happened at the ball.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll explain.”
“You needn’t explain,” Rue said, “we’re just glad you’re all right.”
That only made me feel worse. “Thank you,” I said quietly. “Would you mind if I took a bath?”
“Of course not,” Amity said. “Rue, would you fetch Lady Reyna some breakfast?”
“Certainly.” Rue opened the door, then shifted back into her wolf form to traverse the halls.
Amity ran the bath, and I shed the servant’s dress and climbed in gratefully. The heat immediately soothed my sore muscles. I hurried to wash off the dirt and sweat that had accumulated from the running. There was even dirt under my toenails. Once the worst of it was off, and I was soaking, Amity poured clean hot water over my hair and began to carefully work her fingers through the tangles.
“Are you sure you’re all right, milady?” she asked. “I don’t mean to pry, but the girls in the kitchen said you looked a bit frightened when you left the ball yesterday.”
“That’s a polite way of putting it,” I murmured. Frightened was an understatement. I’d felt crazed when I’d barreled out of the private room—I couldn’t imagine how I looked, wild-eyed and snapping my jaws as I frantically searched for the exit.
Ugh. I’d have to face the council again. The thought made my stomach turn.
But word had traveled fast around the servants. If gossip moved like that…maybe they knew something.
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked.
“It’s a major part of the job,” Amity said. “Of course.”
“Something strange happened last night,” I said. “I think someone drugged me.”
Her hands stilled briefly, and then continued working. “Why do you think so?” she asked.
Rue stepped into the bathroom. “Milady, would you like a coffee while you soak?”
“Oh, yes, please,” I said. I took the warm mug gratefully from her hands and took a sip as Amity’s skilled fingers continued to work through my hair. Rue, sensing something in the conversation, lingered.
“I only had a single glass of wine,” I continued, “but it made me sick. Dizzy. And it loosened my tongue far too much. But it was brought to me, specifically, a single glass.”
Amity and Rue exchanged a glance.
“What is it?” I asked. “Do you two have an idea of who might do this? It had to be—it had to be something. It couldn’t be just the wine. I don’t drink much, but this wasn’t just drunkenness. It was something else.”
Amity rinsed the shampoo from my hair. Rue sighed.
“Please,” I said. “I just—I’m just afraid.”
“I don’t know for sure,” Rue said, “but I heard people talking. About Ulfric trying to do something like this.”
“Ulfric?” I asked.
“A cousin of Rona’s,” Amity said.
