She nodded, worry still ever present in her eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay? I watched you look every bit the seasoned swordsman this morning as you defeated a man twice your size, yet this meeting seems to have filled you with dread.”
My chest rose with a deep breath as I tried to paint my face with my proper princess facade. Her worry spoke to the good-nature of her heart, but it wasn’t something I needed to burden her with. “All will be well. I’ll see you later.”
I didn’t waste another second, knowing I was already pushing it with the time that was needed to bathe and ready myself for this meeting. Tillie was going to have her hands full helping me, and I prepared myself for a good chiding from her.
Ensuring my face was covered with my hood, I escaped to the back stairs that spiraled up to the west wing. Upon reaching my door and hearing Tillie letting out a string of curses about my absence, I settled the palm of my hand on my stomach and took deep, calming breaths.
Despite what I told Mira, I had a sickening feeling that this meeting was going to change everything.
Chapter Three
SIYANA
“Willyou just keep your head straight for one more second!” the fiery redhead I claimed as my best friend growled, stabbing me in the skull with a hairpin in the process.
“Ow, Tillie!” I exclaimed, sending her a withering look in the mirror in front of us. “Why do you have to be so cruel to my hair?”
As the second person I considered a friend and confidant, she’d always been privy to the knowledge of my training with Brenson, encouraging me on the days I had wanted to give up in the beginning. So I knew her mood wasn’t due to my morning training session.
Her hazel eyes rolled in response to my pouting as she stabbed me with another pin, cinching a long strand into place atop my head. “Oh shut it, Sia. You didn’t flinch when I cleaned off and bandaged your wound from this morning, yet a hair pin will be your demise?”
I grumbled about that being entirely different and she talked right over me.
“It’s your fault that we didn’t have time to wash and dry your hair properly. I’m having to work magic on your messy wavesthis morning! I mean, seriously, what did you expect when you spent your time with Mira this morning?”
There it was.
I tried to bite my lip to keep my shit-eating grin to myself but failed when she narrowed her eyes at me in the reflection. It was just too much fun to rile her.
“Do you have something you’d like to say to me, Sia?” she asked in a saccharine sweet voice, holding a pin in the air.
I mimed closing my mouth and throwing out the key, shaking my head.
Stab.
I winced. Well if she wasn’t going to drop it, neither was I.
“I just find it funny,” I mused, reaching for my cup of tea resting on the vanity. “I’ve never seen this jealous side of you.”
She leaned down to inspect her work in the mirror, picking at a few strands to give them more volume. “I told you, I’m not jealous, I just don’t know how someone managed to convince you to become your lady-in-waiting in record time, when your entire life you’ve denied the other candidates presented to you.”
I blew on the piping-hot liquid, it steaming as I raised the cup to my lips. My eyebrows rose just before I whisper-sang, “Jealousssssss.”
I’d already made it abundantly clear that Mira hadn’t asked for the job, therefore she didn’t convince me of anything. I’d freely offered the position. Harping on that fact was only going to start our argument back up, though, so I didn’t bother correcting her. In the end, all she was concerned about was my safety and being used by someone, so I couldn’t begrudge her that. I would have done the exact same as her if the situation were somehow reversed.
I let out a huff. I actually would have been an absolute menace in comparison.
Although Tillie was stuck with me by blood as my cousin, I’d claimed her soul in this life and the next. I could never replace her, but it was amusing to see her hackles rising when I filled her in on Mira and the young woman’s new appointment.
“Don’t you have a meeting to get to?” she countered with a raise of her eyebrow as she stood to her full height, popping a hand on her hip.
My mood dipped instantly. I’d mulled it over every which way while in the tub and had come to the conclusion that the meeting had to be in regards to the talk of war with the undine. There was nothing else of importance that would garner such discretion. Had my father found allies from the other kingdoms? It seemed unlikely, so I pushed away the hope that threatened to blossom in my chest.
“I don’t like being kept in the dark and walking into something I’m not prepared for,” I murmured, putting my tea down as I rose to get dressed. “Am I overthinking this?”
As she grabbed the soft blue gown laid out for me, I slipped off my robe. Her head shook as she approached and I raised my arms to assist.
“It’s unsettling,” she agreed, tossing the dress over my head. “If it is concerning a war, it could just be to protect whoever is offering us assistance as an ally?”
