But now the food tasted like the dredge of a river when I thought about Nani and Safiyya out there, running from the Citadel. When I was reminded that my mother had likely died here, and I was trying to accomplish what she couldn’t.
I forced myself to chew and swallow, washing the food down with the same dark liquid Kiyan consumed liberally.
“When do we go after it?” I finally managed to ask.
“After the Salt festival,” the Viceroy said, looking up and interrupting our conversation, as if he’d been listening this whole time. I turned toward him, but Kiyan didn’t even look in his direction. Instead, he took another long drink.
“After that, we will use the map to find the dead Queen’s crown. After all, I must have a matching set.” He gestured to his chest, the shirt open again at the collar, the pieces of gold jutting out from his skin.
I was curious about the golden crown that was fused to his chest, so much that it felt physically painful not to ask about it. They had no idea I was from across the wall, and it might look odd asking questions about a fae crown I was supposed to know about. I had never seen a relic embedded in the skin of another like that, and it was fascinating in the most macabre of ways. If I had the power to do something like that, I would certainly make my mother’s bangles a permanent fixture on my arm.
He had mentioned the Salt festival before, and I knew it was soon because we had been preparing for it in the kitchens before I had been arrested. Which meant that I had very little time to come up with a plan to steal the crown and escape.
At the end of dinner, the Viceroy stood and gave me a brief nod. “You’ll use your magic to search the rest of the books in the palace. If there is anything else worth noting, you will bring it to me.” The tone of his voice conveyed a vague threat, as if he were saying to me,or you won’t like what will happen if you don’t.
If we knew the location of the crown, then we usually didn’t need anything else, but knowing the ancient Queen’s vaults as I did, it was always a good thing to be prepared. If I could find any mention of her traps and obstacles, then that would help us.
With any luck, I’d find out more information about the vault, and how it was built. I gave a sidelong look at the Viceroy, but he was already walking away from the dining hall. Instead, it was the captain who caught my eye, our gazes locking with such intensity my arms prickled with awareness.
If you ever try to escape, I will find you.
It seemed like it wasn’t the Viceroy I had to worry about, but the fae sitting beside me. If I managed to steal the crown, something told me Kiyan would not let me go easily.
* * *
While the palace prepared for the festival, I spent most of my time poring over the books and using my magic to have free reign of the palace libraries. It was almost a dream come true to have unfettered access to tomes of ancient fae books and histories, but all I could think about was the map I’d found and the crown that was waiting for me. I wanted to take a closer look at the map, but the Viceroy kept it in a small golden locket around his neck at all times. He also had guards stationed at my door, following my every move, so trying to steal the map wasn’t possible. And even if I did, I likely couldn’t navigate the River Court on my own. So that left finding the crown with the Viceroy’s help until I could steal it for my own.
When I started to feel cross-eyed from reading ancient fae texts, I went in search of Mishah in the kitchens. She hadn’t said a word about my confession in the dungeon, and sometimes I wondered if I had even dreamed it all up.
Occasionally I caught her watching me oddly, as if sizing up our differences, and I knew she was thinking about what I’d told her, and that she wanted to ask me about being from the other side of the River.
If she had asked, I would have answered. It was almost a relief to tell someone who I really was, to have someone in this land know me.
And if there was one person I could trust in this place, it was her.
I helped her in the kitchens with preparations for the Salt Festival in my free time, so that I didn’t just have the guards at my door for company. We prepared spice mixes, marinated river crocodile, yak meat and baby goat for roasting, and rolled out dough until late into the evening, spending the following day filling it with a spiced potato and vegetable mixture that made my mouth water.
At night I was “invited” to dine with the Viceroy and Kiyan, which sounded as if I was his esteemed guest, with the exception that I was escorted by my guards, forced to dress up in an outfit picked out for me, and be gawked at by a hundred members of the Court.
But the food... I never got tired of the food.
Seared cubes of salty cheese atop spicy peppers and jasmine-scented long rice filled my dreams. Mango puddings and sticky, sweet desserts laced with cardamom and roses made my mouth water. Vermicelli rice soaked in milk and garnished with fruit, raisins, and dates, and sweet halva reminded me of everything Astolans didn’t have with every mouthful I ate.
When I felt frustrated or guilty, I had to remind myself that every second at the palace was a second closer to the crown. That every minute I was here, was a chance at getting back to my grandmother and Safiyya and fulfilling what my mother had set out to do.
That evening was the start of the Salt Festival, and there was another obscene frock laid out on my bed, this time an ice blue color covered in silvery crystals reminiscent of the uniform Kiyan and the Salt Guards wore. I had begun to dread every time I had to get ready for dinner, bile rising to my throat as I dressed in the latest outfit the Viceroy had chosen for me. To accompany the dress was a mask covered in crystals, giving the impression that my face was crusted in salt as well as my dress. My lip curled when Gul tried to put the mask on my face and over my spectacles. It wouldn’t fit and when she tried to remove my spectacles in favor of the mask, I swatted her hand away.
In the end she snorted and tossed it on the bed.
I had become a tool to be used by the Viceroy, just like I had been for the Citadel. Let him look at my real face when he used me. I certainly wanted to be able to see his.
At dinner, the Viceroy wore his own mask made of crystals, the silver frame of a scorpion gracing his face. His eyes swept my outfit as I was led to the table, narrowing on my spectacles on the edge of my nose. Kiyan was already seated beside him, and blinked rapidly when he saw me, turning his head away the moment I sat down.
“Any developments today?” the Viceroy asked, his voice smooth and affable, a too-pleasant smile on his face that set my teeth on edge.
I knew I had to be careful with handling him, the same way I spoke to the excavators from the Citadel, who looked down at me like I was a slug beneath their boots.
So, I did the same thing with him that I did to the excavators—attempted to bore them to death.
