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“How do they know he’s the only one that doesn’t come?”
Leyna opened her mouth, but hesitated, her brow furrowing. “I have no idea. That’s just how the story goes.”
“Perhaps the Gilded Ghostisbitter about not being included, but I don’t think he cares much for the dark ones, so it’s probably just as well.”
“Did he tell you that?” asked Leyna, eyes shining, eager for any tidbit of gossip from the walls of the castle.
“Oh yes. It isn’t such a secret. He and the Erlking are not fond of each other.”
A teasing smile came over Leyna’s cheeks. “You like him, don’t you?”
Serilda tensed. “What?”
“Vergoldetgeist. Your eyes turn extra gold when you talk about him.”
“They do?” Serilda pressed her fingers to the corner of her eye. She’d never heard of the golden wheels changing before.
“Isthata secret?”
“My eyes?”
“No!” Leyna laughed. “That you are taken with a ghost.”
Heat rushed into Serilda’s cheeks. “That’s silly. He’s helping me, is all.” She bent closer. “But I do have a secret, if you wish to hear it.”
Leyna’s eyes widened and she leaned in.
“I’ve decided to go into the castle tonight,” she said. “When the dark ones are all at their feast, I’m going to sneak in and see if I can find the Gilded Ghost and talk to him.”
“I knew it,” Leyna breathed. “I knew that was why you’d come today.” She bounced on the balls of her feet, though Serilda couldn’t tell if she was excited, or trying to keep warm as the sun sank into the lake. “How are you going to get past the feast?”
“I was hoping you might have some ideas.”
Leyna bit her lower lip, considering. “Well, if it were me—”
“Leyna!”
They both jumped and turned around. Serilda was sure they could not have looked any guiltier if they’d each been holding a piece of cake from the feast table.
“Hello, Mama,” said Leyna as her mother picked her way through the crowd.
“Professor Fairburg has got two more baskets to bring down. Run on and help her, would you?”
“Of course, Mama,” Leyna chirped before darting down the street.
Lorraine paused a few feet from Serilda. “I can’t say I’m surprised to see you back here again.” She smiled, but it wasn’t that same cheery, dimpled smile she’d had before. If anything, she seemed a bit frazzled. Which was to be suspected, Serilda supposed, given the occasion.
“Everyone seems so busy,” said Serilda. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Oh, we’re just about finished. Not a moment too soon, as per usual.” She nodded toward the horizon, where the sun was just kissing the distant city wall. “Every year I tell myself, I’ll be extra prepared. We’ll be ready by noon! But somehow, there’s always more to do than I think.”
As she spoke, another cart arrived carrying yet more hunting game—mostly rabbits, from what Serilda could see.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you until the full moon,” said Lorraine. She started to walk along the feast tables, adjusting platters and small clay vases full of herbs. “Has the Erlking requested your presence for the equinox as well?”
“Not exactly, no,” said Serilda. “But Leyna was telling me something of the feast, and I wanted to see it for myself. Besides, I have questions for the Erlking. And since he doesn’t seem interested in conversation on the nights of the full moon, when he is busy with the hunt, I thought this might be a better opportunity.”
The mayor froze and stared at her as if she’d started speaking another language. “You mean to … have a conversation? With the Erlking? During the Feast of Death?” She barked a laugh. “Oh, dearest! Do you not understand who he is? What he’s done? If you approach him tonight, of all nights, to … to ask questions?” She laughed again. “You’ll be asking him to skin you alive! To pluck out your eyeballs and feed them to the hounds. To tear your fingers off one by one and—”
