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Julita lets out a satisfied hum.Feel the notches on the backside of the knob? Press the bottom one twice, then the right one once, then the top, then the bottom again.
When I’ve followed the pattern, I’m rewarded with another click. I ease the door open.
Julita’s bedroom looks about as jumbled as my mind feels with her bustling around in it. Silk and satin dresses sprawl across every available surface, including the polished wooden floor with its flower-print rug. By contrast, the wardrobe standing with its door ajar across from the four-poster bed appears to be all but empty.
“Is this—?” I start to ask, tensing up at the thought of someone having ransacked the place.
Julita lets out a giggle that sounds just slightly sheepish.I wasn’t expecting visitors. I always say it’s easier to find what I’m looking for when everything’s on display.
Ah, so this is her mess, not some intruder’s. I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.
Although considering that my own bedroom of sorts is mostly disorganized heaps of books, maybe I’m not in a position to judge.
“Is anything out that shouldn’t be?” I ask. “Or anything missing that should be here?”
Take a walk around and let me check everything.
I meander through the chamber, hopping over crumpled dresses here and there. Julita has me open her wardrobe all the way, lift the lid of her well-stocked jewelry box, tug back the soft sheets on the bed, and delve into the drawers on the bedside tables.
When I’ve investigated every nook and cranny, she makes a disgruntled sound.I don’t see any sign that anyone’s been in here. Surely they’d have wanted to search to see what proof I’d already found?
“Maybe they’re afraid they won’t be able to sneak in without getting caught,” I point out. “They did wait to attack you until you were well away from the college.”
True… It was strange. There must have been magic involved. It happened so fast it’s a blur. I was walking along, and this blast of wind smacked into me, and then that horrible pain lanced through my neck… If I’d managed to turn around in time, maybe I could have seen them, and we wouldn’t need to be digging through my laundry.
I frown. “Someone who can manipulate wind. They used it to distract you? There can’t be too many people here with that specific gift.”
I don’t know of anyone. It could have been merely a coincidence that the wind picked up at the same time.She hisses as if through her teeth.I should have mentioned that to the men so they could at least look into it. This whole situation is so… disorienting.
“We could go back to the meeting?” I suggest, as much as my body tenses at the idea.
No, they’ll have gone their separate ways by now. Maybe—
“Julita, is that you?”
The tart feminine voice carries through the door, and my stance goes outright rigid with a skip of my pulse. I hadn’t realized anyone had come into the common room, but one of Julita’s dormmates must have noticed my voice.
There’s a sharp rap on the door.
Go on,Julita says.If you pretend you’re not here, it’ll be so much more awkward when we need to leave.
I square my shoulders and dart over to the door. “Just a moment!”
As I twist the knob, I push my mouth into an ingratiating smile and yank.
A woman tall and sleek as a sapling stands just outside, her flaxen hair piled in an elaborate whorl on top of her head and her wide-set eyes narrowing at the sight of me.
I bring out my most chipper tone before she can speak. “Not Julita. Only a friend picking up something she needed. She’s handling a project out of town. She lent me her bracelet so I could get in.”
I hold up my wrist to reveal it.
The woman’s lips curl with a hint of a sneer. She rotates the partly eaten apple she’s holding between her fingers. “Out of town? Where’s she slunk off to?”
I keep my smile in place despite the hostility in the words. “Oh, I’m not totally sure. I’m supposed to send it on to her near our hometown. As soon as possible, so I’d better get going.”
If this woman hears about Julita’s death and wonders about my odd visit, I expect to be well away from anywhere anyone would be looking for a noble visitor by then.
As I step out and shut the bedroom door behind me, the woman takes another bite of her apple and peers down her nose at me. “Fine. When you see her, tell her I expect the jewelry she borrowed to be returned the very first second she sets foot back at the college.”
