4. Esther
ESTHER
Selena silently guides me through the castle as my mind reels. Her head is held high; she’s two inches taller than me, and two steps ahead.
I’ve known Selena for three years, and she is one of few whom I consider a friend. She turns down another corridor, the candlelight flickering against stone walls, and another lady-in-waiting stops to briefly dip her head and greet me.
“Why the fuck is she bowing to me?” I whisper.
“We were rounded up and advised that you would be the new heir to the throne, so perhaps you can explain to me what the fuck is happening?” she says with a sarcastic smile as she points to a wooden door. “This is your room.”
I stop in front of the door and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Has he gone mad? Is that it?”
Selena rolls her eyes and shoves me inside the room that is far too sizable and refined for my tastes. I immediately turn to run out the door, but she grabs me by the scruff of the neck. “Oh no, it’s too late for that. It’s my task to make sure you’re presentable from here on in.”
“And since when do you listen to others?”
She leans in with an insincere smile. “When it’s my job, Little Princess.
” This is why I like Selena. She harbors a disinterest in most and is very difficult to get close to, but she also possesses resounding wisdom and a sharp intellect that I quite enjoy, especially when she’s scathing at those who deserve it.
I unpeel her hand from my neck. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point. Just give me a second to catch my bearings,” I say as a million wild thoughts run through my mind.
The room is probably larger than the size of most upper-class citizens’ homes. And definitely overkill for someone like me who is used to living in a shared space with a mattress on the floor.
An opulent wooden bed that could fit two is positioned on the farthest wall.
A wooden desk and chair on the far left sit below the large bay window.
On the right stand three tall wooden frames that act as a changing chamber.
A private room simply to change my clothes, when I’m so used to changing in front of others.
The grandest in nature is the beauty station and stool directly across from me. Stocked with bottled lotions and an assortment of colored powders and inks for women to embellish their appearance—things I’ve never used before.
With unsteady legs, I walk over to the long rack to my right that has fine-material dresses on display. “What is this horseshit?”
I walk across the room, pulling back the curtain to open the bay window, letting the sunlight spill in because I feel far too claustrophobic.
I take a deep breath in, and when I look down, I watch the city come to life.
Marketeers are opening their stores. Two children play across the bridge, chasing after one another with laughter as their mother pursues and scolds them for being a nuisance.
Then I spot the convoy of Dahlia’s men below and immediately pull away from the window. Fuck, Dahlia is going to lose her mind. “Is Dahlia staying within the castle?”
Selena takes a seat at the edge of my bed, and I know she wouldn’t ordinarily be so daring if she was genuinely waiting on a real lady.
“You know she never stays here. But I bet she wishes she had now. I’ll have the bathing chamber attendants prepare you a bath.
First, we need to wash you. You look like you’ve been rolling among the pigs. ”
I frown. “That’s rude. I choose to have a private mud pile when I bathe.”
She shakes her head. “You’d best learn to keep that smart-ass attitude to yourself if you’re going to survive the next few weeks with this announcement.”
I feign offense. “But it’s the most redeeming quality I have.”
Selena doesn’t respond as she closes the door. This changes everything, and it feels like my chances of exploring past the walls become smaller by the day.
My throat marking burns, and Grimace appears, scuttling onto the beauty table. I immediately pick him up by the back of the neck before he can steal anything.
“Nice try, you little swindler,” I say as I come to sit cross-legged on the floor.
He tries to wriggle free, but the moment I put my face in my hands, he stops and sits upright on my knee, wide-eyed and seemingly worried.
My invisible chains drift out, testing the familiarity of Selena and Master Kain’s magic.
I’ve never seen Selena use her magic. Either because she doesn’t know how or she chooses not to.
I couldn’t imagine denying my magic. It is in every fiber of who I am, and must feel like cutting off a limb to ignore such a natural function.
But as much as I like her, she’s never divulged her secrets, and I have no need to know.
Besides, I make sure not to bind to other people’s magic, in case one day, someone is susceptible to feeling the subtlety of my intrusion. “Link,” I whisper, binding with Master Kain’s, and the moment I feel the cool sweep of the water magic, I fall into a familiar ease.
I pull water from the small vase with flowers in the corner of the room, producing five tiny water droplets over my fingertips, and begin juggling them contemplatively.
The door handle rattles, and the droplets immediately fall to the floor as Grimace evaporates into my throat, called back where he is hidden and safe as Selena walks in with a pitcher.
“Your bath is being prepared,” she says, frowning when she spots me on the floor. “Well, I certainly hope someone is going to teach you etiquette.”
I snort, shaking my head. “You know, I think Barbados set me up. Seems like everyone knew about this before me.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Do you think Blaze knew?” she asks as she comes to sit in front of me, cross-legged.
“No. If he knew, he definitely would’ve told me.”
“Hmm,” is all she says. She’s never taken a liking to any man, and I’m certain it has something to do with her time before living here. I once saw her bathing in a lake. Her chest was infected with deep red-raw crevasses, looking like a nasty curse.
A small pouch pokes out of her dress pocket, and I point to it curiously. “That looks ominous.”
She seems hesitant but pulls it out and stares at it thoughtfully.
“Did you know that when I first arrived, I hated King Kain. I hated everyone here. To a degree, I still do. But the first night I worked in the castle, he introduced himself personally and said something trivial about how the Fates work with Neina’s blessing. ”
I roll my eyes. “He’s always been superstitious like that.”
She nods in agreement. “However, he wasn’t entirely wrong.
I don’t think Neina controls the Fates, but who am I to question a god?
” she says as she holds out the bag. “But I’ve also heard the whispers of the Fates all my life.
And for whatever reason, whether because of the king’s influence or not, they’ve been screaming at me these last few months, and all of it has to do with you. ”
“Me?” My eyes grow wide as I notice the subtle shift in the room, the squirm of my chains that lazily lay around her, uneasy with the push and pull of her magic. It’s definitely water, but it’s so shoved down it feels like a dried-up well.
“Let me speak plainly, because if I don’t, the voices begin to make me feel crazy.” Selena offers me the satchel. “Open it and blow.”
Anyone who says they hear voices most likely is crazy. But I do as she says, catching glimpses of what looks like bone inside. I blow into the bag, expecting something to happen, but she simply takes it back.
“I won’t tell you my story or the nuance of secrets best kept at bay, and in doing so, I won’t pry into yours.” She has a pointed look that raises the hair on my arms. Does she know what I am? But how could she?
“Although long are the days since I’ve dwelled on my origins,” she continues, “my mother was a powerful greer who, it pains me to admit, turned down a twisted and dark road with her magic and power. But it was she who taught me how to fine-tune conversations with the Fates. But I haven’t done it for years.
” I shift uncomfortably, hindered by the understanding of what that dark beckoning feels like from within.
Shadows seem to dance in Selena’s eyes as she looks into the satchel.
“These are the only things I took from that place.”
She chants lowly, a type of magic I don’t understand, yet it does little to stir her magic.
Perhaps it really is the voices in her head she’s speaking to.
But not once have I ever thought of Selena as crazy, and I trust in my abilities so much that I have no right to doubt hers, if she believes in them.
She turns the satchel upside down, and bones scatter between us.
Some have taken on a yellowish tint, and a small odor rises from them.
One looks like a little creature’s skull, another is narrow and small, maybe a frog leg.
“I trust you not to share this with anyone. As I said, I’d much rather not show you at all, but the Fates can be as fickle as they can be punishing. I know too well what the consequence of not abiding to their whim is.”
Memories of her marred breasts come to mind, something I know I shouldn’t have seen, so I remain silent.
Besides, I’ve seen the oddity of those who claim to whisper directly to the Fates; they often use cards or see through crystal balls.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen bones used, and certainly the first time they’ve been offered to me.
Curiosity, as always, gets the better of me.
She points to the one in the center. “This bone points from me to you. Why do you need my help?”
I scoff. “I don’t need help. If anything, the king does if he thinks legally adopting me is a good decision.”
Her eyes narrow, and I sit more upright, the humor sucked out of me.
“My amphibian bones do not lie. Maybe not now, but in time, you will ask for my support. And whatever you’re dragging me into, I’d better get fair compensation.”
“The bones say that, do they?” I say, pointing to them, and she barely hides her smile.
“This symbol here”—she gestures to two bones of differing sizes sitting closely beside one another—“means family. Considering the circumstances, most likely the king. The frog skulls’ positioning, however, leans into the interconnectedness of life and death.
At times, transformation. The same with the fish bones in the way that they’re scattered.
There’s a lot of death around you,” she says, looking up at me, only having just realized she’s been leaning into the bones.
“Well, thanks a fucking lot. That sounds like I’m cursed.
” I try to awkwardly play it off, but an unease settles deep in my stomach.
All my life, death has surrounded me. What if I bring that plague here?
I know it deep within my bones, my very existence is an omen, and yet I feel like these bones are cursing me.
“The bones don’t lie, and what I hear, see, smell, and feel are no illusion.
Whatever is in store for you brings death.
But there is also rebirth in you.” She looks back at her bones and appears to be growing more uncomfortable.
“Heart. Two men.” She begins circling her fingers over the bones but closes her eyes. Her hands tremble.
“Selena, are you okay?” I ask, noticing the cold drift in the air, my invisible chains beginning to rattle as her finger starts to draw what looks like invisible symbols above the collected bones. “War.”
Her face scrunches as her fingers form a fist, sharp nails digging into her palms. I feel the pull on my magic like something is drawing us close. “Selena, what’s happening?” I lean over the bones and grab her shoulder, trying to shake her out of whatever the fuck is taking over right now.
The bones rattle under an eerie breeze, and I can feel old magic shift around us in a circle.
“They’ll all perish.” Her eyes open, and I immediately retract my hand, staring into purple eyes. Selena’s voice isn’t her own as her neck awkwardly juts out and her nose sniffs through the air.
“What have you done with Selena?” I demand of whatever this creature is that’s come forth. I don’t know if this is a curse or the so-called Fates she believes in.
Those purple eyes land on me, as if noticing me for the first time.
“It’s been some time since we’ve taken a body.
It displeases us.” She snaps her teeth. A small trail of blood oozes from her nose.
I’m tempted to link to Master Kain’s magic, but I don’t know what effects it’ll have on Selenas body if I use it against her.
“Then perhaps you should go to the depths of whatever fallen temple you came from?”
She clicks her tongue. “You think of us as an unworthy god?”
“I don’t give a fuck what you are. But it just so happens that the greer you’re inhabiting is one of few I actually like. So, you will give her back to me.”
The thing hums to itself contemplatively. “The bound one is most awfully rude.” I suck in a sharp breath, my eyes narrowing, spiteful of this thing that knows what I am. “But not bound for so long, and chaos will unfold. You’ll need us, smart-mouth girl, and we shall make you beg.”
I sneer. “I don’t beg, ever. Now get to your point.”
“Find us at the bottom of the sea. A deal will be struck. If not, they’ll all die.”
“Who—”
Selena falls forward, and I catch her. The chill in the air immediately evaporates.
She coughs into her hands and pulls back as she looks around the room. She brings the tips of her shaky fingers to her nose. “Those fuckers,” she curses under her breath.
“What was that?” I ask her, my jaw grinding at the ominous warning. Whatever it was, it’s problematic that they know what I am. Because once that knowledge is free, I’ll be hunted by every kingdom.
Selena looks into my eyes as she grits out, “The Fates come knocking from time to time. Sometimes more insistent than the last.”