Chapter 46
The show ends with deafening applause.
Underneath the stage, beams crisscross, keeping the stage intact above us while we pad silently through the alcove.
Although there’s enough noise from the stage crew’s bustling footsteps that I’m not sure they’d hear us even if we weren’t being quiet.
There’s a door on the other end of the stage, one that leads back up to where the actors are now chatting above us, but we don’t bother with it.
The Nomad had informed us beforehand that the blueprints of the playhouse showed multiple entry points, for when actors needed to enter the undercroft straight from their dressing rooms, in case a quick costume change was necessary that left no time for a margin of error.
We wait until the crowd of actors above us breaks apart, then follow the voice of the lead back to her dressing room, which, according to the blueprints, should be adjacent to the Sister’s room.
“Your Excellence, there are two guests who wish to see you,” says a servant’s voice from above, the room adjacent to the lead’s dressing room.
“It’s been a long night, and I’m ready to retire,” says a cloying voice that makes my skin crawl.
I don’t know why I’d been expecting her to sound like the Middle Sister, voice deep and sultry. No, this voice is just as intentionally sensuous, but higher, girlish, in a way that almost sounds unnatural.
“They wish to have their fate read,” says the crew member.
“I said that I’m tired.”
“Very well. But they’re leaving tomorrow morning, and one of them—the fate he wants read—it’s with the Princess of Irethden.”
A pause from above. Then, “Does he have a tattoo of a dragon wing on his face?”
My skin crawls at the thought of the Sister already knowing exactly who Acel is. Has she seen in his tapestry the fact that he’s working with us?
The Nomad hadn’t thought so. He’d said her tapestries were woven to be hyper-focused on romance, and that Acel’s tapestry was more likely to show a vague rendering of him going away for a while to obtain more money, but that it would be more focused on the time he fell in love with the princess, as well as his love confession after returning grandly with a medallion.
That’s assuming we succeed.
The crew member must nod, because the Sister says, “Very well, let them in.”
The door above creaks and a pair of footsteps take the place of the crew member’s.
“Ah, I wondered if you would come to see me, Acel,” says the Sister, but her tone immediately sharpens. “And who are you?”
Next to me, I can feel the Nomad holding his breath. Phoenix’s lie hinges on the hope that the Sister is so wrapped up in romance alone that she won’t question it.
“A colleague,” says Phoenix. “I once worked at the palace with Acel.”
When the Sister speaks, I don’t miss the jealousy tinging her voice. Is she jealous for herself, or on the princess’s behalf? “And what is your relationship with the queen’s bodyguard?”
“Transactional,” says Phoenix, blandly. “I was fired from my position after the queen realized I had overheard a rather sensitive conversation between Acel and the princess.”
“Surely you weren’t fired for simply overhearing it,” says the Sister, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“Perhaps I attempted to make a profit off of the information,” says Phoenix. “Is that a crime?”
“In most kingdoms, yes,” says Acel, sounding agitated.
I glance over to the Nomad, who looks pleased with their performance.
“One must do what they must do to make a way for themselves in this cruel world,” says the Eldest Sister, sounding much less hostile to Phoenix now that she’s sensed Acel’s contempt for her in his voice. “Let me guess? After you were fired, you took your blackmail straight to sweet Acel here?”
“We had a common interest,” says Phoenix.
“Indeed, riches is one of the most common interests, although it rarely brings people together for long. So you help Acel obtain enough coin to purchase his medallion, and he gives you the remainder of the sum to live off of?”
Phoenix doesn’t answer.
“I always wondered how you managed to get it,” says the Sister.
“If my Middle Sister had woven your tapestry, I’m certain it would have included those details.
And likely a terribly grave end for you and the princess.
Or worse. She might have paired you two together,” says the Sister, obvious disgust in her voice.
“So we do end up together, then?” asks Acel, his voice trembling, and I know in my heart it has nothing to do with acting. “The princess and…” The man can’t even bring himself to say it, to put himself in the same sentence as the woman he loves.
“You end up with no princess,” she says, her voice still sweet.
A silence bridges the room. The Nomad and I snap our gazes at each other. My heart sinks for Acel, for the silence emanating from above us.
We need to move, signs the Nomad.
Leaving feels like dragging myself away from Acel, away from being there to comfort him, but it’s not as if I can do anything from down here. And besides, how the Nomad will be thinking of it is that Acel’s devastation will provide us with more distraction than we could have ever hoped for.
So we climb over to where the Sister’s closet is, where there is yet another trapdoor. The Nomad reaches up and inserts the key he snagged from the windowless room.
My ears are still homed in on Acel, who is saying, “What do you mean…”
The lock clicks, and soon the Nomad is hoisting me on his shoulders up through the floor. The closet is dark, lit only by a slat between the boards of the closet. A sliver of light that lands on a safe.
I press my ear to it and my fingers to the knob, then feel the hum of the lock back at me as I turn. I try to focus, but it’s as if one ear is on the lock and the other on Acel.
“Does she end up married off to another prince?” His voice is pained.
“Not that,” says the Sister, suddenly sounding bored.
“Then…” Acel sighs. “Then she remains in Irethden.” The relief in his voice is palpable, and I ache for the man who would settle for just being in proximity to the woman he loves for the rest of his life.
“Oh, no. Not that,” says the Sister, her laugh cruel. “By the end of the year, there will be no Princess of Irethden.”
The lock in the safe clicks, and it seems so loud compared to the silence in the room next to us, I’m astonished no one hears it.
It’s Phoenix who speaks next. “You say it as if you enjoy his pain. I thought you were supposed to be a romantic.”
“My dear,” says the Sister. “Their ending is romantic.”
I can’t help but think of the screams I heard at the end of the play.
Oh, no.
Another click, and the safe door swings open. Inside is a wooden box, but before I can look at it, Acel says, “I came all this way…”
Which is the code phrase we’d come up with beforehand for “she’s noticed you.”
She must have heard the click. My heart pounds, and I shove the box into my belt purse. There was supposed to be a tapestry in here as well, one that I’m supposed to grab for Acel, but the closet is packed with clutter, no tapestry in sight.
A moment later, the closet door swings open. I whirl around and come face-to-face with the woman of my nightmares.
Shadows swarm her, just like they do her Sister, and for a single moment, I’m back on that dreadful island, and I’m clutching my throat because I’m screaming but no sound is coming out.
“Acel, run!” screams Phoenix.
Footsteps pound from inside the Sister’s room.
The Sister stares down at me, and in her sickeningly sweet voice says, “Have you killed him yet?”
A moment later, the floorboards break out from underneath me, the Nomad’s grip tight on a crowbar. The next, I’m in the Nomad’s arms, and he’s carrying me, running.
Phoenix, I try to sign.
But then above us, something explodes.
Fire races through the playhouse, and so do we.
Confusion swarms my head, but all I can hear is the Eldest Sister’s voice ringing in my head.
Have you killed him yet?