Chapter 16 #2
“Yaseema,” I replied as I hurried alongside her. I didn’t see any point in using a made-up name here. It’s not as if they would know me, and I didn’t think I’d be so good at pretending that I would remember to answer to another name.
“What part of River are you from?” she asked, rearranging the packages and taking a discreet look at my skirt and waistcoat, as if she couldn’t imagine where I would be from wearing the clothes I was.
I had no idea how to answer her. I knew nothing about Peristan’s geography.
“I lived with a fae family not far from here,” I said noncommittally, hoping that was enough to satisfy her curiousity. “Where are you from?”
“Herabad. Close to the low mountains.”
I nodded and filed the information away: Herabad. Mountains.
We were weaving through the halls of the palace now, and I was struggling to process everything.
Tapestries depicting great battles I’d never heard of or seen lined the walls, and creatures ran past us with either tails or horns or both.
One person who definitely looked like she was half human, half snow leopard, swished past us with a look of disdain at Ramishah.
Ramishah caught me staring and laughed.
“I reacted as you did when I saw some of the peris from other courts for the first time.”
I looked at her with surprise, mostly because I didn’t realize she wouldn’t be exposed to all this where she came from.
She met my eyes and nodded. “I know, even in the mountains! But I’m from a sheltered village. It was very important for my family when I came to the palace. My family needed the work.” She glanced at me as if she wanted to say, you look like you need it too.
I obliged and inclined my head. I knew I looked half starved, splattered with halmasti blood and dragged through the mud, my hair not even fit for a bird’s nest. “Things have been tough,” I said, and realized that it was not a lie.
They had been. My family was starving, my people executed for daring to want better for their children. Tough was an understatement. But I didn’t want to remark on the near starvation, considering that food seemed to be abundant here.
She was nodding in any case and so I figured general comments were safe.
“It’s been hard all over River since the Salt Court takeover.
And now, with the rebels attacking more frequently, they’ve put blockades up on supply routes, looted the Viceroy’s caravans, and even tried to attack the palace.
” She lowered her voice,“They say it was them responsible for that horrible attack today that killed two guards.”
I frowned at each new piece of information, wondering if the halmasti in the woods was the attack she was talking about. Had that creature killed two guards? I thought of the fae from the woods.
I’m not a guard, just here to hunt the beast.
He had saved my life, but I wasn’t sure that qualified him yet as someone whose words I could trust.
We finally reached the kitchens, which I could tell from the smell. The scent of fresh grilled bread, heady spices, and even a large pot of chai bubbled over on the stove top when we reached it.
“Eh! Mishah, the chai!” a stern older woman shouted at the girl beside me, and Mishah rushed over to the pot. She stirred the chai frantically, some liquid sloshing over the side. Then she added some cardamom pods and mint leaves to the tea from the stash we’d brought.
The older fae woman turned her gaze to me.
“Who are you?” She planted her hands on her hips and reminded me so much of Nani I nearly laughed. But my humor faded to a dull ache when I remembered the last time I’d seen her—afraid, wild-eyed and with Citadel guns pointed at her.
I was in the land of peris now, and I couldn’t forget why and what it had cost me.
“This is Yaseema, Zafreen. She’s here for the scullery position.” Mishah continued stirring the chai, not looking up.
“Thank the River,” Zafreen huffed out a breath. “We need extra hands here.” She gave me a stern look as she examined me. “Never had a human work in the kitchens before, but I suppose you’re as good as a River peri since we’ve barely got magic anymore anyway. Can you start tonight?”
My shoulder still ached from earlier, I was pretty sure I looked disgusting, and I had no idea what anyone did in a scullery, especially in a fae kitchen, but none of that mattered.
If I wanted information, if I wanted to find clues to the Queen’s crown, the palace seemed like the best place to get it.
“Yes. I can start tonight.”
Zafreen had me scrubbing the tables and cleaning out pots until my fingers were raw.
Finally, Mishah showed me to my room, which was a shared bunk next to hers. I was glad of it, because I could likely get more information about the peris from her.
I peeled off my filthy clothes, still damp from the river water, and washed the mud and halmasti blood off my skin with a bowl of cold water. It felt good to finally scrub off the dirt on my face, and Mishah had a fresh nightshirt and smock laid out for me.
“Thank you,” I said with a sigh as I slipped it over my head. It was scratchy, but it was clean, and that feeling was worth everything.
If my plan was to subtly interrogate Ramishah about Peristan and the Court of River while we lay in our beds, But I failed, because as soon as my head hit the pillow and I closed my eyes against the longest day of my life, the world went dark.