May let go of her handle. Quentin did the same, releasing the wagon barely a second before Spike made a mighty leap and landed squarely in the middle of our luggage. It rode there, chirping jubilantly, as the wagon floated up to the top of the stairs and settled on the landing.
“Roller coasters for rose goblins,” I said, as mildly as I could. The smell of Marlis’ magic was still lingering in the air. I sniffed it, shooting Walther a sidelong look. His magic smelled of ice and common yarrow. Hers was ice and milfoil—otherwise known as fernleaf yarrow. With magical signatures that similar, there was no way they weren’t related, and yet she hadn’t looked at him any more critically than she’d looked at the rest of us. Something was going on here, and I didn’t like not knowing what it was.
“This way,” said Marlis, and followed our wagon’s trail up the stairs. The rest of us were close behind her, with me in the lead and Tybalt bringing up the rear. He’d be able to defend against any surprise attacks that way. Not that I was actually expecting King Rhys to go for us this soon—if he’d been planning an immediate double cross, I doubted that he would have let us past the front gates. It’s much easier to get rid of unwanted guests when you can say, honestly, that they never set foot inside your knowe. Besides, there was a lot of forest in Silences. That meant a lot of places to hide the bodies.
The upstairs hall was as stark and unornamented as the downstairs. The walls lacked the filigree and carving I was accustomed to in most noble knowes. Walther looked faintly sickened when he glanced at the places where the walls met the ceiling and floor, which probably meant that there had been decorative carvings here, once. Why Rhys would have had those removed while leaving the fountain and throne was anybody’s guess.
We walked through a pair of tall double doors and into a wider hallway. This one had a plush carpet patterned in pine green and rose red covering the floor, instantly muffling our footsteps. The doors swung shut behind us. Marlis kept walking, until we were halfway down the hall, where she stopped at a door set into a particularly ornate frame. It was carved with pine boughs and roses, and looked almost ridiculously out of place against its austere surroundings.
“The visitor’s suite is through here,” she said. “I apologize if it is finer than you’re accustomed to, but you left us little choice, with the size of your party. The main room is yours to do with as you like. I suggest your lady’s maid be given the room off the master bedroom, as King Rhys insists upon certain standards at his court functions.” There was an oddly pleading note to that sentence, like she was telling us more than she was strictly allowed.
“Cool,” I said. “Is there anything else we need to know?”
If I’d been hoping for more rule bending from her, I was going to be disappointed. Marlis shook her head. “No, miss,” she said. “Simply come when you are called, and communicate your situation clearly and without prejudice. I think you will find King Rhys to be a generous and compassionate ruler, and you will soon come to understand the reasons for his indignation.”
“Let’s hope,” I said.
“I must to my lord. If you would excuse me?” Marlis offered a quick, shallow bow, barely enough not to be insulting, before she turned and hurried back the way she’d come.
The five of us watched her go, not saying a word. Then I turned to the door and pushed it open, revealing a receiving room easily the size of my first apartment. “At least he’s not being stingy with the space,” I said, stepping inside.
He wasn’t being stingy with the furnishings, either. All the clutter that wasn’t evident in the hall had apparently been crammed into the quarters for visiting diplomats, creating a dizzying maze of couches, end tables, and decorative shelves stacked high with vases, decorative statuary, and knickknacks I didn’t have a name for. It would have been attractive, if any effort at all had been made to coordinate the things that filled the room. As it was, I felt like I was visiting the Hollywood idea of an antique barn.
Walther and Tybalt pulled the wagon with our things inside while May and Quentin brought up the rear. Walther looked around, sighed, and said, “I was wondering where all this stuff went. It’s not like he could sell it, and destroying the possessions of the royal family of Silences would have just been tacky.” He didn’t sound surprised. More resigned, like this was exactly what he’d been expecting.
“See, I thought conquering someone else’s Kingdom was tacky,” said May. “Getting rid of their stuff afterward is just good housekeeping.” She squeezed around the wagon to begin opening the doors that radiated off the room like the spokes of a wheel.
“What are the odds we’re being spied on?” I asked.
“High,” said Walther.
“Absolutely we’re being spied on,” said Quentin.
“There’s no one but us physically present right now, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t listening charms,” said May, opening another door. “I mean, they may not have had time to set them, since we surprised them and all, but they could have enchantments primed to activate as someone crosses the threshold.”
I paused. Sometimes it was easy to forget about May’s weird radar, since it came up rarely and wasn’t exactly an active magic. Still, it was good to have the confirmation. “All right. Assume listening charms. Let’s go to our rooms and get ready for what’s ahead.” And figure out a way to find and deactivate anything that was monitoring us. If we were going to plan strategies, we needed to do it in private.
Walther opened his briefcase and took out a notepad, scribbling something before ripping off the top sheet and sticking it to Spike’s back. The rose goblin took its new status as a message board in stride, chirping amiably before wandering over to rub against my ankles.
“Found the master bedroom,” called May. “It looks like there’s only one sub-room. Quentin can have it. I’m happier when I don’t have to listen to you snore.” Meaning she’d be happier knowing that she was in the exterior ring of rooms, since she was indestructible and Quentin wasn’t.
“Got it,” I said, resolutely not looking at the note Walther had stuck to my rose goblin.
It only took us a few minutes to get the suitcases into the appropriate rooms. Their owners followed them, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Walther looked faintly sick; May looked grim. When the door to the master bedroom shut, it was with me, Tybalt, Quentin, and Spike inside.
The bedroom was as opulently decorated as the front room, with a bed large enough to hold six, and a wardrobe that should by all rights have contained a doorway to Narnia, or at least the deeper lands of Faerie. A small door on one wall led to a much less fancy room, with a single narrow bed where Quentin would be expected to sleep. I almost envied him that simplicity. I was so far out of my depth that I was worried about drowning without going anywhere near the water.
Spike rubbed against my ankles again. I bent to pluck Walther’s note from its spines. Unfolding the piece of paper, I read quickly. Then I closed my eyes and held it out for Quentin and Tybalt to see.
Marlis is my sister, read the note. Be cautious.
“Well,” said Tybalt, tone gone tight and careful. “Isn’t this going to be fun?”
I didn’t have an answer for that.
EIGHT
WE DIDN’T KNOW HOW long we would have before we were summoned back into King Rhys’ presence, and so we focused on the only thing about our situation that we had any hope of controlling: ourselves. Quentin had hauled his suitcase into the small side room that would be his, leaving the door open in case I needed him. Meanwhile, Tybalt and I began unloading our things into the wardrobe.