“A girl, Silas,” were the king’s first words, spoken in gruff annoyance. “Is this a joke?”
I couldn’t blame him for it, even if it was insulting. I was female, young and thin, some might even say gaunt, though I was taller than most women. I was fair featured too, with my dark red hair and plain brown eyes. I couldn’t have looked like much, especially without the bulky fur I’d been wrapped in.
“No, Your Majesty,” Silas said, rising. I stayed down. “She’s the best in the kingdom, I assure you.”
There was a momentary silence, during which I was afraid to take my eyes off the floor. “Get up, girl,” the king demanded.
I did, and also lifted my gaze. The king was a massive man, almost filling the seat of his immense throne. The hair on both his head and his face were a deep black, like the pure onyx raven set in his crown. His eyes, too, were dark as coal, a stark contrast to his light complexion. The queen was in a smaller throne at his side, but she was more pleasant looking than her male counterpart. While her hair was a similar shade of black, her skin was dark, and her dark brown eyes were kind. It appeared she’d been crying, as even if the redness behind her eyes didn’t give her away, she sniffled.
“Name,” the king instructed, a command so harsh it made me flinch out of my sympathetic study of the queen.
“Kiena, Your Majesty,” I answered, purposefully leaving my surname out of it and giving something of an awkward curtsy.
“You’ll find my daughter, Kiena,” he said in his rusty voice. Every word he spoke resonated like the deep growl of a bear. “Tie the brat up and throw her over your horse, if you must. The stable boys know to keep it saddled for you.” I couldn’t help but glance toward the windows, through which I could hear the faint whistling of the cold wind. He wanted me to start searching tonight. “Don’t let her bribe you with gold, or horses, or kisses.” At the last, his eyes narrowed at me, and he burst into laughter. “What am I talking about? Her charm won’t work on a girl.” He chuckled to himself. “Good thinking, Silas. Bringing me someone immune to her beauty.”
My eyes turned in their sockets to pass a side-glance at Silas, and the smirk on his face almost caused me to snort. I fancied women, and we both knew it.
There was a short pause, after which the king asked in irritated expectation, “Well?”
I flinched once more. “If it pleases Your Majesty,” I began, listening to the whistling wind. “I should begin searching with the aid of sunlight.” My horse was tired, Albus was tired, I was tired, and it was beyond freezing outside.
“In the morning?” he asked, and I almost cowered at the red tint his face turned. “You’ll start tonight! Or I’ll have your head on a bloody spike!” Temper was an understatement. When he saw that I wasn’t taking leave of myself, he asked again, “Well?”
“To track the princess, Your Majesty,” I said, afraid he’d tire of me the next moment and have me hung, “my dog must know her scent.”
“Silas!” the king nearly yelled. “Take her to the princess’s chambers, and get her whatever else she needs. You won’t bother me again.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Silas said with a bow, and then elbowed me to do the same.
Once we’d left the throne room, I took a calming breath and, for comfort, set my hand on the coat on Albus’s back as he lumbered at my side. “Won’t bother him again,” I mused when it was just the three of us, and I scoffed. “As if he’s doing me some kind of a favor? Just because he’s the king—”
“Mind what you say next,” Silas whispered, but his face betrayed his appalled amusement. “The walls have eyes, and talk like that is treason within the castle.”
I gave an apologetic smile in response, but I was impatient to be out of here. Out of this place that had turned Silas into a cautious wuss. Where I was afraid to breathe too loudly because the walls could see and hear, and probably sprout legs and drag me straight to the chopping block. Albus felt it, too. He was stalking silently at my side, head down, floppy ears cropped warily forward.
“Does anybody know why she ran?” I asked, following him down another dark corridor.
“She knows,” he answered, finally stopping at an elaborately carved wooden door. “That’s all I can say for sure.”
“Maybe she has a good reason,” I told him, and shut the door behind us after we crossed the threshold. The king did seem a careless man. “Perhaps she shouldn’t be found.”
Silas shot me a look when I said that, and I could’ve predicted what it meant. Mind what you say. I wasn’t accustomed to so carefully guarding my thoughts, but it might suit me to learn. I was on the king’s payroll now, and he wasn’t going to pay me to ask questions.
I was surprised to find the chamber already lighted when we entered. Warm too, with a blazing fire in a decorated pit at the center of the room that made me push my sleeves up to my elbows, and take my coat off Albus’s back to drop it on the floor near the entrance. The entire chamber was larger than three of my cottage, and decorated with silk-upholstered furniture big enough for a giant. There were three women in the room, seated close to the fire. Two of them were older than my mother, the other about my age, all of them plainly dressed.
“Kiena,” Silas said, motioning to the women. “The ladies-in-waiting.” They all stood to greet him with ‘sir’ and curtsies.
I ceased my surveying of the chamber to study the women. The older two were stern looking, and they appeared rather irritated at the day’s events. The younger one’s eyes darted about the room, avoiding me completely. She seemed rather afraid. Nilson always looked that way when I caught him with a stolen sweet roll—guilty.
Despite the observation, I ignored the women to make a round through the room. Part of it was to indulge my curiosity—how lavishly the princess lived, and maybe what she was like—the rest was to look for evidence. My exploring revealed a painting on one wall, and I assumed it was the princess. She was very much unlike both her parents in features, with long, dark brown hair, and sapphire eyes. She had, however, inherited her mother’s dark skin, and some of her father’s strength, it appeared, being that she didn’t look as fragile as the queen. She looked lively, clearly energetic, and the ‘charm’ I’d heard of previously didn’t do her justice. The king was right to be worried about bribery with kisses.
Nothing was out of place in the room; if she’d been threatened or even kidnapped rather than running away, it didn’t happen in here. I strode to the princess’s clothing drawers, a large dresser taller than me, and rummaged around for something useful. I pulled out a white underdress, and held it up to show the ladies-in-waiting.
“She wear this often?”
When they all nodded, I set my hand on the dagger at my waist and glanced at Silas. He knew what I was asking, and tilted his head in consent. I couldn’t take the entire dress with me. It was much too bulky. Instead, I used my blade to cut a strip from the torso, where the princess’s scent was sure to be the strongest. I almost laughed when, at the ripping sound it made, all three women cringed. It must’ve seemed so crude to them.
After I stored the strip in a small pouch tied near the dagger’s sheath, I trod to the youngest of the women. “Might I ask your name?”