The thought should’ve thrilled him. But at the moment, he didn’t even care.
Part 2. Vrell
4
“Now pull the laces as tight as you can,” Lady Coraline Orthrop said.
Vrell obeyed, then tied the silk strings in a tiny bow and tucked the ends into the scooped neckline. “It is more comfortable than the binding and all the tunics.”
Lady Coraline stepped up to Vrell and ran her fingertips down the front laces. “And this will be easier than wearing so many layers. No one will suspect a thing.”
Lady Coraline was a master with thread and needle. She had crafted Vrell’s snug undergarment to be similar to a corset. This one had no uncomfortable whalebone at the waist, though. It was designed to give Vrell a small paunch of wool fleece rather than suck her stomach in. With Vrell’s only confidante going to Carmine, she would not have help to bind her breast and dress each day. The new undergarment would enable her to do it alone.
Vrell gripped Lady Coraline’s hands. “I wish I could go with you,” she said. “Must you really leave?”
Lady Coraline’s brown eyes met Vrell’s. “My father is ill, and I am overdue for a visit. Plus I have not seen your mother in over eleven years. Do not fret. You will be safe here.”
But Vrell wasn’t sure. She had been safe only because of Lady Coraline’s care. Lady Coraline had been like a mother to Vrell these past months, though she did not look like a mother of four, which she was.
She wore a maroon silk gown with green and gold embroidery. Every curl of her golden hair was pinned into place with a turquoise and silver circlet. At first sight, Vrell had thought Lady Coraline looked very out of place in this fishing town. A noblewoman from Zerah Rock, she was all elegance and decorum. She had married beneath her but did not care. In that, Vrell hoped to someday relate.
Lady Coraline walked back to her bed and began to pick up leftover scraps of fabric. The morning sun beamed though the closed shutters, painting stripes of light over the blue bedspread.
Lady Coraline’s bedchamber was small compared to Vrell’s chambers at home, and not more than a garderobe compared to Mother’s room there. Still, there was something quaint and cozy about this manor. Walden’s Watch was like a getaway cottage. This room consisted of a large oak bed and matching sideboard, a tall mirrorglass, and two chairs in front of a warm fireplace. An oval braided rug covered most the floor.
Vrell lifted the orange tunic from the sideboard and ran her thumb over the scratchy fabric. “I know I’ll be safe, but I miss Mother so.” And Bran. Her lips curved into a smile at the thought of Bran’s sunburned face. It had been six months since Vrell had gone into hiding here at Walden’s Watch, the home of her mother’s childhood friend.
Lady Coraline took Vrell’s face in her hands and kissed her forehead. “Dearest, I cannot believe this will go on much longer. Your suitor will soon tire of searching and wed another.”
Vrell hoped so. She had come to Walden’s Watch last November to hide from the horrible man. Mother had felt the need to conceal more than Vrell’s location — thus the idea to take on a new identity and gender. Vrell’s suitor might be scouring all Er’Rets in search of her, but he would not be looking for a fourteen-year-old stray boy.
“I hope you are right.” Vrell pulled the orange tunic over her head and tied the brown rope belt. “Masquerading as a boy is fun, though. Trousers are so comfortable, but I wish I could have worn blue.” She walked to the mirrorglass that stood in the far corner of the bedchamber.
At seventeen, Vrell was fully grown, but because of her small frame, Mother had suggested her boy persona be fourteen. Vrell examined her short black hair and fair skin in the mirrorglass. She wrinkled her nose and gave her round cheeks a pinch.
“Orange does nothing for my complexion, and strays are treated so horribly. When I return home, I vow to be kind to every stray I see.”
Lady Coraline’s rose leaf-toned face appeared in the mirror over Vrell’s shoulder. “I am sorry you must take the part of a stray, my dear, but it is truly the safest hiding place. Few take notice of strays, and your sallow complexion better hides your beauty.”
It certainly did. That and the fact that the padded garment made her torso chubby despite her skinny arms and legs. Her shaggy, chopped hair would not lie flat, and she could only describe the dingy, orange tunic as hideous. Would Bran still think her beautiful if he saw her now? Would he forgive her for running away?
Vrell pulled on worn leather boots and set her hands on her hips. “Well?”
Lady Coraline clapped. “Perfect! Now just you remember your words.”
“I am trying!” She cleared her throat. “I mean, ‘I be tryin’ real hard, m’lady.’”
Lady Coraline giggled.
In Vrell’s efforts at playing a stray boy around Walden’s Watch, she most often forgot to speak like one. Thrice now she had ordered servants about in the manor before remembering her place. Lady Coraline had introduced Vrell to them as her husband’s ward and had insisted the boy be treated as a guest and not a servant.
The servants did not like Vrell much.
For the first time in her life, she was thankful for her hoarse, gravelly voice. She had always hated sounding like she had a cold that would not go away. Finally it came in useful.
A pressure squeezed in on Vrell’s mind. The thoughts of the little girl climbing the stairs at the end of the hall echoed through Vrell’s inner ear. “Aljee is coming,” she said to Lady Coraline. “She is hoping to wear your pearls and coral necklace.”
Lady Coraline’s face paled. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“I cannot help it.”
“You and your mother and your bloodvoices.” Lady Coraline scowled. “Your mother played the most rotten tricks on me until she finally confessed her gift. I had feared she was a witch for the longest time.”
Vrell laughed. “Yes, Mother told me.” The gift had begun in Vrell a month before she had gone into hiding. Mother had explained that bloodvoicing was an endowment. It enabled Vrell to speak with her mother’s mind when Mother reached out, but Vrell did not yet know how to reach for Mother. She found she could also hear the thoughts of anyone who was nearby. Some minds were easier to hear than others. Children were always susceptible.
Vrell had wanted to learn everything right away, but Mother said it would be safer to wait until this crisis passed so that she could be trained properly.
A knock sounded at the door.
Lady Coraline scowled.
“Sorry!” Vrell whispered.
“One moment, please,” Lady Coraline called.
Vrell darted behind the mirrorglass. It would not do for even young Aljee to see a boy in her mother’s bedchamber.
Lady Coraline’s footsteps creaked across the wooden floor until the door grated open. “Hello, dearest.”
Vrell peeked around the edge of the mirrorglass.
Nine-year-old Aljee, Lady Coraline’s youngest daughter, stood in the doorway looking lovely in ruffles of blue silk. “Father is ready to see you off.”
“Of course. Carry my purse?”
Aljee skipped to her mother’s table, golden ringlets bouncing, and swung a red silk purse over her shoulder. “Can I play with your jewels while you’re away?”
Lady Coraline sighed, and Vrell suppressed a giggle. “No, but you may use my purses and shawls.”
“Hurray!”
Vrell smirked at the child who could not wait to be a young woman. It would happen all too soon, and once Aljee tried the corset and learned the politics of court life, she might wish to return to age nine. After Lady Coraline and Aljee left, Vrell sneaked from the room and went downstairs to bid her mother’s dear friend farewell.