Atletha Duststone's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Atletha finished the spoons and put the tray away. The prince's answer was still in her chest, warm and heavy. She had five days at most before the love fairy leader arrived. She needed a room with a door that locked, a mirror, and quiet. The steward's cot in the servants' hall had none of these. She slept there beside two under-maids and a laundress who rose at fourth bell. She could not unpin her hair there. She could not lift the crown from under it and set it on her head to see if it still sat true. She tried the linen closet first. Too small. She tried the disused sewing room on the west stair. A guard used it now for card games. She tried the map room after supper and found two clerks still working. Every door in the castle belonged to someone else. She was the steward. She held keys to rooms she could not use. She went to the prince at the mews, where he was checking a young winged fawn's wing splint. The fawn stood quiet under his hand, spotted flanks twitching. He looked up when he saw her face. "I have no room," she said. "To prepare. To put the crown on and see myself in it before she comes. The servants' hall is full. Every private room has someone in it." He wiped his hands on a cloth. "Take the south tower study. I use it for maps. I will move the maps tonight. The lock is good and the key is mine to give." He pulled a small brass key from his coat and set it in her palm. "Tell the housekeeper I asked for it. Do not explain." She closed her hand on the key. It was warm from his pocket. "The housekeeper will ask," she said. "She asks about every candle." "Then she asks me," he said. "Go." Atletha climbed to the south tower that night with a lamp and her mother's crown wrapped in a cloth. The room was small and clean. One narrow window. One mirror above a washstand. She turned the key in the lock and heard it catch. She unpinned her hair. The crown came out of the cloth and settled on her head where it was meant to sit. In the mirror she saw a fairy of the black tribe wearing pink and purple and mint, with red hair loose and a crown that caught the lamp. She kept her wings still out of habit, then let them open. The prince's colors showed in the underveil. She had her room. She had four days. Down in the courtyard, a rider in rose and gold reined in at the gate, a leather satchel with a brass heart buckle at her hip. The love fairy leader had come early.