I nodded and strode past her down the corridor, as though I’d been born to do this. In my mind, Zadie walked just behind me, assuring me I had.

* * *

Our company grew as we walked to the king’s chambers, far from the great hall. I noticed Grig and the captain fall into line behind us, and multiple servants seemed to appear out of nowhere, wearing dark, nondescript clothing under shawls and gloves woven from some kind of animal fiber. We came to a stop at a pair of tall stone doors painstakingly carved with horned beasts and roses, reminding me of the little button Sami had traded for. Zadie and Sami had insisted I take the traveling cloak with me, since Zadie wouldn’t need it in Varenia, but I’d never taken it out of the trunk during our journey. Now that I’d seen Ebb toss aside entire outfits like they were refuse, I realized how little value a single brass button would have to these people. I wondered how many pearls Sami had sacrificed for it.

The moment the doors opened, I was hit with the sickly sweet smell of illness, like a bin of rotting fruit at the floating market. Someone had gone through a good deal of trouble to try to hide the odor with perfumed incense, and the combination of smells was nearly overpowering. Several ladies stood near the king’s bed with little sachets pressed to their noses.

I’d thought my bed was large, but King Xyrus’s bed was twice the size of it, made larger by the skeletal man who sat propped up against a stack of pillows. He was so pale he nearly faded into the white linens surrounding him. His gray beard was long and straggly, matching the few tufts of hair left on his liver-spotted head. He looked ancient, older than the oldest Varenian elder. This man couldn’t possibly be the same age as my father.

I was led forward by Captain Osius, who stopped to kneel before the king. I imitated the ladies around me, wishing I’d practiced more back home, but curtsying as deeply as I dared without falling over.

The king’s watery eyes blinked open at the sound of the captain’s voice. “Your Grace, pardon the late hour. We have brought a special visitor from Varenia.”

With the help of a nobleman, the king sat up a bit straighter, smacking his lips like a child who’d just woken from a long nap. “Ah yes, Zadie. Welcome to Ilara, my dear.”

I blinked at the sound of my sister’s name on an Ilarean tongue, the z sounding almost like an s. No one here had called me anything but milady thus far, and it was a good reminder that I was supposed to be my sister.

I stepped forward and took the king’s outstretched hand, doing my best to breathe through my mouth. I nearly jumped when he started to cough suddenly and violently, his entire withered frame shaking from the effort, and released his bony hand as gently as possible. How could this be the man controlling the Varenians? If the governor knew about the king’s condition, why didn’t he stand up to him? And if he didn’t know, I would make sure Sami passed along the information, if I ever made it to the port market.

I waited patiently for the king to sip his wine, sloshing some of the dark red liquid onto the white bedclothes. I expected him to speak again when he finished, but he settled back down among his pillows and closed his eyes.

The nobleman assisting him stepped forward and kissed my hand before lowering himself in an exaggerated bow. After that, one by one, the other lords and ladies stepped forward, each offering their services and welcoming me to Ilara. The ladies, dressed in gowns made of various shadowy fabrics adorned with beads and bows, fussed over me and noted how well I looked after such an arduous journey. The lords were dressed similarly to Talin when he’d visited Ilara, but none had his air of warmth and vitality.

Prince Talin, I reminded myself. My future husband’s brother.

Some of the lords and ladies were pale, like Ebb, probably from spending so much time in this dark mountain. But even those who weren’t naturally fair-skinned looked wan and tired. I noticed a few people had used some sort of white powder to make their hair lighter. I’d never felt so alone in my life as I did there in that chamber, surrounded by all these otherworldly strangers.

Finally, when I was sure I would faint from exhaustion, Ebb found me and whispered in my ear that we should retire for the evening. Back in my chamber, she helped me undress for the night and prepare for my first real rest in days. The bed was so tall, a small footstool had been provided to help me climb in. Once among the blankets and throws, I felt ridiculous. Why would one person need so much space to sleep?

Ebb went to the door and curtsied. “I’ll leave you now, milady.”

I glanced around the massive room, only now realizing there was no other place to sleep. “You’re not staying?”

She seemed surprised for a moment, then smiled. “It’s not proper for a servant to sleep in this part of the castle, milady. There’s a bell on your nightstand. If you need anything, just ring, and one of the guards will alert me.”

I should have known a servant wouldn’t sleep with a future princess, but I’d never slept alone before. I was coming to think of Ebb as a friend, when I needed to remember that this was her job, nothing more. Still, I couldn’t deny how grateful I was to have her here. “Thank you, Ebb. For everything.”

She blushed and curtsied before slipping out the door. There was no fireplace here, presumably because there was nowhere for the smoke to escape, which explained all the blankets. The only light in the room came from the lunar moss. I burrowed down in my covers, feeling like an eel poking its head out of a grotto.

I must have fallen asleep without realizing it, because I woke up some time later thinking I was drowning, flailing in the sheets as though they were a fishing net. I kicked the blankets away from me until they lay piled on the floor. Now it was just me in a nightdress on top of the giant feather mattress. And I was freezing.

I pulled one of the fur throws off the floor and wrapped myself in it, feeling even more pitiful than I had in the carriage. The room was somehow cold and stuffy at the same time, the bed was far too soft, and it was too quiet without the soft breathing of my sister and the faint snoring from my father across the house.

My little trunk had been placed at the foot of my bed, and I scooted over to it, still wrapped in the blanket. As I lifted the lid, I was hit with the briny scent of the ocean, and the throb of homesickness was so intense my eyes filled with tears. I tucked my few pieces of clothing inside the wardrobe. The coral knife and pearl necklace went in my nightstand.

Sensing Ebb’s exhaustion earlier, I’d let her go without undoing my hair, but I wasn’t used to sleeping with pins in it. I went to the full-length mirror and sat down cross-legged before it, feeling ridiculous in my nightgown with the voluminous sleeves and lace-edged neckline. I set to work unpinning my hair, then massaged my scalp with my fingers the way Zadie would have done had she been here.

With my hair in wild waves around me and the soft blue light of the lunar moss reflecting off my skin, I looked like the sea witch from the stories Sami used to tell us. According to Varenian legend, she lived deep in the ocean, causing storms that sank ships and drowned sailors, whom the witch took as her lovers. The stories were violent and inappropriate for children, which made us delight in them all the more. Mother would have been appalled if she’d ever caught us; she believed only the gods had the power to cause storms and sink ships.