For about three days.
Javier came back from his wild goose chase stiff but in good humor. “I think the captain was relieved we didn’t find them,” he told me. “We decided they must have run off.” Patrols were organized, pulling in half the people at Witherleaf, but of course they didn’t see anybody. I felt even more guilty for putting so many people to so much work, but since the alternatives were much worse, I squelched it. Lady Sorrel actually came to see me and made a fuss, which was horribly awkward. The shame over having suspected her of being the poisoner made me want to writhe in my chair, and I couldn’t even begin to think about her other self, all alone in the villa except for her enemies.
Another side effect of our adventure was that Rinald put Javier on extremely light duty, so Aaron shadowed my every step for three days. I didn’t feel like I could protest, under the circumstances, so I went out and gathered herbs and tried to pump him for information about his partner. This might have been more successful if Aaron weren’t demanding to know the identity of every insect he saw and how venomous it was likely to be.
Well, I had no one to blame but myself.
I desperately wanted to talk to Javier about what had happened—the mirror-geld and Grayling and everything else—but without the excuse of him guarding me, I didn’t have any chance. Even when I went to check on him in the barracks, telling myself that I was a healer and healers got to do that, we weren’t alone, so all we could do was give each other meaningful looks.
“Rinald says I can get back to work soon,” Javier said. His black eye had achieved its full magnificence and was starting to fade.
I wanted to say something about how I would be glad to have him back and that it had felt strange without him, but what I blurted out was “I miss you.”
“Anja—” he said, but I was already stammering out something about needing to go check on Snow and fled.
“Javier’s fine, you know,” Aaron told me, as we walked up to the villa.
“What?”
He gave me a sidelong look. “There’s nothing wrong with him. No real reason that he hasn’t married. Hard to invite women home when you live in the palace barracks, though. And not so many women interested in what passes for married housing up there.”
Married?I temporarily lost all power of speech.
“He thinks highly of you.”
I grunted.
“Saints, you even sound like him.”
It was with some relief that we reached the villa and I saw one of Snow’s maids come running. “Thereyou are,” she gasped out. “Doyouknow where Snow is?”
The villa was in an uproar. As far as I could tell, nobody had seen Snow for at least an hour, and panic was starting to set in. Maids scurried about like mice, checking and rechecking closets and privies and all sorts of places that a twelve-year-old could possibly conceal herself.
I checked my room. To no one’s surprise, she wasn’t there. She wasn’t in my workroom either, or in the pocket garden where I’d seen her eat the apple. I had a pretty good idea where she was, but with Aaron on my heels, I couldn’t follow. I joined the kitchen staff in staring down the well.
“She probably wouldn’t fit down there,” the cook said dubiously.
“Had a dead rat down there last year,” said one of the scullions.
“A girl’s a lot bigger than a rat.”
“It was a big rat…”
Aaron was called away to help search the grounds. I thought that meant that I was getting away without a guard, but to my surprise—and mild mortification—Javier came limping into the kitchen courtyard and made a beeline for me.
“Oh… ah… hello,” I mumbled.
“I am provisionally returned to duty,” he said. “As long as I don’t get into any wrestling matches with any kidnappers.”
Our eyes met, and even through my embarrassment, I could muster some humor at the situation.
“Let’s… err… check the workroom again,” I suggested. We left the kitchen staff to their discussion of the relative sizes of girl versus rodent and retreated somewhere we could talk without being heard.
“You know where she’s gone,” I murmured.
“Almost certainly. But why?”
I shook my head helplessly. “I don’t know. Or how she got there. According to the maids, she was right there in her room, and she can’t have jumped through in front of them.”
