“I am,” she said. “You are a woman of great mystery, you know.”
This time I managed to catch myself before blurting,Who, me?Instead I dabbed my lips with a napkin and said, “There’s no great mystery about me, I’m sure.”
“No?” She raised her eyebrows. “What takes you to Witherleaf?”
My mind went blank. I couldn’t tell her that I was going there to investigate a poisoning, could I? But then why would I go to Witherleaf at all? And why would the king have singled me out to sit at his left hand, as if I was important?
Damnation. We should have worked a cover story out in advance.
“I… err…”
“Mistress Anja will be tutoring Snow,” said the king smoothly, leaning forward to meet Lady Anonymous’s gaze. “She is a scholar of some renown.”
This was news to me, but I flashed him a grateful look. He smiled slightly and went back to speaking to the man on his right. I wondered if there was some skill that you learned as king that let you listen to multiple conversations at once and break into one at the exact right time.
“A scholar?” Lady Anonymous smiled warmly. “How interesting! What is your field?”
“Natural history,” I said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. I do study a great many plants, animals, and minerals.
“What fascinating work. And teaching young minds! I admire that.”
“Mmm,” I said.
“Children are such a blessing.”
“Mmm,” I said again. The problem with being plump, middle-aged, and a woman was that people expected you to be motherly, as if that was your default state. I am not. I am actually terrible with children. On the other hand, I have saved the lives of multiple toddlers who licked flypaper, which I feel should count for something.
“Do you have any children of your own?” Lady Anonymous asked.
I bet she wouldn’t have asked Scand that.“No.”
That must have come out a little too abrupt, because she pursed her lips sympathetically. “Oh, my dear, I’m sorry.” She patted my arm.
I looked at her blankly, wondering what on earth I was supposed to say next. “I keep venomous snakes instead?” I offered.
That was probably not the right thing to say. Lady Anonymous paused for just a fraction of a moment, then carefully took her hand away from my arm. “How… interesting.”
“It can be.” I wondered idly how many poisons went into her cosmetics.Antimony for the eyelashes, arsenic for face lotion… probably not belladonna for the eyes, since her pupils look normal…Her skin didn’t have the hard, polished pallor of ceruse either. That particular horror had fallen out of fashion, thank the saints. Nasty stuff. The main ingredient is white lead. One of my early patients had been an older woman who insisted on using it to cover age spots. The skin on her face had been peeling and mottled like old paint from the lead poisoning, so of course she’d apply even more ceruse to hide it, and so on. She lived, but her family had needed to take the ceruse away from her. Vanity takes some people strangely.
Lady Anonymous turned to the gentleman next to her, who acquired the expression of someone facing the headsman’s axe. Then she paused and turned back to me. “Isn’t that dangerous?” she asked.
“The snakes? You need to know how to handle them, that’s all.” I took a sip of watered wine. Behind her, the man glowed with the joy of a last-minute reprieve. “It’s like horses,” I said.
Again she started to turn, then curiosity clearly dragged her back against her will. “Horses?”
“People are killed by horses all the time. Bad falls or kicks or whatnot. But we don’t think of horses as being dangerous, because people mostly know how to handle them.”
Lady Anonymous gazed at me steadily for a moment. “Do you know,” she said, “I’ve never thought of it that way? How intriguing.” This time she did turn back to the gentleman on her left. His expression crumpled, a man discovering that the headsman was not out sick after all. I applied myself to the roast beef, wondering whether I’d struck a blow for rational treatment of snakes or simply convinced a random noblewoman that I was a raving lunatic.
When I finished eating, I sat watching the courtiers below. There was so much movement back and forth between tables that I wondered how any of them were actually able to eat. Probably that wasn’t the point. Was there a way to politely excuse myself from the table? No, probably not. If I did, everyone would watch me coming down from the high table, and I didn’t think I could bear the thought of all those eyes on me.
Fortunately for my nerves, the king rose a moment later and clapped his hands. This seemed to be a general signal for the other diners to get up as well. I hurriedly followed suit. The others descended into the swirl of courtiers, so I did, too. Two walls of the tent had been tied back to catch the cool evening breeze, so I began sidling in that direction. If I could duck outside, I could go back to my pavilion. The garish red walls seemed like a glorious haven now.
Unless someone tries to stab you. Where are your guards?
Oh damnation. Wherearethey?I scanned the tent but couldn’t pick out Aaron or Javier. Maybe they were waiting outside. Or were still back at my pavilion.
I had only just stepped around the tent wall and started making my way along the outside of the canvas when I heard a familiar voice on the other side of the fabric and froze.
