One Thousand Nights (18 page)

My stomach churned, and I found it difficult to eat much more, although I took a few dutiful bites so as not to attract too much attention. Luckily, it was a small gathering, no more than fifty or so of us, so I knew nothing terribly elaborate was planned for entertainments and such that night. No, we would eat, and then retire to our various quarters.

For the first time since I had come to the palace, Besh turned to me at the end of the meal and said, “I must apologize to you again, lady wife, for I have not the time to spare to guide you to your chambers. The guards will see you there. I hope you understand.”

“Of course I do, my lord,” I replied, somehow getting the words out past the choking thickness in my throat. “I would not expect you to waste time on me when you have such pressing matters you must attend to.”

At these words, his brows drew together, and he studied me for a few seconds, clearly attempting to see if I had meant them as a criticism. But since I kept my expression blank and calm, I did not think he noticed anything in my aspect that would indicate how truly upset I was.

This is how it begins
, I thought, and knotted my fingers around the napkin in my lap.

“It is only a temporary situation, I assure you,” he said.

“Of course, my lord.”

His lips compressed, and I could see the tension in the fine lines of his jaw, but he said nothing else, only stood, offering me his hand. I took it, and after he bowed to me, by some unspoken signal, four of the guards approached. My escort.

“Good night,” I told Besh, not waiting for his reply as I moved away from where he stood and allowed the guards to flank me. Well, it seemed they served some useful purpose, for with them surrounding me like that, they effectively blocked me from my husband’s view. We left the dining hall, the echo of their footsteps on the inlaid marble floors seeming louder than usual as they guided back to my rooms. Yes, the Hierarch and I always had the same complement with us when he walked me to my apartments, but I had not paid them much attention when I had him to accompany me.

Now there were no goodbyes, only the guards bowing as one of them reached out and opened the door for me. I went inside, stony-faced, inwardly relieved that my maids were not in the main sitting room, only Therissa, wearing as always the guise of Miram. I wondered if she somehow was able to maintain the illusion as she slept, or if she had to allow herself some respite from constantly maintaining the spell. To tell the truth, I had very little idea as to how it all worked…only that it did.

“It did not go well?” she murmured in question as she came to pull the jeweled cuffs from my wrists, unclasp the necklace of gold and rubies from around my throat. Normally she did this in my bedchamber, where she could immediately put them away in the chest reserved for their storage, but I thought she could tell that I wished to be free of the heavy pieces. Now she carefully laid them on a side table before returning her attention to me.

“He had an urgent need to confer with his
visanis
after dinner, and so he sent me here accompanied by his guards,” I replied in the same undertone. Once again I felt that ominous tightening of my throat, but I forced it back. I had wept enough that day already. “I cannot say I am feeling very hopeful.”

Because we were not truly alone — the three maids were still awake, if not in this same room — she could not do as I thought she wished, which was to make some kind of consoling sound, or even reach out to give me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Voice still quiet, she said, “It is only one night, my lady. I know it is difficult to be patient, but — ”

“I weary of being patient!” I burst out, then immediately lowered my tone. “That is, I have been here for one month shy of a year. I have been patient and meek and good, and I cannot say that any of it has done me any favors. And now I sit here while I know Tel-Karinoor is feeding my husband lies about this man they have accused of the assassination attempt, and I can do nothing.
Nothing
. People look at me and think because I am the Hiereine, I am the most powerful woman in the land. But I have begun to think that the least beggar-girl in the streets has more control of her life than I do.”

Therissa cast a worried glance in the direction of the chamber where the three maids had been waiting up, no doubt nodding over their embroidery, but I had heard nothing from within, Perhaps they were eavesdropping. In that moment I was so wretched, I could barely summon the energy to care.

Voice barely above a whisper, she said, “I know it is difficult. But until you know precisely what your husband plans to do, there is no need to get yourself so upset. Please, my lady, I think it best if you try to sleep. It has been a long day, one of worries and disappointments. I can’t help but think that you might look on all this with a clearer eye tomorrow, after you have had a chance to rest.”

These were sensible enough words, I supposed, and yet I chafed at her advice, that I should go quietly to bed and let the matter rest for now. But what else could I do? Bolt from my rooms, go running to Besh’s chambers, assuming I could even locate them? I should not get two steps from my door, for I knew guards stood there day and night. My accommodations were far more luxurious, but I was just as much a prisoner here as the poor man held captive in a dungeon somewhere far below where I stood.

“Very well,” I said to Therissa, knowing how utterly defeated I sounded. “I will go to bed, as there is nothing else I can do.”

S
o I went
to my large, empty bed, and lay there with my eyes wide open as I tracked the passage of the moonlight across the floor, an intricate traveling shadow following it, cast by the latticework that covered the windows. Odd that I should be so weary, and yet unable to sleep. I knew some people were plagued by wakefulness, could not enjoy the oblivion that comes with slumber, but before now I had never been one of them. Must I be tormented in that way as well, so that I might not even escape my cares for a few hours each night?

At last I crept out of bed and went to the window, carefully opening the latticed shutters. They squeaked faintly, and I paused, wondering if the sound had been enough to wake any of my maids where they slept in the next room. But I heard nothing, save the long, mournful cry of an owl from somewhere far overhead, and my breathing stilled somewhat.

The moon had tracked its way to the west, and was now about to disappear behind the spires and towers of the city. I leaned on the windowsill of carved stone, breathing in air that finally was cool, sweet with the scent of a night-blooming flower Besh had told me was called jasmine. And as I looked down, I realized that a narrow ledge was set beneath my window, a ledge that seemed to run the length of this wing of the palace, until it met an open balcony that was the terminus of a long corridor.

That ledge was just wide enough to stand on.

No. Even entertaining that thought for a few seconds was madness. I couldn’t possibly be thinking of making my escape that way. And even if I did…for what?

To see Besh,
I thought then.
To speak with him alone.
Surely in these deep hours of the night, with no one around us, he might be more open to having a true conversation, instead of one couched in interminable politenesses.

When I thought of it that way….

The ledge was perhaps a foot wide, if even that. Not that I would have to rely on it completely, as there were windows spaced at even intervals along the face of the building, windows with sills that I could hold on to as I inched my way over to the balcony. Once I was there, I would be safe enough. I could simply climb over the balustrade and make my way down the corridor, until I came to the hallway it intersected, and go on from there, moving ever closer to Besh’s apartments.

No, that was absurd. Even if I somehow managed to evade all the guards stationed between here and there, he always had six more standing watch at the entrance to his wing of the palace. I would have to turn myself invisible to accomplish that.

Turn myself invisible…
.

Of course. Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? Surely if Therissa could enchant herself to look like someone else, or enchant my sister-in-law so it appeared she was wearing the richest of garments and jewels, when in reality she had on barely more than rags, then she must be able to do something that would make me, if not invisible, then unnoticeable. Turn me into one of the guards, or my maids. No, perhaps that would not do so well, for if one of them went wandering around the palace in the dead of night, she would be stopped and immediately returned to her quarters here.

After drawing on my dressing gown and sliding my feet into a pair of sandals, I slipped out into the hallway and inched my way down to the chamber — cubbyhole, really, barely half the size of my bath chamber — where Therissa slept. No doubt Miram had been content enough with that cubby, for at least it was her own, a sign of her status that she did not have to sleep in the same chamber as the lesser maids.

I bent down and touched the enchantress on the shoulder, whispering, “Therissa.”

She awoke at once, eyes flashing in the darkness. The fading moonlight was just bright enough that I could see she wore her own face, but as she blinked up at me, instantly her features shifted into those of Miram. Well, that answered one question. It was a calculated risk, for I thought she probably guessed the maids would knock before entering the place where she slept. Failure to follow the protocols would be grounds for dismissal, after all.

“What is the matter?” she whispered in return. “Is something wrong?”

“No — well, yes, I suppose it is, but I just realized that I have been foolish in not asking you this before. Is there any way for you to, I don’t know, cast a spell so no one will see me? For I very much wish to speak to my husband now, in secret.”

Her eyes widened. “Begging your pardon, my lady, but have you gone mad? Surely whatever you have to say to him can wait until morning. The risks — ”

“I was not asking about the risks,” I cut in. “I was asking whether you could do it.”

For a long moment, she hesitated. Then she said, words coming slowly, as if she were thinking it through as she spoke, “It would not be the same thing I did for Ashara, or even what I have done here to disguise myself. Those spells are quite intricate, and require me to make an alteration that is accurate down to the way my eyes crinkle when I smile — not that Miram smiled very much — or, in Ashara’s case, to imagine the way a gown falls and rustles and feels, and not merely how it looks.” Again she paused, watching me with worried eyes, as if she wished she could think of some way to dissuade me but knew she could not. After all, she was Ashara’s aunt, but I was the Hiereine of Keshiaar, and before that the Crown Princess of Sirlende. It was not her position to refuse me my request.

“So what is it, then?” I prompted, when it seemed she was loath to continue.

“It is more an illusion of darkness, of shadow. This will work well enough now, for although of course the corridors of the palace are not left in complete darkness, neither are they blazing with light.” She sat up in her narrow bed, fingers tightening around the thin linen coverlet. “But as you do not wish to be a shadow being when you go to see your husband, I must know how long you think it will take you to reach His Most High Majesty’s apartments, so I may cast the spell in such a way that it will have run its course by the time you get there.”

Relieved that she did not seem inclined to offer any more arguments, I said, “No more than ten minutes. At least, that is how long it seems to take when we walk at a somewhat leisurely pace from there to here.”

“All right, then. That should be easy enough.” She drew in a breath and then let it out, staring at me for a long moment. “Are you sure, my lady? Absolutely sure? For of course you will not be able to offer any good explanation as to how you managed to walk all the way to your husband’s apartments with no one noticing. His Most High Majesty is no fool. He is sure to ask questions.”

“He may ask,” I said blithely. “But I will only tell him that perhaps his guards are not quite so perceptive as he thinks.”

“I do not like that,” she replied at once. “For one thing, while you cannot be punished in any way for escaping your apartments, the guards do not have the sort of immunity. Do you wish to see them beaten or dismissed for something that is not their fault?”

I hadn’t thought of that. Bother. For while I chafed to be away from here, to speak with Besh alone, I most certainly did not want to cause trouble for any of the guards. I did not know them, even the ones who watched outside my chambers, for they were too well-trained to do anything save murmur “Most High Majesty” as they let me in and out of these apartments. But that was no excuse for carelessly allowing them to receive whatever punishment might be meted out when it was discovered that I had slipped past them.

But perhaps if I combined Therissa’s spell with my earlier plan of going out the window….

I explained as much to her, and her eyes widened even more, if that were possible. With a shake of her head, she protested, “My lady, that is a far greater madness than trying to somehow evade your guards. What if you should fall?”

“What if I did?” I asked with a lift of my shoulders. “My family will mourn, and I suppose Besh would get himself another wife at some point. You cannot say that he would weep too heavily over my death.”

“I
will
say it,” she replied immediately. “You are not thinking clearly. Forgive me for telling you so bluntly, but it is only the truth. He does care, no matter what you might think.”

No, I was not thinking clearly. In that she was correct, but I was determined on my current course of action. As long as I could manage it without any undue punishment falling on the guards’ heads, I did not think she had the right to try to stop me.

Something in my aspect must have told her my mind was made up, for she let out a long sigh, then said, “So what is your plan?”

“You will cast your spell, and then I will go out by my window and move along the ledge to the balcony at the end of the main corridor. It is only some hundred paces or so. Then I’ll make my way to Besh’s apartments. I will distract the guards somehow, and then get in past them. But if he asks, I will say I came in through a window, just as I escaped from here.”