Sight Read online

  As more colorful explosions filled the sky like an unnatural display of thunder and lightning, Vivilyn’s mind supplied the sound of metal clanging against metal. She tried to focus on the wooden bannister of the pier in hopes of keeping the vision from taking over her mind.

  She failed.

  Fighting on a green clearing with what she almost thought was one of the 200 Grand Trees behind them were Prince Aiden and his younger brother. They both had focused, almost angry looks on their faces as they fought. Sword clanged sharply against sword.

  Prince Ethan pushed Aiden’s sword away before attempting to hit Aiden on the side. He almost succeeded, but Aiden dodged at the last moment.

  Vivilyn didn’t understand what she was seeing as the brothers seemed to actively try and hurt each other. Just as abruptly as it began, the vision ended.

  The women all clapped excitedly as the show reached a loud conclusion of rapid and bright explosions, one immediately following the last, until the sky above the water looked like a fire had recently raged uncontrollably and all that remained was smoke.

  After the show finished, as they were waiting to be told what to do next, Prince Aiden moved from where he’d been standing in between Lady Sarah and Lady Nehla.

  “Lady Nehla,” Prince Aiden’s voice cut through the silence of the darkness. “May I speak with you in private for a moment?”

  “Of course, my prince,” the willowy woman Vivilyn had just met that morning said. She assumed Nehla curtseyed before she followed the prince.

  All of the women quieted as they listened to the retreating footsteps of Prince Aiden and Lady Nehla.

  “What do you think that’s about?” Macy whispered on the other side of the railing.

  A couple of the other women hushed her.

  Vivilyn heard a mumbling of the voices. It was hushed but sounded urgent. Then Vivilyn heard sniffles and poorly contained crying.

  “But why?” Lady Nehla whined. “I just don’t understand.”

  “There’s no real reason,” Prince Aiden’s voice echoed slightly across the pier. “You seem to be a wonderful woman, but…” Lady Nehla’s crying grew louder than Prince Aiden’s voice.

  In the distance, the lights of a carriage grew brighter. From the pier, they could vaguely see the door open and then close before the carriage drove off again.

  “And so it really begins,” Brayleigh’s voice sounded. “It’s just a matter of time before he realizes others don’t deserve to be here.”

  Vivilyn could feel Brayleigh’s glare on her back without having to look.

  Chapter 8

  When the group returned to the palace, Vivilyn was tired. It had been an exceedingly long day, and although she’d had fun and enjoyed her time, she could not wait to return to the peace and quiet of her room. As the carriage rumbled to a stop, she considered for a few moments what she would do when she got back, whether she wanted to draw some, take a bath, or just go straight to bed.

  “I’m going to go take a long shower in hopes of getting some of this sand off me,” Lady Sarah said as she leaned her head on Lady Trina’s shoulder.

  Vivilyn wished the rails could have brought them all the way back to the palace rather than just to the station in Ettravil. After the luxuries she’d experienced on it, the carriage seemed small and confined.

  One by one, the seven ladies in the carriage exited and did quick end-of-date interviews. A short distance away they could see the one that held the rest of those from the date following.

  “I’m just going to bed and dealing with the sand later,” Lady Clara said. “I’m sure I’ll regret it, but at this moment I don’t care.”

  “Should we wait for the rest?” Vivilyn asked looking back to the other carriage.

  “Nah,” Clara said. “Only Irene would wait for us and she would understand us not waiting.”

  “I think we should wait,” Sarah said as the other carriage pulled up. “It’s not like we are going to wait for long.”

  “Suit yourselves,” Trina said as she turned toward the Hall of Mirrors.

  Sarah and Vivilyn were the only two who waited, and they were correct about not having to wait long. They only waited for about six minutes for the rest to go through interviews and exit the carriages.

  “Today was so much fun,” Lady Irene said, her eyes already half closed as she dragged her feet slowly over to Vivilyn and Sarah. “I just told the interviewers about the bird that ruined our sand city. Not all is lost as I thought. They told me they got a few pictures of it and videos with us working on it.”

  “Oh,” Vivilyn said. “That’s good. Proves we did do it rather than just made it up.” The group walked into the building. Most of them were silent because they were so tired.

  “As night falls,” Irene sang quietly to herself as they walked through the halls, “and the monster’s voice calls, remember.” There was something about the quietness of the walk, the exhaustion they felt at the end of the day which made the lullaby feel appropriate. Vivilyn wasn’t the only one to think so because before long, all nine of the women were singing along quietly.

  I’ll be there to guard you from the claws

  As the stars shine and you’re looking for a sign, remember

  I’ll be there to guard you from behind

  My heart is all you need to keep

  My arms are all you need to sleep

  Remember, it’s me

  Remember, I’m here

  The last time she’d heard this song was from her mother when she was a young child, and Vivilyn could easily hear her among the voices even though she knew Suzetta was still in Treelyn. In fact, as she continued to sing along, she thought she could hear the voices of other women as well. Looking around, she could almost see the shadows of the people these women learned the lullaby from walking along with them.

  It was a lullaby sung throughout the kingdom. Everyone learned it. The soft cadence of it had a calming effect on little children.

  As she continued to ponder the fact that despite everyone coming from such different areas, they all knew this same lullaby, a scream pierced the air.

  Without even a moment to pause and think about it, Vivilyn started running towards the Chosen’s Wing where the scream came from. She knew her brother and her parents would run toward whatever was going on and if she didn’t at least try to help, they would be disappointed with her.

  “Are you crazy?” she heard Brayleigh yell after her. “Don’t run towards the scream! Guards!” Vivilyn didn’t look back. Brayleigh was probably locating a guard to cower behind. Someone in the hall was screaming. Meaning someone she probably knew was scared or hurt. She wasn’t going to hide behind a guard.

  Vivilyn continued to run until she approached Natalie’s room. Like she had that morning.

  What was different this time, though, was Natalie. Earlier she had been filled with anger, her face dark with fury.

  Now, her curly hair was tangled. Her skin lost any color as she held on to the wall. Tears fell down the woman’s cheeks. Other ladies had filed out of their rooms in different states of dishevelment.

  “What is it?” Mayla asked as she put her arm comfortingly around the woman. Natalie didn’t speak, she just pointed into the room.

  On a silver platter, set in the middle of the room was what appeared to be a long finger with two rings on it. All around it, a red goo fell off. Vivilyn vaguely recognized the rings.

  “My grandmother…” Natalie said. She tried taking deep breaths, but her voice still cracked when she spoke again. “They’re her rings. She only takes them off for her baths. That means…. The finger…” Natalie’s knees buckled. Had Mayla not been next to her, then she would have fallen on the ground.

  “Get her into one of the other rooms,” Lady Reanna said, helping pick up her other side.

  One finger shaped carrot at your service. Family heirlooms and red gel. The words bubbled up in her mind.

  “It’s not a finger,” Vivilyn said before she could
stop herself. Everyone froze.

  “What do you mean?” One of the guards had arrived. “It looks like a finger to me.”

  Why do words just seem to pop out of my mouth like that? Vivilyn questioned in her mind.

  “The shape of it,” Vivilyn continued, unable to stop now that she’d started. “The angle of it. It can’t be a finger. It looks more like a carrot to me.”

  A couple of the ladies nearby covered their mouths to halt them from gagging.

  “How would you know?’ Brayleigh said harshly. She’d approached the group with eighteen different guards.

  “I grew up growing things.”

  “And severing fingers?” Brayleigh accused.

  “Of course not,” Vivilyn said.

  “Well, at least we can all agree it wasn’t me this time,” Serinta interrupted before Brayleigh could respond.

  “What are you talking about?” Brayleigh scoffed. “Why would you even say that? Of course it wasn’t you.”

  Lance entered the area with Fiona directly behind him. He immediately took control of the situation and spoke, “We need to clear the area. Everyone, go to your rooms at once. Where is Lady Natalie?”

  “She’s in Mayla’s room,” one of the women said as the rest were dispersing.

  Serinta walked silently next to Vivilyn as they went to her room. As they passed by Darissa’s room, they could both hear loud snoring.

  “Can you actually sleep with her snoring so loudly?” Serinta asked as Vivilyn opened the door.

  “It’s kind of comforting,” Vivilyn said. “Before I got to know her, yeah, it was difficult, but now that I know her it isn’t so bad.”

  “You’re sunburnt.” Serinta said as Fiona entered the room behind the two.

  “That’s what happens when you spend your whole afternoon at the beach. Fiona, would you mind helping me draw a bath?” Vivilyn hated to ask, but no one had shown her how to use the tub yet. There were at least six more knobs to choose from than her shower at home.

  “Don’t you worry, Miss Vivilyn,” Fiona said, “I’ll take care of it at once.” She ran into the bathroom.

  “I meant…” Vivilyn said as she heard the water start, “to actually help me do it…” Vivilyn noticed Serinta looking extra closely at Vivilyn’s sunburn. “Can I help you?”

  “A bath is going to hurt,” she said. “At least, unless you add something soothing to it. Hold on,” Serinta rummaged through the newly added shelves that held her stuff and pulled out a container of an orangish-brown liquid.

  “What is that?”

  “Apple cider vinegar,” Serinta said. “It won’t smell great, but it’ll help soothe the sunburn rather than irritate it in the warm water.”

  “Why… why are you being so nice?”

  “We are going to live together,” Serinta said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want you complaining all day the next few days about a sunburn.”

  Vivilyn opened her mouth to state it wouldn’t be a burn for long, but didn’t get a chance.

  Phoebe, Serinta’s maid, entered after a quick knock. In front of her, she held a covered tray with two empty glasses and a bottle of wine to the side. When she removed the cover, Phoebe revealed a cheese tray with four different cheeses and some fruit.

  “I thought you might be hungry when you got back,” Serinta said. “Do you like cheese?” Before Vivilyn could respond, Serinta answered herself, “Of course you’ll like it. It’s free food. You’re poor.”

  “My family has never lacked for food,” Vivilyn said shortly, as Fiona opened the door to the bathroom again and Andrea walked in with a small bag of new soaps. Vivilyn continued speaking as she walked to the bathroom. “That’s how it works when you help grow the food for the surrounding four cities.” She slammed the door a little harder than she intended.

  Vivilyn felt her entire body grow warm as she clenched her hands into fists at her sides.

  “Where does she get the right to talk to me like that?”

  She didn’t know why that was the comment that caused her temper to flare. Brayleigh had been saying things like it since the day they met.

  “My family has never gone hungry.” She could remember how thin Iza and her entire family had been when they’d first come into her life.

  “She’s scared,” Andrea said before Vivilyn could say anything else. Fiona helped Vivilyn remove her clothing without aggravating her sunburn at all. Then she took the liquid out of Vivilyn’s hand and poured it into the water.

  “What could someone like her be scared of?” Vivilyn asked before stepping into the water, still fuming. The water steamed against her skin soothingly as she quickly lowered her body so the suds of the bubbles would cover her. “She’s been handed everything her whole life. I, at least, am aware that I’ve led a safe and sheltered life. She hasn’t had to worry about anything, just like all the other women here.”

  Andrea frowned after sighing heavily.

  “Have you asked her about her life at all?” Andrea asked. She handed one of the rose scented bars of soap to Fiona. Her disappointed gaze made Vivilyn’s heart feel heavy. She didn’t say anything in response to the question, just shook her head and let her gaze fall to the water in front of her.

  “Scared of everything that’s going on,” Andrea continued. Her face was red as though she was angry or frustrated. “She’s scared that she’ll get blamed for what’s going on, scared for Natalie, and scared of losing.” She rubbed her thumb and forefinger over her eyebrows. “You don’t know where these women are coming from. Just like they need to overcome their assumptions of you, you need to do the same for them.”

  “What?”

  “Not everyone who was chosen has a similar outlook as you. You have a family and a whole town that adore you, and when you go home, no matter when it is, they will still love you. Many of these women have trained their whole lives with the hope they got chosen. These women… they won’t get the cheers and hugs that you will if you leave. Losing this or getting kicked out… that’s not acceptable for them or their families.”

  Vivilyn dunked her head into the water rapidly before she responded. If her face wasn’t already red, she knew she would have been blushing. It never crossed her mind that the others didn’t come from a similarly loving family. They were of Rank, of course. They didn’t have to work anywhere near as hard as her family did. So why would losing matter?

  “That cheese tray is a peace offering from Lady Serinta,” Andrea said as she handed one of the new soaps to Fiona who immediately started washing Vivilyn’s back. “It would be advantageous for you to accept it.”

  “How do you know all this?” Vivilyn asked.

  “I’ve been in her shoes before,” Andrea said with a shrug, then looked back to Vivilyn. “I was terribly similar to Serinta during my Trials. There was one person not of rank and… I didn’t understand how I felt then or why I acted as I did. Now that I’m older, though, I do.” She looked at Vivilyn, eyes wide as though she was pleading with her. “I overheard her order the tray with two glasses of wine.”

  Andrea looked towards the door.

  “Everyone here comes from somewhere different,” she said as she closed her eyes to her own memories. “Never forget that everyone has their own past. Everyone has their own stories. Never make assumptions about others here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Vivilyn said. She felt the same way she did when Suzetta was expressing her disappointment in how she was acting.

  “Now, I’m going to go tell Malcolm that you returned safely and he will expect a full detailed rundown of the date in the morning. I assume you’ll be having breakfast with Lady Darissa, so we will have your outfit ready.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Vivilyn felt suitably reprimanded. As soon as Andrea left the room, she ducked her entire head under the hot water. Her face stung as the water hit her sunburn.

  “Yes, we should wash your hair as well,” Fiona said as Vivilyn lifted her head back out of the water. “Here, this should wash it a
nd then we’ll put the softening cream in it.”

  Vivilyn didn’t speak as Fiona washed her hair. Instead she focused on the bubbles that moved from her hair onto the water. The smell of roses and vinegar filled Vivilyn’s head. The warmth of the water burned more as she ducked her head back under the water. Her shoulders stung, but not horribly. Either the apple cider vinegar was doing as Serinta suggested it would or she wasn’t as sunburnt as she thought she was.

  Serinta is afraid of failing, Vivilyn thought to herself as Fiona rubbed the lathered soap out of her hair. I’m afraid of someone discovering that I have visions. She let out some of her air before surfacing from the water again. We have something in common, but I could never tell her that.

  Once Fiona rinsed all the soap and softening cream out of her hair, she stood and let the water drip off her. She watched as a blob of bubbles fell from her knee down her calf. Fiona quickly handed her a soft burgundy towel as she stepped out of the tub.

  She wrapped the towel around her body as Fiona pulled another towel out and started drying her now sand-free hair. After she was mostly dry, she slipped on some green leggings and a black tank top.

  When she stepped out of the bathroom, Serinta sat at the desk, flipping through multiple of Vivilyn’s sketches. Her new roommate stood up quickly as she entered the room.

  “Did you do all of those?” She asked, gesturing to the stack of pictures. Most of them were of sunsets or sunrises, a few were of people, and two were close ups of flowers in the gardens. The sketch on top was of a white rose with a honeybee fluttering directly above it.

  Vivilyn nodded.

  “You’re…. you’re really good,” Serinta admitted as she picked up the top picture. “I can almost hear the bee and smell the flower. All it needs now is some color and…” Her gaze shifted over to the easel where a blank canvas sat. “You really made these.” She looked closer at the sketch and smiled in disbelief. “These are fantastic.”

  “Thank you,” Vivilyn said as she blushed. She didn’t normally show her artwork to people and she didn’t feel comfortable with someone going through her work without her permission. Even at home in Treelyn, no one had gone through her sketches without her express approval, but Serinta was of Rank. She had seen real paintings from famed artists throughout the lands. Perhaps even some by Grisoli of Trikilio, Vivilyn couldn’t help but be flattered by the compliment.