Chapter 19.5 Watched

Rylla knew the Qarthosi had returned before anyone bothered to tell her. The castle changed when foreign guests arrived. Servants moved faster. Doors that normally stood open were closed. Rugs appeared in corridors where Rylla was fairly certain there had never been rugs before, and someone had put flowers in the blue sitting room despite the fact that no one in the family actually liked the blue sitting room. 

By breakfast, there were twice as many guards near the western courtyard. By midday, Rylla had counted three unfamiliar servants and one man dressed in dark Qarthosi clothing being escorted toward her father’s council rooms. No one had said anything to her, which, naturally meant something was happening. 

She found Princess Gabryella in the gardens. Rylla had expected her to be taller. It was a ridiculous thought. They had not been apart long enough for Gabryella to become an entirely different person, but Rylla had somehow remembered her as older. Perhaps because Gabryella had seemed older the first time they met. Not in years, but in the way she carried herself. She had listened when Rylla spoke instead of smiling at her as though she were a clever child performing for adults. That alone had made Rylla like her. 

Gabryella stood beside one of the fountains, studying the carved fish spitting water into the basin. “You came back.” Rylla broke the silence. 

For half a second, surprise broke through the careful expression she wore. Then she smiled. “I did.”

Rylla crossed the remaining distance between them. She had thought about Gabryella more than once since their first meeting. Mostly when she learned something interesting. There had been the kitchen maid who disappeared for three days and returned with a wedding ring. The visiting merchant who had lied to Jarreth about the number of wagons he had brought through the eastern gate. The argument between two minor lords that everyone thought was about hunting land, but Rylla was almost certain had been about one of their wives. None of those things had seemed important enough to send across the world, so Rylla kept them. 

Secrets, her mother had taught her, became considerably less useful once everyone knew them. Gabryella looked toward the castle, it was a small movement. Rylla noticed it anyway. “Are you staying long?” 

“A little while.” 

That was not an answer. Rylla smiled. Gabryella looked back at her and smiled too. That was when Rylla knew. Something was different. She couldn’t have said exactly what. Gabryella was still Gabryella. Her clothes were different, of course. Qarthosi fabrics always seemed heavier than Korvethian ones, layered and embroidered in ways that made Rylla wonder how anyone survived summer there. Her hair had been pinned back with several narrow pieces of metal that caught the sun whenever she moved. 

But it wasn’t that. Gabryella was being careful. Rylla knew careful. She had been raised by High Queen Lioraen, so she didn’t ask. Instead, they began to walk together. Gabryella asked about the castle. Rylla told her that nothing interesting had happened, which was a lie, and Gabryella accepted it, which meant she knew it was a lie. 

They passed beneath the covered walkway along the edge of the gardens and into the shade. Rylla decided she still liked her. Ahead of them, someone shouted. A moment later, Tom came around the corner at a full run. Cedoric was behind him. “You cheated!” 

“I won.” Tom said cooly.

“You cheated and then you won!” the prince shouted. 

“That still sounds like winning!” Tom nearly collided with a servant carrying folded linens. He twisted sideways at the last second, shouted an apology over his shoulder, and kept going. 

Cedoric followed, but he slowed when he saw Rylla. For one hopeful moment, she thought her younger brother might be embarrassed…he wasn’t. “Have you seen Orther?” 

Rylla stared at him. “No.” 

“If you do, tell him Tom has his knife.” 

“I do not!” Tom called from somewhere farther down the corridor. 

Cedoric turned immediately. “You absolutely do!” Then he was gone. Rylla watched him disappear after Tom. 

“He’s twelve.” Rylla tried to combat all the thoughts Gabryella might be having in her head. Her guest didn’t answer. Rylla glanced towards her. The princess was still looking down the corridor. Not towards Tom, towards Cedoric. 

There was nothing particularly strange about it. Cedoric was loud. Tom was louder. Together, they tended to leave people staring after them for all sorts of reasons, but Gabryella wasn’t smiling. She wasn’t annoyed either. She was simply watching. 

Rylla waited. Gabryella finally looked back at her. “What?” 

There it was again. Careful. Rylla shrugged. “Nothing.” 

They continued walking. Rylla did not ask why the Qarthosi royal family had returned. She did not ask why Gabryella had looked toward the council rooms. She did not ask why she had watched Cedoric disappear down the corridor as though she were trying to remember something about him. 

There would be time for questions. Questions were useful when you knew which ones to ask. Until then, there was watching. Her mother had taught her that too. Gabryella began telling her something about the journey from Qarthos, and Rylla listened. At least, she appeared to. 

Behind them, somewhere deeper inside the castle, a door opened. Men’s voices carried briefly into the corridor, then the door closed again. Gabryella’s eyes flicked toward the sound. Only once. Rylla saw it, and said nothing.