Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

the rest of its chill. Allowing herself a moment of luxury, Alyssa washed her hair and let the servant girls scrub her skin red.
    Mary shortly returned, holding a blue dress of fine material.
    “It belonged to Theo’s younger sister,” Mary explained. “I’ve already asked him, so don’t worry.”
    They pulled her out of the bath, toweled her off, and then flung the dress over her head. The laces across the back seemed old-fashioned and overly elaborate, but Mary navigated them with ease.
    “Suck your breath in more,” Mary ordered. Alyssa obeyed. The laces slid tighter. Alyssa’s chest heaved upward, looking twice its original size. When she looked down at her own body, the cleavage seemed obscene.
    “Bear through,” Mary said, recognizing the look. “A man thinks with his nether regions. The sight of you will stir him, and as long as a man’s stirred, he’s stupid.”
    “What if he’s stupid before?”
    Mary put her calloused fingers on Alyssa’s chin and pulled her face close.
    “Watch your tongue, girl,” said the elder. “Men may be stupid, but women talk, and all around you are ears.”
    The girls dabbed her with perfume, combed her hair, and draped a multitude of necklaces across her neck and chest. When they were finished, she glanced into an offered looking glass, hardly recognizing the woman in the reflection. She knew that the Gemcroft name allowed her the luxuries she wore, but never once had she felt compelled to decorate herself so outlandishly.
    Mary dismissed the rest of the servant girls.
    “For your sake, remain patient,” she told Alyssa. “You’ll gain yourself nothing but bruises if you resist ineffectually. Deep down the Kulls are animals, dangerous animals. Do whatever you must to keep them calm.”
    Alyssa shook her head, wondering how her future had turned so grim. That night Yoren would come for her, as he would the next, and the next. More and more she wanted to turn him away, to deny his touch, but Mary’s meaning was clear. Resisting meant beatings, or worse. Cruel as it sounded, she felt she deserved her predicament. From the moment she’d started listening to the lies Yoren had whispered in her ear as they cuddled in her bed, she’d earned this. She had believed his silver tongue and turned against her father. For that she was thrown out, and now she was chained to Yoren’s true nature.
    The skirt she wore had several layers. Mary separated them, making sure that Alyssa watched. The innermost was thin, white, and silky. Along the inner thigh was a single pocket. Mary slid the dagger inside.
    “Never let him find it,” Mary said.
    Alyssa nodded.
    “Thank you,” she said.
    “Come,” said Mary, extending her hand. “You have a meal to attend.”
    This time Theo did rise at her entrance. A stupid grin spread across Yoren’s face. Alyssa knew that at one time she had thought it charming, and that only enhanced her conviction that she had been an idiotic girl. Blind. Stupid. Careless. She was starting to run out of ways to insult the girl she’d been only days earlier.
    “You look stunning,” Theo said. “Isn’t that right, Son?”
    “Breathtaking,” said Yoren.
    Without being asked, Alyssa took a seat beside Yoren. She could tell he was pleased by the obedient-wife act. That was good; it’d keep him unsuspecting, but more important she hoped it would keep her from being dismissed from their planning. Despite their setbacks, she knew they still eyed the wealth of her family. The more she knew, the better her chance of minimizing the damage.
    “We were actually just discussing returning you to your rightful position among the Gemcroft family,” Theo said, sipping wine from a gaudy gold cup. “It seems we were foolish to trust those Karak bitches to do anything right.”
    “It was not their fault,” Alyssa said, hoping it might incite a bit of anger, and therefore information. “My father was ready.”
    “He usually is,” Theo said, his words dripping with bitterness. “I remember sending my men to grab what was rightfully mine, but even all those miles away from Riverrun he was still prepared. It wasn’t just the gold, Alyssa, it was deeds, titles, and information. Everything east of the Queln River should be mine. Those lands deserve a true lord! Lord Gandrem has no rightful claim. Let him have the plains. He belongs with the grazing cattle.”
    If she’d meant to incite anger, she’d done exceedingly well. Though she knew of Theo’s