Wench by Maxine Kaplan

Author:Maxine Kaplan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2021-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

16

Tanya had never known a louder silence. She remembered the first time she had seen the quill, huddled around a box with Jana, how they had gasped, dazzled at the glitter. But these were members of the Council. Surely, they had seen sights far more bewildering than a feather, even this feather?

Tanya was still looking down when a cool, firm fingertip found her palm. As the Queen’s bare skin traced all the way around the feather, probing the lines in her hand, calluses and all, Tanya became aware that she was shaking.

Still, she didn’t dare look up.

The Queen’s fingertip disappeared from her palm, an absence Tanya felt as immediately as a torn bandage off a scabbed knee. When it came back down, it hit the feather, pressing down on the spine.

A tremor shivered through Tanya’s whole body. The Queen pressed harder and Tanya gasped.

The magic feather erupted, shooting black and white sparks that hit the ceiling, then rained back onto the icy floor in a shower of gold flakes.

The Queen herself gasped and Tanya finally looked up.

The Queen was clasping Tanya’s hand in her own, her eyes wide and wondering as gold floated all around them as leisurely and naturally as cherry blossoms falling off a tree in spring.

The Queen wasn’t a living flower. She wasn’t a snow sculpture, remote and too distant to be anything but beautiful.

She was ageless and nameless, but this was also a flesh-and-blood woman with sharp fingernails and a dimple in her chin.

The last of the gold shattered to the floor and the Queen’s gaze fell with it, her eyes meeting Tanya’s.

The Queen blinked, but she didn’t remove her hand or look away. She stroked the quill all the way down its spine. The quill shivered and turned over, like a dog wanting its belly rubbed.

The crotchety councilman cleared his throat and broke the silence. “Your Majesty? Might I examine that quill?”

It was still gently glittering, emitting a blueish light. The Queen gave it one more stroke and lifted her finger. It flickered quickly through black, purple, and red before settling into its customary shining white and nestling back into Tanya’s palm—instead of a dog, now a kitten in need of a nap.

“Of course, my dear duke.” Tanya’s whole body stiffened at the sound of the Queen’s voice. It didn’t sound like it came out of a human being. The Queen of Lode had a voice like a harp.

“You may stand, Tanya,” said the Queen. Tanya obeyed, stumbling on her ridiculous hem as she did so. The Queen didn’t seem to notice. The bland smile on her face didn’t move.

The Queen’s eyes really were something. They were a swirl of color and ever changing, one minute, black and gray; another, blue and green; the next, gold.

It made them extremely hard to read.

“Would you please bring the quill to the Duke of Xane?”

Tanya had never even heard of the Duke of Xane, but she brought the quill over to the man with the cigar. She knelt in front of him, careful to not bend as low as she had to the Queen.

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