Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

Author:Laura Sebastian
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2019-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

MARIAL HAD A DIFFICULT TIME covering the marks my practice with Artemisia left, but now they are barely visible, buried under so many creams and powders that my skin looks unnatural, like a painted doll’s. It also itches terribly.

“Stop fidgeting,” Dragonsbane snaps as we walk down the hall toward the dining pavilion. “And for gods’ sake, try to control yourself around the Emperor.”

My cheeks grow warm. “Erik is a friend.”

“A useless friend,” she counters. “You would be better off spending your time making new ones.”

I force myself to swallow down a retort.

“What do you know of the Vecturian Chief?” I ask her, to change the subject.

She scoffs. “He’s a doddering old fool. You don’t want to marry him.”

“I don’t want to marry anyone,” I remind her. “But I’ll do what I must for Astrea.”

Dragonsbane glances sideways at me, a surprised smile tugging at her mouth. “Good girl,” she says before pushing open the door to the pavilion.

She doesn’t see the effect those two words have on me. She can’t know that they were the same ones the Kaiser used to say to me when I did something he approved of. It isn’t the same thing, I know, but it feels a bit similar.

I push the feeling aside and follow her into the candlelit pavilion, which looks much the same as it did the night before, with the artfully arranged sofas and chairs, the countless small pillows, the paper lanterns hanging from the cloth ceiling.

The suitors are in their usual places as well, but there are more of them now. Empress Giosetta is here tonight, sitting in a corner with a young girl with plaited hair. There are also a few of the red-haired Esstenian kings, bickering over who gets to drink the last bit of wine in the bottle, and going at it with so much ferocity that I worry it will come to blows. Erik and Hoa sit together on the other side of the room, both dressed in their traditional Gorakian robes, and a strange old man with copper skin, a bald head, and a hawklike nose sits alone near them in a loose brown chiton that looks similar to fashions in Astrea, but much simpler, without the ornamentation or color. Chief Kapil, I’d imagine. He’s as old as Artemisia led me to believe, but he doesn’t wear the years the same way King Etristo does. Though he must be at least a decade older, there’s a spryness to his movements that the King doesn’t possess.

All the suitors rise when they see me, even Chief Kapil, though he has to lean heavily on his cane to do so. The only one who doesn’t stand is King Etristo, who is dozing in his chair. I pray to the gods that he doesn’t wake before the end of the night. If I have to hear him call me my dear tonight, I just might snap at him.

“Please, be seated,” I say, smiling at each of them. “Those of

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