The Herbwitch's Apprentice by Ireen Chau

Author:Ireen Chau [Chau, Ireen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ireen Chau
Published: 2021-03-23T22:00:00+00:00

18

“So, what are you doing again?” Tori whispered in my ear. I barely made out her words over Julianna’s operatic singing.

The crate on my lap shifted as I leaned over in my seat. “You’ll find out.”

Tori winced when Julianna hit an inhumanly high note that reverberated within the theatre. Even Genevieve, who had high tolerance for opera, grimaced. Olivia pulled her braids over her ears. When at last Julianna ended her song with a powerful vibrato, the theatre erupted in applause, concluding the first performance of the evening.

Madam Lucille emerged from the velvet curtains as Julianna curtsied low.

“Wonderful, simply wonderful! What a voice!” she exclaimed, giving Julianna an appraising look. Julianna tossed her hair as she returned to her box, which was unfortunately in front of mine.

“You were amazing, Julianna,” Samantha gushed, bunching up her skirts to let her pass.

Julianna sat primly, smoothing her satin gloves as she was bombarded with compliments from the girls in her box. She was awfully pleased with herself for someone who had damaged multiple pairs of ears.

“I know. Mama had me trained by professionals when I was a little girl,” Julianna said. “How fortunate I was to learn the arts instead of wasting my girlhood away in dirt and dusty studies.” She gave a tinkling laugh, throwing her head back far enough to look at me.

I narrowed my eyes, wishing I could tip the contents of my crate on her frustratingly stunning gown. But I couldn’t risk losing my supplies. And there was no saying how long it would take to get the rest.

In the box on the second level, Ash stood out from the red velvet seats in a suit of emerald green. He was talking to the queen, but occasionally glanced down at the sea of boxes below. Duchess Wilhelmina and Narcissa sat behind him. I leaned forward, trying to catch his attention with my stare alone, but found that it only strained my eyes and garnered a contemptuous glare from Samantha.

“Next is Lady Victoria Strongfoot, playing the lute,” Madam Lucille announced.

Tori jumped up from her seat and squeezed past me and Olivia, a hefty lute in her hands. “Wish me luck, girls.”

She didn’t stay to hear our good lucks, though, and bounded down the steps.

“How do you think they’ll take it?” I murmured to Genevieve.

“I’m sure she’ll do fine,” she whispered.

We had woken up to the sound of Tori’s lively lute playing for over a week. Neither Genevieve nor I had the heart to tell Tori that her lute needed desperate tuning. Despite our urgings for her to borrow a palace lute, she insisted on using hers, which once belonged to Lord Strongfoot when he almost became a minstrel.

The sound of a stool dragging across the stage could be heard through soft murmurs. Tori arranged herself on the seat, lifted the lute onto her lap, and began to play.

The first notes were miraculously in tune. It sounded like a simplified version of an old folk song, but as Tori continued, the tempo increased and became a spirited jig one might hear at a tavern.

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