The Office of Shadow (12 page)

"Sela," he said. "What if I told you I had an opportunity for you to be
useful and good? More useful than you can possibly imagine?"

What game was Everess playing? What fancy of his was this? While Sela
had been at Copperine, Everess had visited from time to time. They'd played
draughts. He'd checked up on her, asked after her health, made sure she was
being taken care of and treated properly. But she had never been under the
illusion that he loved her or even cared for her as another Fae. She was a duty
of his, and though she'd never understood the exact nature of that duty, she
knew the reason for it. It was not the same reason that Lord Tanen had raised
her, had invested so much in her upbringing, but it was not far different, she
felt now.

"You misunderstand me, Lord Everess," Sela said, stiffening. "I did not
say I wished to be used. I said I wished to be useful."

Again the smile. Sela could not think of anything she'd ever said to
Everess that had wiped that smile off his face. Someday, she found herself
thinking, she would find a way.

"I apologize profusely, miss," said Everess, leaning back and releasing her
hands. "I did not mean to imply that."

"Then let us stop circling around it," said Sela. "What is it that you
want?"

Everess stood and began making a lap around the room, inspecting the
mantelpiece, sniffing at the condition of the wallpaper. "How long have you
been at Copperine, Sela?"

More circling, then. "Ten years." She could just as easily have told him
the number of days.

"Do you know why I brought you here?" he said.

"I have an assumption," said Sela. "At first, I simply assumed you were being kind, knowing so little of kindness as I did. After a time I came to
believe that it was because you could simply think of nothing better to do
with me. But now I know why."

"And why is that?"

"Because you believed that at some point I would become a valuable asset
to you. And now that time has come."

"Well," said Everess, drawing out the word. "All three of your assumptions are true, to a greater or lesser degree. I did and still do feel very warmly
toward you, Sela. And at the time, I certainly had no idea what was to be
done with you. You don't really belong here, but I could never figure out
where you did belong. And as for your being an asset, Sela ..."

He paused, perhaps thinking of the right way to say it, then gave up.
"It's true, of course. One doesn't get to where I am without understanding
people and how they can be maneuvered into serving one's own ends."

"How noble," she said.

He ignored her. "But believe me when I say, Sela, that I do care for you.
More than you think. And I want you be happy."

Was this true? Maybe he thought it was true.

"Regardless, I've found a place for you. A place where you can use your
talents. Where you can be of use to me. And where you can be truly useful.
Does that interest you?"

Sela scoffed. "What difference does it make? I have no control over where
I'm sent."

"Well, of course not. You're a ward of the Crown. I am, as a matter of
law, your guardian and master. That is a matter beyond my control, and I
wouldn't change it even if I could. But even though the choice is mine to
make, I offer it to you. I require you to choose what I'm going to offer you of
your own free will."

"Why?" she said, raising her voice. "What is this? What is it you want
of me?"

Everess smiled again. "I want you to save the world, my dear. How useful
would that make you?"

Sela left the conversation with Everess feeling as though she knew less than
she had going in. When she returned to her room, she discovered a pair of
servants packing her things into new suitcases. Or, rather, one new suitcase,
as there was nothing to put in the other. Four dresses, a hat, a book of poems,
a hand mirror. Underthings. Not much else. That was all she owned in the
world. Without a word, one of the servants closed and latched the one used
suitcase and carried it out of the room. The other motioned her to follow him.

Outside, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. Everess stood by his carriage, an
elaborate thing, fit for a nobleman of his stature. He was waving her forward.

This was Everess in a nutshell. He spoke to you of choices, of caring. But
while he was offering you choices, your bags were being packed in the other
room.

The carriage ride was bumpy and unpleasant. The new dress that Everess had
purchased for her was stiff, and it scratched at her neck and wrists, though
she had to admit she adored the glamoured pattern of poppies that gently
waved across the skirt in a nonexistent breeze. The shoes were another matter.
Detestable, evil things that pressed her toes together and bit at her heels. In
Copperine House she'd worn slippers every day, and had forgotten that such
evils as dress shoes existed. She'd once had hard calluses on her feet from
wearing even more fashionable shoes than these, but that was in the past.

After nearly a full day's travel, the Mechesyl Road began to widen into a
highway with several lanes of traffic on either side. Most were leaving the
city. Peddlers with donkeys loaded with pots and pans, cheeses, sausages,
intricately woven charms, potions, boots, belts, tiny birds, mice, wooden
toys. All returning from the Grand Bazaar just outside the gates of the City
Emerald. Soldiers on horseback riding in formation-the blue-gray coats of
the Seelie Army, the deep red of the Royal Guard-carefully and nonchalantly keeping out of each other's way. A few pretty carriages such as the one
in which she rode, off to nearby villas, mostly closed with curtains drawn,
pulled by matched teams of white mares (these, explained Everess, were currently all the rage, taking care to point out his own pair). Men on horseback, groups of rough-looking men wearing swords and knives. Farmers with their
carts carrying the day's leftover produce.

Then came the City Emerald. The carriage turned the corner at the crest
of the hill and began to descend, and the city came into view, the sinking sun
exploding from the surface of a wide lake and bathing the Great Seelie Keep
in light. The keep was at the direct center of the city, built atop a hill that it
was said Regina Titania raised from the ground with a wave of her wrist. Surrounding the keep were Titania's pleasure gardens, acre upon acre of real
estate accessible only to the queen and her eunuch gardeners. From there the
city radiated out in all directions. Spires of temples and cathedrals reaching
to the sky, their windows flashing with sunlight as the carriage began to
move downhill. Towers made of glass spirals that defied gravity, whose purpose was unknown to any save the queen herself. Buildings of every shape and
size and age, some erected thousands of years in the past, some brand-new.

The City Emerald was ever changing, of every age, seemingly eternal.
Sela had read about it many times, but had never seen it.

Surrounding the city like a projection of the Seelie Keep was the wall, a
thing of deep and perplexing magic. It appeared to be no more than twenty
feet tall, but by all accounts it was impossible to reach the top of it. Anyone
was invited to climb it if they so wished, but no matter how much time they
spent ascending it, the battlements remained forever out of reach. Or so Sela
had been told. No place in all of Faerie was more steeped in legend and myth
than the City Emerald, and the truth about it, whatever it was, was so deeply
buried that it was impossible to sort out from the stories. Sela imagined that
Regina Titania kept it that way on purpose. Who would be foolish enough
to assault such a place? It was moot, because no foreign power had ever been
allowed the opportunity.

The carriage continued down the hill, and over the course of an hour, the
City Emerald continued to grow larger and larger in Sela's sight. Just when
she thought it could not appear any grander, the carriage would pass through
a stand of trees and it would emerge again in her vision, seeming twice as
large as before. She had never seen a thing so enormous, but then, she had
seen so little of the world. Only Lord Tanen's estate and Copperine House,
and neither, apparently, was representative of the Seelie Kingdom at large.

Finally they reached the North Gate and were waved through without
comment by the guards stationed there. The gate was not high, but it was
very wide and allowed multiple lanes of traffic to pass side by side. For a
moment there was darkness as they passed beneath the wall, and Sela felt a
brief chill that was not merely a drop in temperature. Then they were
through, and the City Emerald lay sprawled out before her.

The most recent buildings lined the streets nearest the gate. These streets
were filled with shops and inns and stables. A sweet, almost pleasant smell
drifted into the carriage-beer, sawdust, manure. A whiff of roasting pork
found its way to her nose and she felt her salivary glands contract, realizing
that she hadn't eaten since leaving Copperine House. Everess's nose twitched
at the smell, and he adjusted the blinds on his side, lighting a scented candle
in a sconce next to the window.

"Do you think we might eat soon?" Sela said, breaking the silence
between them that had lasted almost the entire trip.

"What?" Everess said, starting. "Oh, yes. My apologies. I myself never
eat more than one meal a day-I find eating to be a singular waste of time
and do it as seldom as possible."

Looking at Everess's round belly, Sela imagined that his single meal must
be quite something to behold.

"We'll be at my city home shortly, and I'll have the chef prepare a little
something for us."

A little something turned out to be a feast the likes of which Sela had never
seen: roasted grouse, a ham, a side of beef, with turnips, squash, pumpkin,
potatoes, and beets. Bowls of rose petals and chrysanthemums were constantly refilled by servants-Sela stuck mostly to these, having never developed a taste for meat.

Everess's city home was at least the size of Copperine House, and in the
middle of the city-on the Boulevard Laurwelana which, Everess had pointed
out, was the most exclusive street in the city. All Sela knew was that she felt
comfortable here.

The street outside was loud and confusing. Strangers were everywhere.
She would have to get used to strangers. She'd known everyone at Copperine
House, understood how they fit. Even when new residents or staff arrived, she
had a context in which to place them. But here in the city, everyone was new
all the time. They came and went. She barely had time to get a sense of one
before that one was gone and another came along. It made her head hurt.

"Are you well?" said Everess, pausing over a bite of ham.

"Yes," she said. She touched her forehead and it felt clammy. "I'd like to
see my room, please."

The bedroom was papered in dark damask, and the bedclothes were a
deep burgundy. Everess had remembered, at least, how she preferred her surroundings. Her clothes had already been unpacked and put away. Her few
personal items were on a table by the bed.