I stop short, panting a little, because I’m both angry and scared. Amaya looks confused and apprehensive, not sure if she should be flattered by the lord’s attention or worried about it. She hesitates, looking toward Father for direction.
“I’ll get what you need, Uncle.” Kalliarkos shakes his shoulders as if releasing himself from a rope that has pulled him up short. He walks to the buffet table. “These shrimp look particularly succulent. Let me add one of these stuffed mushrooms, your favorite, Uncle. And here is coriander bread shaped as fish!”
Trumpets blow to announce that the next four adversaries are taking their places at the ladders in the undercourt. Father grabs hold of my arm, his grip like iron, and drags me inexorably away from the railing. I can’t see the start as the bells chime down the familiar melody.
The crowd sings along:
Shadows fall where pillars stand.
Traps spill sparks like grains of sand.
Seen atop the trees, you’re known.
Rivers flow to seas and home.
Rings around them, rings inside,
The tower at the heart abides.
A mighty shout signals the start of the run, but of course I can’t see anything from back here.
Mother glances our way but Father lifts his chin, his way of saying, Stay out of this.
A masked servant lifts the entry drape, and Father hauls me into the stuffy interior. The cloth-screened passage seems dimmer than it did before. We are alone.
He slaps me hard across the face.
“You made a spectacle of yourself, Jessamy. I do not care what pleasures his smile offers, or how well-intentioned he seems. If I bring my daughters into public, I expect them to be dutiful and modest. Amaya is the only one of you girls who has any chance for a respectable alliance. Do not ruin it for her by hoping to become a rich lord’s whore!”
My mouth drops open. The unfairness and crudity of his scolding scalds like boiling water.
“That you would cast your ribbons at a most unsuitable young man shocks me. I expect you to know better.” The way he examines my face and person makes me feel I am a worm crushed under the sole of his boot. “Not only is Lord Kalliarkos nephew to Lord Gargaron, his grandmother is a princess of the royal line, a wealthy woman who owns an entire shipyard. You will never speak to him again, do you hear me?”
7
I stare at the three chalk marks on my leather slippers. My cheek stings. “Yes, Father.”
“He can have no interest in a girl like you except for what can never be allowed. What exactly did he say to you?”
My breath is coming in gulps as tears trickle alongside my nose. A headache jolts up the back of my neck and my sight swims.
“He just talked about the Fives. I felt it polite to reply. I didn’t know what else to do.”
He frowns more in sorrow than in anger. “I suppose you could not have refused to answer when he spoke directly to you. Very well. Wait for me in the retiring room.”
He goes out.
A masked servant enters, perhaps the same one who held the drape. All I can see of her face is her eyes. She tracks me as I retreat to the retiring room. A breeze stirs the cloth walls as I enter. Sinking onto the couch I fold forward and rest my throbbing head on my arms. The golden day has turned sour and horrible.
The curtain swings aside and Father steers Amaya in.
“You two are leaving immediately.”
Amaya chirps in her sweetest voice, “Father, with our mother so close to her time, perhaps you will permit me to remain here in the retiring room. Denya can sit with me so I won’t be alone. That way I can look after Mother should she become over-tired before you are released from your duties by Lord Ottonor.”
He takes a step toward her. “Your mother is safe with me!”
Amaya does not cringe. “Father, I only seek the best for our mother. We girls worry for her when she is so close to her time.” She launches her next attack. “Since Maraya couldn’t come, she particularly asked Jes and me to make sure Mother is comfortable.”
His skin darkens with a flush, for any reminder of Maraya’s deformity shames him. “You will accompany Jessamy back to the house.”
Amaya resorts to her wheedling voice. “I’m so disappointed we have to leave early. Denya mentioned one of the military men is looking for a wife, and I prayed to the oracles that maybe he would notice me. But I suppose there is no hope for that now. I know Jes was foolish and selfish but I have to say that Lord Gargaron was rude to us.” She flicks a convenient tear from her eye as her voice catches on half of a sob.
“A lord of his rank is accustomed to speaking as he wishes,” says Father, “but I will not hear my daughters spoken of in such insulting terms. I can make no objection to such a man so I am sending you home to get you out of his way.”