Blood Song: The First Book of Lharmell Read Free Page B

Lilith wore for her last betrothal just won’t do.’ She clapped her hands. ‘Now go! I want to see styles and fabric samples this afternoon.’ Renata sighed happily and turned back to us. ‘This is going to be fun.’

TWO
    I t was a living hell.
    Renata was belting the tailor over the head with his own designs. ‘Rubbish! Rot! Pigswill!’ she cried, punctuating each of her words with a fresh thwack.
    The milliner and the corsetière stood in the corner, knowing it was their turn next.
    Lilith and I were sitting on a couch in Renata’s sitting room, surrounded by fabric samples, ribbons, buttons, beadwork and sketches. It was the third day of preparation and we were both beginning to think that wintering in the palace wouldn’t be so bad after all.
    ‘We may as well turn up in sackcloth and ashes rather than these designs. But perhaps even that would be beyond your skill? Now go away and come back when you can produce something that doesn’t make me want to boil you in oil.’
    The tailor tried to retrieve his designs from Renata, but she brandished them again and he scuttled off.
    ‘Next!’ Renata said, throwing the drawings onto the fire.
    ‘She’s in her element, isn’t she?’ Lilith whispered to me.
    I nodded. ‘I’ve never seen her like this. Not even when we went to Varlint.’
    ‘Do you think she really needs us?’
    ‘If we ask to leave, what are the chances she’ll throw us on the fire?’ I asked. ‘But then again, I don’t see why I have to be here –’
    Lilith gripped my arm. ‘If you leave me with her I’ll make my new husband find you a saggy old duke to marry. One with warts,’ she hissed.
    Renata came over with a scrap of lace from the corsetière. ‘How about this for your wedding night, Lilith?’
    Lilith snatched it away, going red. ‘Mother!’ She dropped her voice to a whisper, glancing at the milliner. ‘There are men in the room.’
    ‘Don’t be so precious, darling. Everyone in court is going to see you tucked up in bed in this nightgown.’
    Lilith stopped going red and turned white. ‘What?’
    ‘Oh, didn’t you know? They practically turn the wedding night into a carnival in Pergamia,’ Renata said, holding the fabric up to the light. ‘And then there’s the morning after.’
    ‘What happens the morning after?’ I asked.
    ‘They display the bedsheet.’
    Lilith looked horrified. She was so shy of her body that even I hadn’t seen her in less than her nightgown since she was eight. ‘Why do they display the bedsheet?’
    ‘So that everyone knows that the bride was pure, and that any child that turns up nine months later almost definitely belongs to the husband.’
    ‘ Almost definitely?’
    ‘Yes, darling. Brides have been known to have indiscretions after the sheet is taken down.’
    ‘I would never!’
    ‘Yes, yes, of course. You know, I always thought it would be rather odd, having breakfast in court under the conjugal evidence,’ Renata mused. ‘But that’s just the way they do things in Pergamia.’
    I began to snort with laughter. Lilith pinched my arm.
    ‘Ow! What? It’s funny,’ I protested.
    ––
    Amid the chaos of our preparations, I found myself needing – longing – to know more about the north. I couldn’t wait any longer.
    A few days later, while Renata and Lilith were occupied with wedding dresses, I snuck down to the library. I pushed the huge oak doors open and they groaned on their hinges. We didn’t use the place much, not since Lilith and I had finished our schooling. It contained lots of stuffy books, the sort you read only if you’re made to.
    It was dark, but I hadn’t brought a candle with me. I knew I wouldn’t need it as my eyesight was excellent. I sniffed and smelt mildew and mice, a wholly disgusting odour. Leap smelt it too, and got wide-eyed and disappeared among the stacks. Almost immediately a petrified squeaking started up.
    I walked around in the gloom, trying to remember where the geography books