Page 29

The two of us entered another bosquet, with orange trees planted in a circle around us, their perfume thick and sweet in the air. Bushes with berries and patches of vegetables all surrounded the fountain in the center. A marble statue of a deity with a bird on their shoulder, a lamb in their arms, vines crawling along their robes, and a crown of abundant flowers.

“Le Bosquet du Jardin de la Vie,” said Ofelia. “To the deity of life.”

We stood, wordless, listening to the rush of water and the wind breezing through the orange trees. I gazed up at the statue, at the bird on its shoulder, and my forehead wrinkled. I hadn’t heard any birds, not in the whole garden. I looked to the sky to see if I could catch any flitting by.

“What is it?” Ofelia asked.

“Birds go quiet when Shadows are near,” I said softly.

Ofelia’s hand took mine, and she slowly led me out of the bosquet. “There are no Shadows here—we’re safe now.”

Still I listened; still I looked to the skies. “We saw Shadows just beyond the palace gates.”

“Yes, but we are within the palace grounds now.” She gestured behind her back to the bosquet. “This whole place is blessed. It honors the gods. Surely no monsters could come into a place like this.”

How sweet her words sounded. How much I longed to believe them.

Yet as we walked, something within me, something trained but unnamable, continued to feel ill at ease. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. There was a tingling in my spine, that strange, invisible sense of someone watching me. I glanced behind me—but there was only a sunlit garden.

Ofelia’s hand petted my arm. “It’s all right,” she promised. Like I was some child having a nightmare.

Perhaps Iwasimagining things. Years on the wall, being trained to be nothing but vigilant... it could have addled my mind.

But no birds sang.

I kept my eyes upon the vast, black shadows the hedges cast onto the gravel.

Ofelia guided us into a new area—but instead of an open space, there was a large iron grate between the two walls of hedges. She approached the grate, frowning, her fingers curling around the little diamonds formed between the lattice grate. “I don’t remember this area on the map,” she remarked.

I stepped closer, peering through. This bosquet was a large circle, like the others, lined with white gravel. But there were no plants, no fountains. Only a white, domed pavilion. At its center was a black door with a golden handle—it stood alone, attached to nothing but the marble floor.

“Each bosquet honors a god,” I said softly. “Who could this be for?”

Ofelia’s eyes had a little twinkle in them as they flicked toward me. “The deity of doors, perhaps?”

We frowned at that strange door.

“Or maybe it’s some sort of artwork?” Ofelia murmured.

I kept my fingers curled against the cool iron. The feeling from before—that Shadows were close by—it didn’t abate. The hissing sound I heard—was it the water from the fountains? Was it the wind through the trees? Or could it be the monsters that had followed me throughout my entire life?

I watched our silhouettes on the gravel drive, mine tall and angled, hers short and round, and then—suddenly, a large shadow swallowed both of our figures.

In an instant, I withdrew the knife hidden in my boot—the only weapon the palace hadn’t taken from me. I whirled around, pushing Ofelia behind me, and in a second, I had my dagger pointed—but not at a Shadow. It touched the silvery throat of a soldier’s armor. He wore a breastplate and gorget over the deep blue coat of the king’s guard. He had a halberd leaning against his shoulder as he glared down at us with icy eyes.

The soldier grabbed me by the lapels of my coat. “Who do you think you are, assaulting one of the king’s knights?”

Ofelia darted close, and with her so near, I lowered my blade.

“Sir, this lady is my personal guard,” she said. “She was only protecting me; you startled us. Now, please, enough of this roughness. Let her go.”

He shoved me back a pace. I kept my hand around thehandle of the blade, and even though I knew that this man wasn’t the enemy, I remained on my guard.

The soldier gave me a hard look. “Courtiers are not permitted to have weapons, señorita.”

“Caballera,” I corrected. “It is my duty to protect Lady Ofelia against the Shadows, and I will not do so unarmed.”

His lip curled. “There are no Shadows at Le Château.”