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CHAPTER 9

“I DON’T THINK THEY’RE coming back, Your Highness,” Laude admitted after hours of denial.

The starlit sky domed over us. We used our trunk as a bench. I massaged my temples. Why did I let them take all our clothes and money? On the positive side, they left us the food, waterskins, and dishes.

“Princess? Do we sleep on the grass or take turns sleeping on the trunk?” Laude’s voice trembled.

“I don’t know.” I scratched at my forearm, and moonlight caught the metallic color stretching further along the spiral designs. I unfolded my rolled-up sleeves.

“If you don’t mind, Princess, you can sleep on the picnic blanket, and I’ll sleep on this old thing.” She bounced off the trunk and lifted a glowing finger to see the latch. “The grass is fairly springy, and Princess Beatriz of Giddel—”

I shot to my feet. “Laude, please don’t use my name.”

“Why is that?” She flipped the trunk open.

“Call me by any other name but my own.” Shadows shifted in an oscillating motion, reminding me of a snake, so I slid closer to Laude. She grappled with whatever she had packed in the trunk, sending clinks and clanks ringing through the air.

“Like a secret name?” She squeaked as she rose with the blanket in hand. The cringe-inducing noise she made was, most likely, accompanied by an exuberant expression. At least her face remained in shadow.

“Yes, a name that does not include princess or Beatriz.”

“Won’t people notice your clothes?”

My sleeves felt petal soft against my fingertips. Then I reached for Laude’s dress skirt. Hers scratched against my skin. “My outfit could pass for one worn by a townsperson, so long as no one touches it.”

“Your Highness, I’m not too sure about that.” She whipped the blanket, spreading it over the grass.

I rolled my eyes. “We don’t have a choice. And call me something like Serilda or Vera or Aldanca or anything but my real name and title.” I sat on the blanket, holding my knees tight to my body while Laude rummaged through the trunk.

Between Laude shuffling items, cricket chirps filled my ears, and the hoot of an owl sounded nearby. Just as I began to enjoy nature’s waltz, Laude whispered, “Did you hear that?”

My pulse quickened. I tilted my head, straining for a growl of danger.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Frogs singing. An occasional rustle of leaves.

“Sorry, it must have been my imagination, Your Highness.” She clapped the lid shut.

“Laude!”

“Sorry, Prin—” She stiffened. Her voice rose an octave. “I mean Miss Cicadas ?”

The strange name hung on the night air. “Have you ever heard of anyone who goes by that name?” I turned toward Laude. Even in the dim lighting, I could see her hesitant grin.

“It’s the first word that came to mind.”

“Call me ehh … Cypress.”

“Cypress?” Laude cleared her throat. “Miss Cypress.”

“Just Cypress.”

“I can’t do that. It feels too strange.” She settled on the trunk. “You know that Cypress is a plant? Isn’t that kind of the same thing as an insect?”

I shook my head. I breathed in the cool night air and rested on my back. Pressing my eyelids shut, I pictured Lux next to me. How I wished I could be traveling with him. Really, anyone would have been a better companion than Laude. Even Duke Marden would have sufficed. Mamá said that I needed to be more kind to Laude. Mamá must be blind when it comes to her.

“Miss Cypress does have a nice ring to it.”

Her words softened my frustration. Laude lay atop the hard trunk and brought her knees high to her chest to fit on top of it.

I turned toward the empty space beside me, guilt gnawing my insides. “You may sleep next to me.”

“Excellent idea, Miss Cypress.” She bounced over and nestled on the blanket.

Thousands of insects and snakes lurked nearby, but what choice did we have? At least it wasn’t too cold. I shut my eyes. “Laude?”

“Yes, miss?”

I snuck a peek at her shadowed profile, and a lump formed in my throat. “You could head back home instead of joining me. We have no guide, and we’re in more danger now than when we left. I must continue, but you don’t need to go on with me.” I hugged myself, feeling small and insignificant compared to the star-powdered sky. My hopes and dreams shrank to dust.

Laude gave my hand a gentle squeeze, just like Mamá would have. “I think we should continue your quest.”

“Laude, you don’t need to say that. The chances of us coming out of the valley alive are slim.”

Our breaths came out in heavy sighs with only crickets trilling in the background.

“No,” Laude raised her voice, “we need to finish this. You, because you’re miserable knowing your gift is out there somewhere. Me, because I finally don’t feel trapped. Sometimes, I wonder if the palace will suffocate me in my sleep.”

I laughed. This wasn’t what I expected her to say. In fact, I never considered what she felt—ever.

“I’m serious. I even have nightmares that the walls cave in over my bed. You call and call for me to help you, but the stones press in around me so tight I can barely breathe. And then I wake up.”

The buzzing of the night surrounded me with the eerie sensation of awakening gripped by fear. A pinch of pity lodged itself within my ribs. “That’s quite the nightmare. Let’s not talk of such things. We have a long walk ahead of us, wherever we go.”

“’Night, miss.”

“Goodnight.”

My marks itched, but my sleeves encased my upper arm too tightly to reach with my fingernails. I rubbed the silky fabric, but that didn’t help. A lump in the grass jutted into my back, and I shifted. Another mound stuck out in such a way I couldn’t get comfortable, so I returned to my original position. Laude’s breaths slowed to a deep rhythmic sound.

Judging by my burning skin, I have very little time. The moon nudged across the night sky until my eyelids closed and I slipped out of consciousness.

When my eyes snapped open again, a gray-bearded man hovered above my head. Twilight shone around him, and a wicked smirk twisted his lips.