Chapter 5
“I should come with you.”
Daniel and Eleanor looked up from the bowls of rice porridge that Fan had brought them for breakfast.
“What?”
“I should come with you into the border lands.”
“Don’t you want to get home?” Eleanor asked.
“Believe me, there’s nothing I’d like more than to be back in my bed at the embassy,” Gisele said. “But you don’t know these people like I do. Whatever mystery you’re trying to unravel in the borders, it’ll be much quicker if you take me with you. Then we can all go home.”
“She has a point,” Daniel said.
Eleanor barely managed to disguise her astonishment; she’d so expected Daniel to rule it out that she hadn’t bothered to consider whether she thought it was a good idea. “We can’t guarantee it’ll be safe,” she said at last.
Gisele nodded. “I know.”
“And you’re a hopeless fighter, so if we get in any trouble...”
“I’ll shut up and do exactly as you tell me. I know.”
“Okay, well, if you’re sure.” She glanced at Daniel, who nodded. “We’ll leave as soon as we can find someone to take us in the right direction. Fan can send word to your embassy.”
They finished their breakfast in silence, then Gisele went to write a letter to the ambassador in Faliska, leaving Eleanor and Daniel alone.
“Your hair begins to fade,” Daniel said, looking critically at her. “We should buy more indigo before we leave.”
“Okay.”
“Is there anything else we need?”
“I don’t think so.” She took a deep breath. “But I need to talk to you before the others come back.”
“What is it?”
“I was expecting my monthly bleed three days ago. I thought it might just be the disruption of the journey, but I’m afraid, maybe...”
He turned away, cursing.
“Are you angry?”
“I told you we were playing with fire. Do you not see that this could jeopardise the whole mission?”
“I don’t see why. We’re pretending to be married, and men sometimes do get their wives pregnant... and besides, it’ll be ages before it affects what I can do, won’t it?”
“So now you want this?”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, I don’t want it. But if it’s happened, it’s a bit late for worrying about what I want.”
He stood by the window with his back to her, staring out at the opposite rooftops.
“Daniel–” Eleanor began, but he waved her to silence. Knowing a lost cause when she saw one, she sat down again and spread their stolen map on the breakfast table. Whatever he was thinking, it was no excuse for her to stop work.
Eventually he turned back to her. “I think I know how to fix this. Come with me.”
He strode from the room without waiting for her to respond, and she had to run to keep up. He led her to the market and stopped at a stall with bunches of dried herbs hanging from its canopy. As she watched, he plucked down a few different branches that she didn’t recognise. She had to remind him to pick up a jar of indigo paste while they were there.
Back in the makeshift embassy, Daniel started grinding and blending ingredients while Eleanor knelt over a basin to refresh the colour of her hair.
Daniel decanted his new potion into a small bottle, then poured a few drops into a glass of water and handed it to her. “Drink this.”
“What is it?”
“Do you recall saying you would let me be good at apothecary on your behalf?”
She nodded.
“Then let me. Drink it. It is a solution to our little problem.”
She did as he said, still not really understanding. The liquid tasted bitter, and she struggled to swallow it all.
“You should probably be prepared for heavy bleeding in the next few days.”
It took her a moment to understand what he was saying. “And then... I won’t be pregnant any more?”
“That is the plan.”
She beamed. “So this,” she said, taking the bottle from him, “means we can carry on as before, without worrying. You’re a genius.”
“With the same caveat.”
“Oh, caveats!” She made it sound like a swearword. She was fed up with his silly caveat. It was only a way to pass the time.
“It is important,” he said seriously. “Otherwise we cannot.”
“Okay, fine, I promise. Again. But I really don’t see why this is such a big thing for you. I already care about people, I care about my friends – it doesn’t stop me doing my job.”
“This is different.”
“Do you have any idea how arrogant it makes you sound, assuming that I’m inevitably going to fall madly in love with you? You’re worrying over nothing. It’s not going to happen.”
He hesitated, and she almost thought he might cry, which surprised her – she’d called him arrogant enough times before.
Eventually he said, “I think it is all too late. I thought if I said nothing, and if you did not feel the same, it might not matter. But if I am honest... I already care too deeply for you...” He broke off, choking back a tear.
“Oh no.” She knew that wasn’t what you were supposed to say the first time someone told you that they loved you, but then, this wasn’t how you were supposed to feel. The circumstances could hardly have been further from ideal.
She put her hand on his arm to comfort him, wondering whether his distress was more because he’d failed to meet his own standards or because she’d told him, none too subtly, that his feelings weren’t reciprocated.
They were saved from having to talk about it any further by Gisele returning with her letter. “Have either of you got any wax?” she asked. “I need to seal this.”
Daniel fished in a pocket of his apothecary case and handed her a stick of black sealing wax. She melted a few drops and pressed it against the paper with the Imperial crest of her ring.
“What’s this?” she asked, suddenly noticing the map which covered half the table.
“We’re not sure if it’ll help,” Eleanor said. “But we found it the night you followed us, and it seems to relate to the areas we were told to investigate.”
“Can you read it?” Daniel asked.
“It’s bad writing,” she said. “But this looks like the word for ‘good,’ and again over here.”
Eleanor leaned across to see where she was pointing. “What does it mean?”
“These are settlements, of course, but they’re not labelled with their names. Good, trouble, fair, another good... it’s like someone’s been assessing the villages. But for what, I couldn’t say.”
“What do you think? Shall we start at one of the ‘good’ ones?”
“This map covers a huge area,” Gisele said. “But this one’s only a few miles beyond the border. There should be plenty of carts heading along the westbound road every morning, and we could walk from here” – she pointed at a small junction – “so we’d be there before the sun gets so hot as to burn you.”
Eleanor nodded. She and Daniel were too pale for the drylands sun; the Empire had been wise to send a dark-skinned girl like Gisele to represent them here.
“Tomorrow, then.”
“Tomorrow.” Gisele tapped her letter against the edge of the table. “I’ll get Fan to send this as soon as she can. I think we’d better keep out of sight until we’re ready to move.”