"Follow me." Provocation looked as wrinkly as an old-mother, but not half as friendly. She marched ahead of Repentance, her back as straight and hard as Hatcher's Cliff, back home.
They turned to the right. As they rounded the corner, they almost stumbled on the prince who was squatting in the middle of the hall. A boy, who looked to be in about his seventh year, sat on the floor in front of the prince. Parchment pages were strewn around the two.
Provocation stopped abruptly and Repentance barely stopped in time to keep from knocking the older woman off her feet.
"I'm sorry," the boy said.
Repentance couldn't see his face. His head was bowed. He began to collect up stray sheets of parchment.
"You know better than to run in the hallways, Tigen," the prince answered angrily.
"I have been told many times," the boy said. "I keep forgetting." He scooped up a page and glanced at its contents.
Provocation and Repentance both stooped to help collect stray papers.
"No," the prince said to Provocation. "Leave them."
The boy picked up another page. "You are going to take slaves my age?" he asked, reading from the sheet he held. "Will they come to the palace?"
"Give me that!" The prince said, grabbing the sheet.
"It says you're taking all the boys—"
"Provocation," the prince said. "I'm sure my uncle's new concubine is tired. You should take her to her quarters. Tigen is capable of picking up the pages he knocked loose."
Provocation bowed. She and Repentance skirted the mess and continued down the hall.
Tigen's voice followed them. "That page said you were taking all the lowborn boys from their sixth year to their fourteenth year."
Repentance gasped. That would include both of her little brothers.
"Will any of them come here?" Tigen continued.
Provocation and Repentance took a right-hand turn and Repentance stooped down to fiddle with her slipper.
"Can you not read?" the prince said. "That was a provision for the Ministry of War. They are going to the trooper camps to be trained for front-line soldiers. I've told you before that I don't want you playing with them, anyway, Tigen. Your interest in slaves is unnatural."
Provocation looked around. Repentance jumped up and trotted to catch up. The two continued a long ways, taking several more turns. Repentance, thinking about her brothers being trained as front-line soldiers, couldn't concentrate on the path they took or the countless doors they passed.
Finally the old slave woman stopped and threw open the door to a big room, its floor covered with thick, soft, buttery-colored carpet. In the center was a bed piled high with quilts.
Repentance stood in the doorway, closed her eyes, and breathed in, trying to regain her balance.
But the prince was going to take Fullness and Restoration. There was no balance in the world. It was hopelessly tipped in favor of the overlords.
"Well go on." Provocation said. "I can't stand all day in the hallway with you. Some of us have work to do."
Repentance opened her eyes and stepped into her new quarters. The room was richly furnished and smelled sweet and spicy. A hearth sat in one corner. It would be lovely and homey once a fire was lit. In front of the fireplace sat several stuffed chairs with small tables in between. On the wall to the left were three windows.
She crossed the room, approaching one window, and looked over the grounds toward the front gates, wondering where the trooper camp was and who the overlords were at war with. What made them need to take lowborn boys for soldiers?
Warmth flooded through the window and Repentance reached out and touched the clear ice pane.
Pain bit at her fingertip as if she'd touched red-hot iron.
She yanked her hand away and stuck her finger in her mouth.
"A good lesson," Provocation said, her voice deep and scratchy. "The ice is so cold it burns the skin."
Yes, she'd discovered that. It would have been nice if Provocation had warned her a little earlier.
She crossed to the opposite wall. Carved in relief, with bright paint frozen on top, was a city scene, depicting houses and markets and streets full of wagons. On the sidewalks were merchants raking their stoops or hanging signs, and fine ladies in colorful gowns. The detail was incredible. She would love to show Comfort.
She turned away with a sigh, holding her stomach. Missing Comfort felt like a physical pain. And now to hear that the little boys ….
She crossed to the bed and sat. She wanted to lie down and cry. She felt sick and dizzy and a little bit like she wanted to throw up.
Provocation glared at Repentance, as if offended by her presence. She turned and threw open the doors of the wardrobe which stood in the corner opposite the fireplace.
Empty.
"I didn't know you were coming." She said it like a rebuke. "I'll send for the seamstress tomorrow."
Fear prickled Repentance's scalp. The housekeeper was as cranky as an old-mother with fish nets to pick in mosquito season.
Provocation closed the wardrobe and continued acquainting Repentance with the room. "Your desk." She pointed to an oak desk, its top polished to a shine.
"Your bathing room, here." She opened a door revealing a large room with a small pool in the floor. "You share with the king. His sleeping chamber is through that door, there." She pointed across the bathing room. Repentance leaned forward to see.
"I'll send Generosity to help you get ready for dinner. She'll be your maid."
"I'm
