Merrigan shuddered as she scrambled out of bed and hurried to wash her face and braid her hair and get dressed. She contemplated all the things Elli and Bib could be doing right now. Had they conspired while she was away, planning how the mermaid would steal the magical book at the first chance and go off to seek their fortunes? Just what did that idiotic girl, who didn't know a lying, cheating prince when he sweet-talked her, think she could do with a book, of all things, in the sea? How could they have treated her like this, robbing her, foiling all her plans, all the hard work she had put in, after all the things she had done for both of them? What right did they have to go haring off on their own?
How could they leave her alone? Weren't they her friends?
Merrigan slid to the floor, shivering, feeling empty and sick to her stomach.
She was alone. Why did they leave her alone?
Was this part of Clara's curse, that once she finally found someone she actually liked to be with, they left her alone, to start all over again?
"Mistress Mara?" The knock on the door startled Merrigan. For a few heartbeats, she stared at the door, wondering why it was so blurry, and wondering who Mara was.
Then she remembered the false name she used, because she refused to let anyone other than Bib know that Queen Merrigan of Carlion had been reduced to such awful circumstances. She blinked, and hot wet trickled down her cheeks.
What was she doing, sitting there on the floor and crying? Tears never solved anything.
"Yes?" She flinched at the creaky sound of her voice, and struggled up off the floor. Until this moment, she certainly hadn't felt like an old woman. Now, she ached all over. Another part of Clara's curse? Was the seer sitting by one of her visionary pools, laughing at the story being played out for her entertainment?
"Would you like your breakfast here in your room?" Rosa asked. "Elli said you were up very late last night, making plans for setting up your dressmaker's shop, so she said we shouldn't disturb you for a while. Should I leave you to sleep a little longer?"
"Oh, no, thank you." Merrigan staggered over to the washbasin to splash cold water into her eyes. Fortunately, they weren't as red and swollen as she feared. "Where is Elli?"
"Oh, she's in the front room, chattering away and showing off the clothes you designed. You're going to have to hire a dozen girls to help you, with all the orders you'll have by the end of the day, mark my word." Rosa chuckled. "You're lucky to have an apprentice like her."
"Yes, I am. Lucky," she said, tugging the door open. For a moment, Merrigan had the oddest urge to hug the apple-cheeked, smiling girl. "Well, I had better get down there and see to business."
Elli and Bib, she realized with one glance, had taken matters into their hands and some of the work out of hers. A tall, weathered man, with a few distinguished silver streaks in his ebony curls and a rather rakish scar across his left cheek, sat in the corner by the fireplace. He listened to Elli talk with all the girls who had come to look over Merrigan's designs. He held Bib on his lap, and from time to time, his lips moved slightly, as if having a conversation. Merrigan didn't doubt that Bib had started in on those king-making lessons that Rolf had suggested.
Dear Bib. How could she ever have doubted him, suspected him of treachery and abandonment, for one moment? He was devoted to her. Merrigan stumbled momentarily, crossing the threshold into the room, when she realized she hoped more than gratitude for repairing him made Bib devoted to her.
Rosa brought her a hearty breakfast and Miles appointed himself errand boy, bringing paper and inkwells and quill pens, so Merrigan could write down the names of the girls and what sort of dresses they were looking for, and then to make sketches of possible designs. She wasn't so busy she didn't see the glances Miles and Elli exchanged. She hoped no one noticed the slightly greenish cast under the mermaid's pretty blushes.
That night, Rolf's brother, Dolf, woke her up after she had only two hours of sleep, to ride to the palace.
This time she had a clever, discrete little magical light conjured by a spell hidden in Bib's pages. It hung over her right shoulder and dimmed whenever anyone came near the door of the room Merrigan happened to be searching. She could conduct a much more thorough search, with the help of the light. She retraced her steps of the previous search, just to be certain.
THE NEXT DAY, TWO LADIES of the court came to consult with Mistress Mara and her apprentice. They were pleased by the designs of the sample dresses Merrigan had made, and asked if they could take them back to the palace for the higher ranked ladies to examine. Of course, Merrigan agreed.
That night, Ualf, the oldest and biggest of the dog brothers, with spinning eyes bigger than serving platters, took Merrigan to the palace. She searched the throne room and the next room off the receiving room, going counterclockwise. Still no success.
In the days that followed, Warden took king-making lessons from Bib and Merrigan hired four of Rosa's friends to do the basic sewing on the ordered dresses. Her nighttime searches of the palace moved to where her father said the work of running the kingdom took place. Of course, in the palace in Avylyn the rooms for the secretaries and ministers did fill an entire wing, two stories tall. Here in Seafoam there were three rooms for
