He turned to Kristos. “We would like to present the lady’s family with these gifts,” he said, gesturing to a sack Grig was struggling to keep out of the water. “The rest of the bride price will be sent after Prince Ceren agrees to the marriage.”
Kristos grunted in acceptance, and Grig laid the bag in the bottom of the boat. I wondered what was in it; something useful, I hoped, like food or clothing.
Sami helped Grig lift my trunk out of the boat, while the captain held out a hand to me. “Now then, milady. May I help you down?”
I placed one hand in Captain Osius’s, hoping he wouldn’t notice how badly it trembled. I rose on numb legs and was grateful when Sami took my other arm, steadying me. I glanced back at him once, forced a smile, and stepped into the waiting arms of the captain. Grig, carrying the trunk on his head, turned toward shore, and Osius followed.
I watched over his shoulder as Sami raised his hand in one final farewell, before picking up the oars and disappearing over the crest of a wave.
11
This was it. Quite probably the last time I would ever see anyone I knew again. A cold pit formed in my stomach, as if the slippery eel had just turned to stone. I let my chin fall against the captain’s damp tunic; he didn’t falter in his stride toward land.
When I began to feel the ocean falling away and my wet skirts growing heavier as they dragged in the water, I raised my head again. The captain’s footfalls left soft impressions in the sand, something I’d never seen—the only sand I’d ever touched had been underwater. I longed to bury my own feet in it, but the captain had said I couldn’t walk here. The sand made a crunching noise as he walked farther inland, and then a softer sound, like grain spilling out of a sack.
I had thought so much about how different things would look on land, but I’d forgotten all about how they’d sound.
And smell. As we got closer to the row of guards, a sharp scent like chopped onions filled my nostrils, the odor of a dozen men dressed in heavy leather after a day spent in the blazing sun. And beyond that, something stronger, but warm and almost sweet: what I would later recognize as the smell of horses.
Captain Osius walked past the other guards and their horses into the tree line, and I stared up in wonder. The trees were immense, bigger than any plant I’d ever seen, but the leaves that rustled in their branches were small and delicate. I reached out and plucked one off a branch as we walked past, rubbing it between my fingers. It felt smooth and slippery. When I brought it to my nose and sniffed, I felt Captain Osius’s chest heave up and down. He was laughing at me.
I dropped the leaf and stiffened in his arms, realizing how ridiculous I must seem to someone like him, someone who’d seen so much more than I had. It wouldn’t matter that it was his king who had kept me an ignorant “wave child” in the first place.
From now on, I would keep my curiosity to myself.
“Here we are, milady.”
The carriage was a large wooden structure with doors and windows, like a house on wheels, with four brown horses harnessed to the front. It was nearly dark now, but there were lanterns hanging from the sides of the carriage, illuminating the intricate carvings in the wood.
“Milady,” a young woman said, stepping out of the carriage and dropping into a curtsy. For a moment, I forgot myself and stared. Her white-blond hair was pulled back in two long fishtail braids that framed a sallow face as pale as a sun-bleached sand dollar. When her sky blue eyes flicked up to mine, I noticed purplish smudges below them, giving her a tired and almost sickly appearance.
Her dress was made of a heavy, dark gray fabric, pulled tight across her torso to accentuate a flat chest and the tiniest waist I’d ever seen. I glanced down at my own sodden tunic and skirts, feeling like the drowned rat that had once come in on a sack of grain from the floating market and sent Zadie and me screaming out of the house. I could imagine what this woman was thinking: this is what the most beautiful girl in Varenia looks like?
“Good evening,” I said, nodding in what I hoped was the appropriate manner.
She smiled. “I’m Ebb. I’ll be your lady’s maid in Ilara. And on the journey, of course. You must be... Well, I can’t even imagine what you must be feeling right now. But getting you out of those wet clothes is the least we can do.”
“We should depart within the hour, Ebb,” Captain Osius said as he handed me into the carriage. “Be sure she gets some hot tea into her before we go.”
The interior was more spacious than it seemed from the outside. There was a bench on either end covered in deep crimson velvet. White cloth was hung over the windows, and heavier red drapes were pulled to either side. Ebb closed them now.
“For privacy,” she explained. “It’s a bit dark, but we’ll do our best.”
There was a lantern in here, but only one candle, and I was grateful for the dim lighting. I was crouched over, unable to stand up straight in the carriage, and a puddle was starting to form around me on the floor. My feet squelched on the damp fabric. Was nothing left bare in Ilara?
I flinched when I felt Ebb’s hand on my back.
“It’s all right, milady. I’ll just help you out of these wet clothes and get you dried off a bit.”
The next several minutes passed in awkward silence. No one had ever seen me without clothes on, outside of my family. It was summer, but tiny bumps sprang up on my bare skin, and I couldn’t keep myself from shivering. Ebb threw a thick blanket over me and urged me to rub myself dry. I watched in horror as she cracked open the carriage door and kicked my sodden clothing out into the dirt.
“Why would you do such a thing?” I blurted. “Those are perfectly good clothes.”
When she smiled, I could see the bones of her face shift. “Don’t worry, milady. There are dozens of gowns waiting for you in the castle. Here.” She lifted up one of the seat cushions and brought out a gown made of the same stiff, heavy fabric as hers, in an even darker shade of gray. “This is just a traveling gown, mind you,” she added when she saw my face fall, but it wasn’t the quality that troubled me. We never wore such somber colors in Varenia.
“Do you wear more colorful clothing in Ilara?” I asked hopefully.
“Not at court. We wear mourning colors, for the lost princess,” she said, but there was no emotion in her voice, as if this were as obvious as the fact that the sun rose in the morning and set at night. “We just need to get you into your undergarments first.”
I cocked my head, and she laughed a little, covering her mouth with her fingertips. She had a kind laugh, and I realized that even though I probably seemed childlike to her and Captain Osius, they weren’t making fun of me. They just didn’t know what to do with me.
“I’ll help you,” she said. She produced a short-sleeved shift and slipped it over my head. The white fabric was so thin it was nearly transparent, far finer than anything I’d ever owned, and fell just below my knees. Afterward, she helped me into a pair of long silk stockings, followed by a pleated petticoat, and finally the dress, which fastened up the back with tiny hooks that Ebb clasped with remarkable speed. The neckline was square and severe, and the bodice was so tight that I found myself taking short, rapid breaths as my rib cage was prevented from expanding fully by the fabric. The entire process seemed to take ages, and we were both sweating by the time she was finished. I sat back on the bench, hardly able to believe I would have to go through this process every day.