Chapter 2 - The Summoning

CHAPTER 2: THE SUMMONING

I spent the rest of the day waiting for night.

Ezra shut himself in his study with the old mirror's book of instructions, leaving me in the chamber above the mine road. Every few minutes I looked from the covered glass to the windows, willing the sun to go down. I tried to sit. I tried to eat. I even tried to sleep. Nothing helped. The thought of Sihle crossing back through the mirror had settled inside me like a second pulse.

Lunch arrived on silver trays. I ate because the servants stood waiting and because the smell of grilled meat and fresh bread was too good to refuse. They cleared everything away after, leaving the room polished and quiet. Two women ran a bath for me in the adjoining room. Rose petals floated on the water. They poured fragrant oil over my shoulders and washed the dust from my sleek-front curly bun with careful fingers.

For an hour I let them look after me.

It would have been easy to believe I had become somebody else. I had a warm bath instead of a bucket. I had servants instead of guards. When I climbed out, a green silk dress waited for me, low at the front and fitted at the waist, with soft slippers beside it. The women dressed me and gathered my hair back into its glossy bun. They admired me when they were done.

"You look beautiful, sisi," one said.

I thanked her, but the dress felt useless against the hunger beneath my skin.