Tuesdays at the Castle: Chapters 11–15

“Mother told me that she and Father used to do that, when they were betrothed, and wanted to be...private.”

“Well, you will soon enough,” Lilah said defiantly.

Celie nodded, but Rolf's lips twisted into a cynical smirk.
“That’s his job, isn’t it?” he pointed out. “Those presents were probably from the kings of those ‘foreign lands,’ and he’s just taking the credit for them. I’ve never liked him.”

“So, a handkerchief in one sleeve means we meet here,” Lilah repeated, after they had all mulled over Rolf's point for a moment.

“Rolf Edward Daric Bryce, son of the late King Glower the Seventy-ninth, you stand before this assemblage as a supplicant,” the bishop intoned.

She was standing behind the bishop, in a new gold satin gown, holding an incense burner.

All in all, Celie decided that it was not an auspicious beginning to Rolf's reign as King Glower the Eightieth.

“You kneel here as one who wishes to take up the mantle of the kingship, to rule over Sleyne, and to be ruled by this goodly Castle, a thing of great and mysterious magic. Will you walk within its halls, and heed its caprices, that they may guide you to caring for your people?”

People were crowding the battlements, too, and hanging out of the windows that overlooked the courtyard, and all of them had bright faces and were cheering wildly.

The Emissary had stepped out from behind a gaggle of nobles.

“In the future, you will need to inform us of these little whims,” the Emissary said in a patronizing voice that made Celie want to kick his shins.

Rolf gave a noncommittal nod of the head, and turned back to the cheering crowd.

And with us, to specially tutor the king in foreign diplomacy, will be our newest member of the Council, Prince Khelsh of Vhervhine!

“There is much to talk about,” he said, and Celie smiled as the Castle obligingly carried his words to the battlements.

He steered them along the apse toward the rear door of the chapel.

“He’s a bit of a blowhard, but really, it’s what one expects of a Vhervhish royal, isn’t it?”

They had come to the little door at the back, the Emissary trailing behind them with a nonplussed expression, and the bishop watching from the nave.

The bishop had a shrewd look on his face, and Celie gave him a cheery wave.

“We ourselves could eat a gilded ox.”

Lilah reeled backward, and Rolf caught her around the waist before she fell.

The Emissary was standing there, an unctuous smile on his face, but Rolf brushed by him with a muttered apology.

Lilah made an impatient noise, and Celie ducked her head. Pogue, looking chastened, went on.

“Can they do any of these things? Isn’t there some sort of...precedence? Has the Castle made its will known?”

“You are...give up crown, yes?” Prince Khelsh had to struggle to find the right words, but he looked very eager all the same.
“Abdicating, you mean?”

And right now, two of your guardians are telling you that it is futile to persist in looking for your parents.

“And you’ll find it very difficult to act like a petulant little boy when your sisters are locked up in the Hostages’ Tower,” he snarled.

“If the Castle’s helping us, I’ll wager it’s helping them,” Lilah said, hurrying through the arch into her bedroom.

“All right,” Lilah said meekly.

They were traitors and cowards, and would probably sit there dithering and wringing their hands anyway.

They’ve questioned me several times, and everyone else from the lowliest kitchen drudge to the other members of the Council.

Lilah’s brow was furrowed.

“What about me?” Celie put her sticky hands on her hips in indignation.

“The Castle would never let anything bad happen to you. You could jump out one of these windows and the Castle would probably conjure up a hundred feather beds to break your fall.”

She put her hands on the wall of the Tower, and whispered a plea for the Castle to open a way to Lulath’s rooms. A minute later, a small door materialized next to her, and Rolf shouted in surprise.

“The Castle may not be able to spit you out like a bit of gristle, but it can still let you know that you are not wanted here!”