Ashes of Roses (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 4) by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online

irritated my throat. She glared at me for a long moment, and I worried she would use this excuse to manufacture yet more tasks for me. But apparently the excitement of preparing for the Emperor’s bride-hunt overcame her dislike for me, and she turned to her daughters and said, “Well, there will be more, but I must decide which must take precedence. In the meantime, it will be dinner soon. Speaking of which…” She trailed off, and appeared almost hesitant, for her.
    “What of dinner, Mamma?” inquired Jenaris, her tones weighted with suspicion.
    “Only that — well, I believe it might be good for you to not have any bread, or potatoes, and only one piece of meat and some field greens. I have heard that the Emperor likes slender girls, and — ”
    “And what?” Jenaris demanded, hands on her ample hips.
    “And Mamma thinks you are too fat,” Shelynne helpfully supplied with a giggle. “I daresay she is right. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing — at least I don’t have to worry about you borrowing any of my gowns, as none of them would fit.”
    “Ma-MA!” Jenaris shrieked in outrage, and reached out to give one of her sister’s shining dark curls a sharp tug, eliciting a howl of pain.
    “Girls,” my stepmother said in quelling tones. “None of this is behavior that befits a lady, let alone a future Empress. Jenaris, you are not fat, but I do think that it behooves you to be careful in what you eat for the next several weeks. And Shelynne, it is not ladylike to point out another’s shortcomings. You may one day find yourself on the receiving end of such observations.”
    While these were fine, salutary words, they did not appear to have the desired effect. Jenaris stuck out a mutinous lower lip; I had no doubt she planned a few more midnight raids on the larder. And Shelynne only rolled her eyes, as if to indicate that she didn’t believe she had any shortcomings in need of pointing out.
    As usually happened when my stepmother lost patience with her daughters, she turned her ire on me. “And you, miss, standing there as if you hadn’t a care in the world. You have work to do, so why are you still here?”
    “I was only waiting to see if you had any further instructions for me, ma’am,” I replied meekly.
    “Get to the kitchen and help Claris with dinner! No doubt she’s been missing you these five minutes, you lazy, idle girl!”
    I bobbed my head and made my escape to the relative refuge of the kitchen. My stepmother rarely ventured in there, as she thought it more genteel to call for Claris and have any necessary consultations with her in the dining room.
    The cook was bending over a saucepan as I entered, her greying hair wisping in the steamy heat of the kitchen. “Goodness, what a ruckus,” she said. “And of course she would be wanting pork medallions in wine sauce right off, as if she were having company.”
    “Perhaps she missed your cooking,” I suggested, at which Claris shot me a very jaundiced look.
    “Wanted to remind me who was in charge, more like,” she responded. “Ah, well, at least we had a few days’ rest. There’s some who don’t even get that.”
    I nodded, not quite trusting myself to speak.
    “Well, don’t stand there bobbing your head like one of those foolish dolls in the marketplace. Those greens need to be shredded, and Miss Jenaris’s must have no sauce, so hers has to go in a separate bowl.”
    No sauce? My stepmother really must be serious about this. Somehow I thought it would be difficult to reverse years of indulgent sweet-eating in only a few short weeks, especially if I knew my stepsister. She would find a way to sneak the things she wanted, no matter that her mother had forbidden that she touch even a single piece of bread.
    But I knew better than to say such a thing aloud, even to Claris. Word had a way of getting around, especially in a household as small as ours. I realized then that I had not caught a glimpse of Mari — our resident