Letters to Zell by Camille Griep Read Free Book Online Page A

about her cooking, there will be hell to pay. Did she tell you she hasn’t even told Edmund yet? This is all going to blow up in our faces. And no one will be able to say I didn’t warn them. No one ever listens to me, though. Rory’s always overreacting, isn’t she? they say. Piffle.
    I just have this feeling. Maro told us that the brouhaha about the mattresses was malicious gossip fabricated by the Tattler . Also she wears a pair of irritating wooden shoes everywhere— clop clop clop . She sounds like a two-legged horse. I must sound out of sorts to you, and I’m not trying to be. I suppose I’m simply not ready for a new addition to our social group. I tried to be nice. I tried to ask good questions, but everyone got mad at me.
    “Why aren’t you home with your husband?” I asked. Bianca took a big slug of wine and CeCi made a face like I had spit in the salad.
    Maro grew flushed around the neck. “You know, we’re still having the bedrooms redone. I swear, it’s like they haven’t redecorated in centuries.”
    “So you’ll go back when they’re finished?”
    “I’m sure Albert will come fetch me just as soon as things are ready.” She picked up her fork.
    “But surely your court can handle the repairs. Why isn’t he here with you? Won’t he want to have relations?”
    Maro stammered. Bianca refilled my glass and said, “You’ll have to excuse our friend. Sometimes, she can’t hold her wine, but she’s entertaining as hell.” I gave Bianca my best stern glare, but she kept sniggering into her port.
    “Aren’t you homesick?” I had to figure out why Maro was hedging.
    “I suppose so,” she answered, a strange smile on her face. “In a manner of speaking. But I’ve never lived anywhere for long. I guess I’ve just forgotten how to be homesick.”
    I probably should have felt sorry for her, but I really did want to know why she wasn’t home keeping her husband company. “But you are going back, right?”
    “Rory! Give it a rest.” CeCi swatted me with her napkin.
    Maro didn’t answer me. She clopped away to flirt with one of the guards, and helped herself to another soufflé.
    I can’t explain why I don’t trust her, but something about her sets me on edge. It’s as if she’s expecting something or maybe avoiding something—that’s a curious way to behave if you have the option to go back home, lumpy bed or not. Henry and I are still working on the particulars of a perfect relationship, but I wouldn’t dream of going to live somewhere else for six months, even if I liked that place very much. And while I can’t believe that Maro would also throw away her perfect ending, Bianca lit right up at discovering another adventuring spirit.
    Bianca will be getting plenty of practice flitting about with CeCi and her cooking school nonsense. For someone who barely has enough patience to order off a catering menu, it’s almost unbelievable that Bianca was able to apply herself to anything as undoubtedly complex as school admissions. I’m just waiting for this to fall through and become CeCi’s great disappointment. Even if the classes are legitimate, what happens when someone finds out where they’re going? What if Bianca is only using CeCi’s classes as an excuse to explore Outside? What if something happens to them? What if someone asks me what’s going on? Has everyone gone mad?
    I’d love to write more, but my presence has been requested at the Swinging Vine. I will try to be polite to Maro, despite the fact she makes my skin crawl. I know you’d say to avoid her, but that means I’d have to avoid everyone. Please come back so things can be normal again.
    Love,
    Rory

From the Desk of Cecilia Cinder Charming
    Crystal Palace
    North Road, Grimmland
    Dear Zell,
    If you had bet me a thousand golden goblets, I’d have never guessed that Rory had the capacity to pour a drink over anybody’s head. Maybe there’s more going on with her than I thought. Regardless, our Sleeping Beauty