Andreya woke with a jerk and a gasp and the first thing she saw was pristine white.
A strange bed. Strange walls. Strange scents. Strange sounds.
She threw the pile of heavy blankets pressing her down and swung off the bed to her feet, a thin nightgown unfurling to brush her ankles, her toes digging into plush carpet.
She stared directly back at a startled woman in a dress as white as the walls.
"Who are you? Where am I? Where... is..." Black spots dotted Andreya's vision and she stumbled back against the bed again, pressing a hand to her head. The woman reached forward to brace her and Andreya shoved her away with a snarl. "Don't touch me! Who are you!"
Andreya's sight cleared and she hesitated at the woman's clear distress—she held a folded blanket in her arms and bowed several times. "I'm terribly sorry, Duchess, I'm your nurse, Miss Grames. Are you alright? I'm afraid you're still quite weak, so please refrain from—"
"Duchess?" Andreya interrupted, leaning against the bed frame with narrowed eyes. "How do you know who I am?"
The nurse bowed again. "So sorry again, Miss, I know only what I'm told. Will you let me check your temperature?"
Andreya blinked at the Grames woman and her petite Isantadi outfit, then at the rest of the room. White walls, vibrant green trim, a desk in the corner and an arched window on the far wall. An elegant, uncomfortable, foreign place.
Andreya lowered back onto the bed, glaring suspiciously again at the nurse as she did and keeping her lips pressed into a flat line. The nurse took her compliance as a yes and bowed yet again, scurrying over to the desk in the corner and pulling a small thermometer out of the topmost drawer.
"Where am I?" Andreya asked.
Miss Grames cast her a friendly glance as she draped the blanket atop all the others on the bed and prepped the thermometer. "The left palace of the Isantad Court, Miss."
Andreya lurched to her feet. "What? How did I get here?"
The nurse shrank back. "I—by carriage, Miss, I'm sorry, I thought—"
"Stop apologizing." Andreya was already pacing around the room, her agitated steps stopping in front of the closed door. She spun around to the nurse again. "Where is Reide? Reide Hafiless? Is he here?"
The nurse squeaked. "I don't know, Miss—"
"Did he come with me?" she pressed. "You said I came in a carriage."
"I don't know—"
"What do you know?" Andreya stalked up to the poor woman, who looked on the verge of tears. But no such tears would be shed, for a knock sounded on the door before either of them could say anything else.
"Duchess Marivatan," a voice outside called. "You're presence is requested in the Grand Chamber."
Both Andreya and the nurse stood frozen for a moment longer, processing the information. Then Andreya swiveled to the nurse and growled, "Tell me what is going on or I swear I will tie you to the bed frame with your own apron and find out myself."
The nurse's eyes went wide as saucers and her hands shook as she braced herself on the very bed frame Andreya had threatened to tie her to. "The—the Judges want to meet with you, Miss. They want to—to know about your special abilities."
Special abilities.
Andreya backed away from the woman the same moment the sound of a turning lock penetrated the silence. The door opened behind her and the pad of footsteps entered the room.
YOU ARE READING
The Duchess Cannot Sleep || ONC 2021
FantasyDuchess Andreya Marivatan was murdered at the age of twenty-two. It was during the hours the pool of night was deepest, Andreya soundlessly asleep in silk sheets behind the curtains of her elegant canopy bed. By the time she awoke to a noise, the de...
