Dancing on Strings

Addictive

Mai woke with a choking gasp and sat bolt upright, breathing hard like she was still recovering from having the wind knocked out of her and for a moment; she had no idea where she was.

Her eyes flew around her as she took in the golden silks and mounted jade before she recognised the place.

She was in The Sun pavilion.

In her bedroom on the top floor.

She had chosen to sleep there the night before to be away from everyone – knowing that if someone wanted to hurt her, they'd have to get across a damned lake to do so.

"Henri!" she called, her voice strangely hoarse. She cleared it and tried again. "Joliette!"

No one answered her and she became aware of just how quiet the pavilion was.

Until she heard heavy booted footfalls on the floor below.

Fear gripped her in an instant as she looked towards the stairs. They extended from a large square in the floor, directly into the room; there was no landing separating her from whoever came up those steps.

"My Lady, are you awake?"

Mai's heart stalled.

But she couldn't summon the fear she had expected from the aftermath of the dream she'd just woken from.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped instead, throwing her bed covers aside and getting up, dragging on her dressing gown and striding to the top of the stairs, looking down to find The Black Rabbit stood at the bottom, looking up at her with an innocent grin.

"I hope I didn't wake you," he replied.

"How did you get in? Why did my ladies-in-waiting let you up this far? How did you get passed my guards? Why did they let you get on the boat?"

"So many questions! The guards didn't seem too concerned with letting me visit," The Black Rabbit replied, "As for your ladies... there's no one here."

Mai froze, staring at him.

"What?" she asked slowly.

The Black Rabbit looked around him, like he expected to have simply missed them. "There's no one but you and I here. I assumed you'd given them permission to leave."

"Wha... what? No... what is...?"

Mai whirled away, staring at nothing as she thought.

This sort of behaviour was completely unlike her ladies and they weren't even eating weird golden apples. That would have to be dealt with immediately or she would find new ladies.

"How are you today, My Lady?" The Black Rabbit asked from below and Mai shook her head, moving away to her dressing table and sitting down hard. "Were you injured in the attack yesterday?"

She heard him climb the stairs and frowned at her reflection.

"You cannot just come into a lady's room – let alone a princess's – without an escort," she said.

"I'm not in your room," he said and she turned in her seat to find he settled on the third step down so he could use the floor as an armrest and the wall as a backrest, grinning a stupid grin at her.

Her mouth twisted down as she rolled her eyes and turned back to her mirror.

"Quite an elaborate lair you have up here," he commented, looking around the large room with its huge windows that allowed maximum sunlight to pour in and illuminate the mass of silks that draped from the ceilings and walls.