Later. She went back into the bedroom, and to the middle of the three long, narrow windows, and looked out.
Instead of overlooking the woods, she found herself looking down into a snow-covered courtyard garden, surrounded on all four sides by Manor walls. Here, for the first time, she saw signs of neglect; the rosebushes and trees had not been trimmed back in some time. Obviously Sebastian cared nothing for the garden, so his servants had done nothing with it.
More importantly for her purposes, there would be no escaping this way.
Still, as captivity went, this was going to be very comfortable.
She turned away from the window and to the closet. Now she discovered why there had been more trunks than she could account for. There was her clothing, all right — and a lot of unfamiliar clothing of the sort that would make the twins squeal with glee. Somehow she doubted that this was Sebastian’s idea; more than likely it was the King’s.
Trying to distract me with dresses, hmm? She was torn between amusement and irritation; she decided to let amusement win. I suppose that just goes to show that Kings are only men. Well, just wait until he gets the list of my real demands. She was not going to go into exile quietly.
Now she turned her attention to the floating rose.
“I assume you are waiting for my orders?” she said.
The rose bobbed up and down.
“Very well, then,” she said, and thought for a moment. “Do you have something like arms?”
Again the rose bobbed up and down.
“Then my first order is that every one of you that comes into these rooms is to wear something like an armband, so that I know you are here and where you are.” Of course, any of these magical servants that wanted to gawk at her could just disobey and not do anything of the sort, but Sebastian had said they were not terribly bright, so perhaps that would not occur to them.
The rose hung in the air for a moment, then it floated toward the closet. A moment later it emerged, but there was a scarf neatly wrapped about something invisible and knotted off. It was a bit unnerving, but no worse than a floating flower.
“Good,” she said, nodding. “Now, can one of you tend to my ankle?”
The rose bobbed, and the scarf and rose floated off into the next room. Only the scarf returned, and it paused, expectantly.
She went over to the chair and sat down, sticking out her aching foot.
The laces on her boot were undone swiftly and surely; she watched in utter fascination. It did not look as if they were undoing themselves; there was something tugging on them, and the cord acted as a cord should, without any floating business. So two hands were involved, even if she couldn’t see them.
The same hands grasped the boot and pulled it off, making her hiss a little in pain. There was no hesitation on the part of her attendant, however; the boot needed to come off, and she had not told the invisible servant to stop, therefore the boot would come off.
Off came the stocking, and then the bandages that Doctor Jonaton had so carefully applied last night got deftly unwrapped.
The armband floated into the bathroom and returned. With the armband was a pile of things on a towel, including a steaming basin.
She sighed as her ankle was bathed in hot water, given a new application of a soothing salve that smelled like roses and rebandaged. It felt much better. The invisible hands unlaced and pulled off her other boot, as well, though they left the stocking.
She considered her options. At the moment, there were not many — and she was horribly, horribly tired. It had been a long and stress-filled morning.
“I think I would like to take a little rest,” she told the armband, which floated obediently over to the bed. The coverlet, comforter, blankets and sheet were turned back, and the armband waited.
She yawned, and sat on the edge of the bed, which was just as soft as it looked. “I’ll just lie down for a little,” she told the armband. “Wake me if something important happens.”
Then she settled into the soft feather bed, put her head on the downy pillow and knew nothing until she felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake.