Chapter 121: Curtains

Twenty minutes before curtain, the backstage area of the great hall was pure chaos.

Fenna was stuck in her sorcerer’s cape with both arms over her head. Marisol was yelling at someone about a missing wig. Two first-years were arguing over a cardboard ship. Hugo ran back and forth between all of them, clutching his script to his chest and looking like he hadn’t slept in three days.

I stood in the middle of it all in my maid uniform, holding a silver tray with a plate of lemon cakes on it.

The plan was simple. When the third act started, I would carry this tray up two flights of stairs, past the guards, and into the royal box. I’d set it down on the side table, three steps from Pryce’s right hand, and then I’d stand there and watch his coat until the curtain fell.

Until then, I had nothing to do except try not to throw up.

"Kohaku!"

Lily came hurrying toward me through the crowd, holding up the hem of her gown with both hands. It was the pale blue one with the silver stars sewn all over the skirt, and with the stage lights shining through the curtain behind her, every one of those stars was sparkling. Her hair was pinned up with a silver comb. She looked like a real princess.

[She is a real princess, technically. She just doesn’t know it yet.]

"You look amazing, hon!"

"I’m so nervous!" Lily grabbed my free hand. Hers was freezing. "My stomach keeps flipping over, and I’ve forgotten my first line four times, and I keep thinking about all those people out there, and the Queen..."

"Hey, hey." I squeezed her hand. "You know every line in this play. You were perfect at the dress rehearsal."

"I know, but..." She took a deep breath and looked up at me. "That’s why I’m so glad you’ll be in the front row. When I get scared, I can just look down and find you, and then it’ll be like I’m only doing it for you."

My stomach dropped straight through the floor.

"Come here! I want to show you something!"

Before I could say anything, she pulled me over to the edge of the curtain and pointed through the gap. Out in the great hall, the audience was already filing in, hundreds of people in their nicest clothes. In the very front row, dead center, there was one empty seat.

Tied around the armrest was a silver ribbon. Even from here, I could see the initials sewn onto the end.

"I saved it for you," Lily said happily. "That’s one of our ribbons, so nobody else can take it. I’ve got the other one in my hair, under the comb. See? We match!"

I looked at the ribbon on the empty seat for a long time.

Tonight, I wasn’t going to be anywhere near that seat. I was going to be up in the royal box with a tray of lemon cakes, trying to break a man’s wrist before he could draw a knife. Lily would look down during her scariest moment, the way she’d just told me she would, and she would find a silver ribbon tied to an empty chair.

In other words, I was about to break a promise to the sweetest girl alive, and I couldn’t even tell her why.

"It’s perfect, Lily," I said. My voice only shook a little. I genuinely felt shitty. "Thank you."

"Of course!" She hugged me tightly, careful not to squash the lemon cakes. "Break a leg, okay? Wait, no, you’re not on stage. I’ll break a leg. You just watch!"

Then someone called her name from across the room, and she squeezed my hand one last time and hurried off.

I turned around to leave, and I nearly walked straight into a wall of silver armor.

Serena was standing right behind me. She was in her full knight’s costume, with the dark blue cape over her shoulders and the black velvet mask hanging from her fingers. Her white hair was tied back. She looked down at me, then at the tray, then at my maid uniform.

Her nose twitched slightly, and I had no idea what she was thinking.

"Front row," she said.

That was all.

"Yep! Front row! I’ll be watching again, just like before!" I gave her my biggest smile and backed away toward the side door. "You’re gonna be great! Both of you!"

"FIVE MINUTES TO CURTAIN!!!" Hugo screamed from somewhere behind us. "EVERYONE TO YOUR PLACES!"

I slipped out through the side door and let it swing shut behind me.

Then, I went to wait at the bottom of the stairs for the third act.

---

I stood at the bottom of the stairs for about thirty seconds before I decided I couldn’t just stand there for two whole acts.

The real delivery was still in the third act, exactly as planned. However, I’d only ever practiced on the dormitory tower stairs, never on these. I’d never carried a tray through that door, or set it down on that side table, or turned around in that tiny room with Pryce sitting three steps away. If anything was going to go wrong, I wanted it to go wrong now, while nothing was at stake.

So, I grabbed a little pot of tea and three lemon cakes from the kitchen.

In other words, this trip was the appetizer, and it was also my last practice run. The real dish was coming later.

I took a deep breath, lifted the tray, and started climbing.

All those afternoons on the dormitory tower stairs paid off. I ran Tide down into my legs for each step and back up into my arms the moment my foot landed, so the tray stayed level the whole way. The teapot didn’t wobble. The cups didn’t clink. I reached the top of the second flight without spilling a single drop.

[I am a professional. I am the greatest maid who has ever lived!]

The two guards at the door looked at my tray, then at my tail, then at each other.

"The fox," one of them said.

"The fox!" I agreed brightly.

They opened the door.

The royal box was warm and dim, lit by two small lamps. Down below, through the railing, I could see the whole great hall, every seat full, with the curtain still closed. The Queen was sitting in the big gilded chair at the front. She was a small, gray-haired woman with a kind face, wrapped in a dark red shawl.

Hex stood behind her in full uniform, with her sword at her hip. She saw me and her whole face lit up.

"There’s my fox!" she whispered. "Your Majesty, this is the one I told you about. The lemon cake girl."

"Oh, lovely," the Queen said warmly. "Come in, dear."

To the right of the Queen’s chair, in the plain seat with the card on it, sat Secretary Pryce.

He didn’t say anything. He simply turned his head and watched me.

I crossed to the side table and set the tray down on the lace runner, exactly where he’d told me to put it a week ago. I poured the Queen’s tea from the right. I put three lemon cakes on a little plate and set it at her elbow. The whole time, I could feel Pryce’s eyes on me.

His own hands stayed folded in his lap the entire time.

"Thank you, Miss Sakana," he said. "That will be all, for now."

"See you in the third act!" Hex whispered as I bowed my way out.

The door shut behind me, and I let out a breath I’d been holding since the top of the stairs.

I went back down and slipped into the great hall through the side door at the back, where I could stand against the wall in the dark, right next to the stairwell. From there, I could see the stage, and I could be up those stairs in less than a minute.

The lights went down, the curtain rose, and the play began.

The first act went exactly the way teen-me had written it.

Lily woke up on a riverbank with no memory of who she was, and a mysterious masked knight found her and carried her to safety. When Serena walked out in her silver armor for the first time, the entire audience gasped. Lily’s voice shook a little on her first line, but by her third, she was glowing.

Partway through the act, I saw her glance down at the front row. Her eyes landed on the empty seat with the silver ribbon. For half a second, her face fell. Then she lifted her chin and kept going.

In the second act, things got much louder. Marisol swept onstage as the secret twin and delivered her improvised speech about setting two places at the birthday table, and half the audience started sniffling. Then Fenna came out as the sorcerer brother and announced that she had "hungered in the shadows for so long" while staring straight at the back wall where I was standing. Somewhere in the middle rows, a noblewoman fanned herself. Finally, the sorcerer poisoned the princess’s wine, Lily collapsed dramatically, and Serena caught her before she hit the floor.

The audience applauded so hard the floor shook.

Through all of it, I kept glancing up at the royal box. Every time, the Queen was leaning forward with a lemon cake in her hand, Hex was standing tall behind her, and Pryce was sitting perfectly still.

Then the second act ended.

[Moment of truth!]