Read Online The Fifth City by Liz Delton - Free Book Online Page B

this war, she was coming to realize.  They were clearly very intelligent and much more advanced than anyone in the Four Cities had ever dreamed.  But with no way to prepare for the Trials, she could only worry about them in vague terms.  She didn’t know what to fear, yet.
    Lady Blackwater was fearsome, that was clear.  But she had been ‘intrigued’   by Sylvia, enough that she was going to let her partake in one of their ancient rites to prove herself.  But what had made the Lady so enamored of Sylvia?
    And how did the Lady know those things about Sylvia and Neve, and Greyling’s war?  How long had she been watching them?  Sylvia stared out the looking-glass and it hit her.  If this decorative looking-glass could show another part of the island, then Lady Naomi might be able to view other parts of Arcera with one as well.  How else could she know things she shouldn’t?
    Unless she had spies—but she would need to have them in all kinds of places across Arcera, to have learned of Neve’s invention of the explosives.  Sylvia had a feeling it wouldn’t be hard to view things going on in the Four Cities through these looking-glasses—if this technology was used for decoration, it had to be used for more practical things, too.
    Sylvia tore her gaze away from the looking-glass and decided to examine her suite further.  Now full and mostly content—her headache only a dull throb—she could start her information-gathering now, with the suite they had assigned her.
    She ran her fingers over the soft blue and gold bedspread and checked under, behind, and around the massive piece of furniture; noting its solid construction, but finding nothing of interest.
    The mantle above the fireplace held no ornamentation.  Beside the fire stood a basket of neatly stacked logs, and a rack of iron tools.  Sylvia eyed the heavy tools, making note of them for later.
    The wardrobe held an assortment of clothes, and she wondered at the selection, picking up a long black tunic that seemed like it would fit her.  She pawed through the rest: leggings, dresses, shirts and even shoes laid out at the bottom.
    Next, she investigated the washroom, which held the largest bathtub she had ever seen.  She immediately turned on the taps and decided to wash off the grime of the trail.  She felt like she deserved a little pampering after the ordeals she had been through since leaving Meadowcity.
    As the taps ran, she inspected the rest of the washroom; finding towels, bars of sweet-smelling soap, even a hairbrush and a box of hairpins.  Everything was clean and new.  The washroom was lit by another curiously glowing ceiling pane.
    She sunk into the warm bath and thought that perhaps the glowing pane was a simpler version of the looking-glass—emitting only light instead of an image.  She twinged in guilt as she dipped her shoulders into the water, imagining Neve all by herself in the wilds; as Sylvia took a luxurious bath.
    The slight remnants of her headache eased away into nothing as the warm water soaked up to her neck.  She closed her eyes and considered just how far away she really was from Meadowcity.

 
    Thirteen
     
    Upon rising from the bath and finding the clothes in the wardrobe to her size and liking, she belatedly realized that she was missing her weapons and her pack, so she decided to go out in the castle and do a little exploring.
    Oliver and Lady Naomi hadn’t actually said she was to stay in her rooms, so she went back into the washroom and removed the box of hairpins.  She slipped the box into a pocket of the long black tunic she now wore, draped over soft knit leggings.  She found a pair of leather house shoes in the bottom of the wardrobe and put them on.  After one last glance at the looking-glass, she turned the door handle that led into the hallway.
    It wasn’t locked, so she took that as a sign that she was allowed to leave; or at least perhaps they didn’t expect her to.  She bent down and carefully