Tree Singer by Jacci Turner (best novels for beginners TXT) 📕

Tray opened his door and the girls followed him in. The small room had a bed under the window which Tray quickly jumped on, boots and all. It was not like Mayten’s bed at home, framed in rich cherry wood, but a slender mattress stuffed with cotton over a rope woven frame. After sleeping on the ground, even a thin mattress would feel like heaven. There was a tray of bread and cheese next to his bed and he began cramming large pieces of both into his mouth.

Mayten rolled her eyes. “We are in a castle, Tray. You could try not to eat like a pig.”

He shrugged and kept eating.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to be sleeping in a real bed tonight,” he said around his food. He stretched like a cat on the bed. The room smelled like lemons with a touch of briny air from the open window. The lowering sun bathed the room in a warm glow.

Mayten leaned out the open window, smiling at the gardens below. A quick look toward the pond told her what she wanted to know. “You can’t see the pond from here. That row of trees shelters it.”

A soft snore drew her attention. Tray was already asleep. Evidently, having to act like a responsible adult had been exhausting for him.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Cather said. “Why don’t we take a look at our rooms? I have to change and meet the prince.”

She grabbed Mayten by the hand and pulled her into the hall, gently closing Tray’s door behind them.

The next room was larger than Tray’s and connected to the room beyond through an open door. Mayten could see enough of the other room to tell the bed was similar to the bed in this room. Both beds were easily twice the size of Tray’s.

“Look at this dress!” Cather lifted a flowing pink gown from the bed. “It might be a bit too long but it’s beautiful!”

Mayten nodded. “It’s perfect for you. The color goes great with your eyes.”

She wandered the room, admiring the paintings of flowers set above a vase filled with fresh flowers that mimicked the painting’s lilies. She resisted the urge to pick up the Caspian figurines on the low table, deciding the fancy boxes sitting next to the figurines weren’t as fragile. She opened the lid of one box, delighted to hear music start playing.

The room had a fireplace and a bathtub like the one her family had bought. The bathtub crouched on a platform in front of a second window and was easily twice the size of the bath her family owned.

A full-length mirror stood next to the dressing table. The mirror’s wood frame swiveled when she touched it, swinging easily toward her . . .

“Wonder what I looked like before our little bath,” she snorted, feeling heat creep into her face.

“Why don’t you check the other room?” Cather asked. “There’s probably another dress in there.”

The other room had no bath and no fireplace, only a large bed with a wide window that faced the tall thin trees they had seen earlier that offered privacy to the castle. A chair with a table holding a small stack of books and an oil lamp sat by the window.

“I’ll take this room,” Mayten said. She reached for a book but a shriek from Cather pulled her around.

“Another beautiful dress!” Cather held up an emerald green dress that shimmered in the late afternoon sun. Mayten had to admit the dress was beautiful, though secretly she’d hoped to find pants she could wear.

“This dress will look fantastic with your hair.” Cather turned the dress around. “Look at the scooped collar and the buttons up the back . . . But wouldn’t you like the bigger room?”

“No,” Mayten said, “this room is perfect for me, but thanks. I will share the bathtub, though. And—it is all right to leave the door open? I’ve gotten used to having you so close by.”

Cather nodded. “I feel like Tray is miles away and he’s only across the hall. I guess living together has made us like a family.”

She grinned at Mayten as she yanked her tunic over her head. “Help me with this dress?”

Mayten held the pink dress high so Cather could find her way through the skirts, then pulled the dress down and helped fasten buttons. Lots of pearl buttons.

Cather handed Mayten a brush from the dressing table, carefully sitting on a chair that looked like it might break beneath a larger person’s weight. Mayten worked the tangles from Cather’s wavy hair.

When she was done, Cather stood and turned to the mirror.

They both gasped. The dress hugged Cather’s shoulders, draping her body in soft folds. Brown wavy hair cascaded down her back.

“Beautiful!” Mayten couldn’t believe the change in her friend. She felt drab next to her, like a moth next to a butterfly. “Tray’d better be careful or that prince will try and steal you away.”

“I think the prince is handsome, don’t you?” Cather raised an eyebrow, glancing at Mayten in the mirror as she turned from side to side, studying her image critically.

Mayten frowned. “When he frowns, which is often, the space between his eyebrows completely disappears like he has one long eyebrow. And don’t even get me started on his nose.”

Cather was always trying to interest her in different boys and was disappointed when Mayten showed no interest. She laughed, shaking her head, then turned and hugged Mayten tight.

Mayten’s eyes burned as she returned the hug. Something was happening to her friend, though Mayten didn’t have the words for it.

“I’d better go,” Cather said, pulling free. “I don’t think it’s proper to keep a prince waiting.”

A sense of loss filled Mayten. Cather was being swept along the river of life, leaving Mayten alone on the shore.

Chapter Twenty-One

Instead of exploring the books on the table, Mayten sat in the chair next to the window—a chair big enough to hold her da and half her siblings—and passed the time digging through her