Despite her strange encounter with the young girl, nobody
else she passed in the castle appeared to see or notice her at all, and though
she held her breath every time, she made it through even guarded doorways with
no difficulty. She knew she was in a different section when she began to hear
children’s voices from behind some of the doors. There was lots of stomping and
giggling, and somewhere, a baby cried for several minutes, making the hair
stand on the back of her neck. A small part of her wanted to get as far away as
she could from this area of the castle, but a larger part wanted to just stand
there, invisible in the hallway, and see as much as possible.

Either way, she was here now, and she wasn’t going to risk
leaving and missing this opportunity. She rounded another corner and saw a new
door standing open.

This room wasn’t empty, either. A young man stood inside,
facing the window with his back to the door–and to Lya. He wore the same sort
of black, formal pants she’d seen on the guards who were dressing, and his
green shirt was pressed and clean, but he wasn’t nearly as well-dressed as the
guards.

She should have left right then and there, she knew, but
something about the way he was standing made her unable to look away from him.
And then, the sound of a tiny gurgling voice made her unable to do anything
except take a few steps inside the room, just to get a closer look.

The young man turned around just then, and Lya scurried to
the opposite corner of the room, taking refuge behind a large, overstuffed
chair, breathing in a cloud of dust as she did. Although the areas near the bed
and the window appeared well-scrubbed and cared for, this other side of the
room looked like it hadn’t been touched by any living person in decades. Crates
and stray furniture were strewn about in massive dust-covered piles. Only a
small path to the hearth had been cleaned and cleared on this end.

The tiny voice cooed again. The young man looked down at a
tiny child nestled against his chest in a cloth wrap that tied securely around
him, absently kissing the tufts of black hair on its head as he did.
“Seriously, Addie? Right now? You had to wait until your mother was in the
bath?” The soft tones in his voice were a stark contrast to the exasperated
words. 

Lya shook her head and couldn’t help smiling. Typical.
Teasing that he wanted his wife to do the work instead.

Her stomach ached now, as she remembered Marius holding each
of their babies in exactly the same way, making mutters about things he didn’t
mean at all. This young man didn’t mean it either; he mumbled soft words to the
baby that Lya couldn’t hear as he pulled the child out of its wrappings and
laid it on the bed. He lifted a large cloth bag from the floor and set it next
to the child, pulling a fresh diaper from the inside of it.

His next words, a bit louder, made Lya stand up straight and
edge a bit closer to hear better. “Mia is magic,” he said to the
baby. “But I’m not sure why she thinks diapers belong in my room.”

Magic? There weren’t supposed to be many gatekeepers or
other magic-makers in this part of the world, and yet, this was not the first
time since she’d been here that she’d heard hints of more, beginning with Etta
and Bridget in that cottage.

Also, the diaper comment was strange. Why wouldn’t diapers
belong in the room of an infant and its parents?

“Oh, be quiet,” the man said to the baby, still
teasing and playful, his voice filled with clear adoration. He leaned in close
and kissed each of the baby’s toes. “You might look like your father, but
you have your mother’s mouth already.”

Was he not the child’s father? How strange. Lya took another
step toward them, craning her neck to get a closer look, but all she could see
was a child with tousled brown hair nearly the same color as the man bent so
lovingly over her as he expertly cleaned her up and slipped a fresh new diaper
underneath her. The child was a girl, and for some reason, this made Lya’s
heart ache even more.

The baby stuck out her tongue at the man, making him smile.
Tiny as she was, it was obvious even to a stranger like Lya that the love
between the two of them was mutual.

“That’s the thanks I get for giving you a clean
diaper?” he asked, picking the child up and cuddling her close to his
chest again. “Should we go and find your dress since you’re already out of
your pajamas now?”

The whole thing was so strange. Lya wondered where else the
child’s dress might be. She didn’t know why it might be elsewhere, but she
hoped it was, because that would mean they were leaving and the room would be
empty. She could start by seeing what was in these crates…