Chloe stayed by her pallet as she’d been told, but there wasn’t much to do in the women’s quarters. If she was to escape she needed information. She needed allies.

Deciding that she wasn’t just going to stay in the one place forever, she ventured past the empty pallets and rounded the latticed screens, checking each corner, looking for someone whose plight resembled her own.

Yet this section of the women’s quarters was empty. She wandered, about to give up hope, when she finally passed another screen and found the sole other occupant. She was a young girl, perhaps fourteen, struggling to get out of an elaborate silk robe.

‘Here, let me help,’ Chloe said.

The girl looked at her strangely but allowed her to assist. Like the women Chloe had seen in the streets she had black hair, but darker skin and high cheekbones gave her a more fragile beauty. Kohl lined her eyes and she had a circle of blue powder the size of a coin on each of her cheeks.

As Chloe disentangled the girl from her garment a sturdy woman in a brown tunic appeared and put a hand to her mouth. She sank to her knees and bowed her head to the floor, slinking along the ground until just two paces away. ‘I am sorry, Princess,’ the woman said. ‘Your slave has done you disservice.’

‘Be gone,’ the girl suddenly snapped. ‘Stand on the tips of your toes with your nose touching the wall until I come and fetch you. If you are not on your toes when I come, I will have the eunuchs whip you.’

Still prostrate on the floor, the slave turned herself around and didn’t rise even as she slithered out of view.

‘Who are you?’ the girl asked as Chloe finished taking off the garment. She asked the question in a peremptory fashion, imperious but not rude. This was a girl accustomed to being obeyed.

Even so, her manner struck a nerve with Chloe. ‘I am Chloe, daughter of Aristocles, First Consul of Phalesia,’ she said, lifting her chin. ‘And who are you?’

‘I am Princess Yasmina of Shadria.’

‘Why are you here?’ Chloe asked. ‘Are you visiting?’

‘I am a hostage. Is that not that why you are here?’

Chloe bit her lip. ‘I don’t know why I’m here.’

‘Then you are a hostage also.’

‘The slave woman,’ Chloe said. ‘Why did she act like that?’

‘Because I am royalty and it is the custom.’

Chloe wondered how she would steer the conversation to gain information. ‘Do people treat you the same way in the city?’

‘The city?’ Princess Yasmina frowned. ‘Since my arrival two years ago, I have never left this section of the palace.’

Chloe fought to contain her horror. She couldn’t stay in the women’s quarters all day, every day. Not if she wanted to have any chance of eventually escaping.