Saturdays at Sea Read online

  Dedicated to all the readers who have followed Celie and her Castle on their adventures: you are all honorary griffin riders!

  ALSO BY JESSICA DAY GEORGE

  Dragon Slippers

  Dragon Flight

  Dragon Spear

  Tuesdays at the Castle

  Wednesdays in the Tower

  Thursdays with the Crown

  Fridays with the Wizards

  Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

  Princess of the Midnight Ball

  Princess of Glass

  Princess of the Silver Woods

  Silver in the Blood

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter

  1

  Celie stared across the courtyard of the Royal Palace of Grath. An endless sea of tiny dogs stared back.

  “It’s strangely terrifying,” Rolf whispered.

  “So many eyes,” Celie whispered back.

  The round, dark eyes of the countless dogs blinked moistly at them.

  “I’m going to make a run for it,” Rolf said.

  “Don’t you dare,” Queen Celina murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “They’re just dogs,” Lilah said. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

  “Hello! Hello! Our tiny only darlings!” Prince Lulath of Grath danced forward into the endless expanse of dogs.

  The little beasts went wild, yapping and leaping, prancing on their hind legs. Tails waved like ostrich-plume fans. Little pink tongues shot out and tried to lick the prince’s fluttering hands as Lulath attempted to pat every fluffy head.

  “So many dogs,” Rolf murmured.

  “Mio! O mio! My son!”

  The doors of the palace were flung open, and a tall man burst out of them. He was wearing a bright-yellow coat that dripped lace from cuffs and collar, scarlet trousers with gold embroidery up the sides, and gleaming black boots with red heels. His gray hair had been teased into a high arrangement of curls, and a golden crown nestled within the formation.

  Celie and her family had plenty of time to observe this man’s elaborate clothes and coiffure, as his grand flight from the palace doors was hampered by the dogs. Undaunted, arms still outstretched, he waded through them toward Lulath.

  “That’s the king of Grath?” Celie said in disbelief, though really, she shouldn’t have been all that surprised. She’d known Lulath, who was also fond of small dogs and fancy clothes, for over a year now. But even Lulath didn’t curl his straight blond hair.

  “I feel ill,” Lilah said.

  Celie turned to look at her older sister, who was the entire reason they had traveled to Grath. Celie and Rolf and their mother were Lilah’s escort as she met her future husband’s family.

  “You’re fine,” Rolf said. “You love dogs.” He paused. “And Lulath,” he added.

  “I feel so underdressed,” Queen Celina muttered, which startled Celie. She had never heard her mother sound uncertain about anything before.

  A woman appeared in the doors of the palace.

  “Oh, my,” Celie said.

  “We’re all underdressed,” Rolf said unhelpfully.

  The woman almost filled the double doorway. Not that she herself was wide—in fact she was quite slim, and very tall. But her gown flowed out to each side of her in kilted layers of green and pink, trimmed with silver lace. The gown had a high flared collar of lace and a long floating cape behind it. Her hair was even higher and more elaborate than her husband’s, and her crown was so encrusted with diamonds that the afternoon sun made it appear to shoot off sparks.

  “O all my loves!” the woman cried, and she, too, began to make her slow progress through the dogs. “Oh, the silliness!” she finally cried, stopping in the middle in irritation.

  She put two long fingers to her lips and whistled, a shockingly loud and piercing sound. The little dogs all turned and trotted obediently back inside the palace. The king looked at his queen as though he had never seen anything so amazing in his life. He exclaimed, in Grathian, that his wife was like a mighty goddess, which Celie translated for her mother.

  The king and queen embraced their son, kissed his cheeks, and rejoiced in their native language that they were reunited at last. Lilah, who had studied Grathian with Rolf and Celie, made a gulping noise.

  “They talk so fast,” she whispered.

  Her comment, of course, fell into the sudden silence as the king and queen released Lulath and turned expectantly to them. Lilah turned red to the roots of her shining dark hair.

  Queen Celina stepped forward and graciously inclined her head. The king and queen of Grath did the same. Then Lilah and Celie both curtsied deeply, and Rolf bowed.

  “O my father, O my mother,” Lulath intoned in Sleynth. “I am being ever pleased to put before us the noble and beautiful queen, the very Celina of Sleyne!” He turned and flourished a hand toward his parents. “My very Queen Celina, here is being my noble father, my graceful mother, being King Kurlath and Queen Amatopeia.”

  They all bowed or curtsied, the Grathian couple with many more flourishes than their guests from Sleyne.

  “O gracious mother and gracious father,” Lulath continued. “I have so much the pleasure, truly so much, to also say to you, here is to be my bride, this vision of the vision, this Princess Delilah!”

  Lilah curtsied even more deeply, and the Grathians curtsied and bowed back.

  “And also it is being mine the delight to say to you, behold, here is a youngest brother and an only sister to my Delilah, who are as to me as dearest of friends and brother and sister also, the only Crown Prince Rolf, chosen by the very Castle Glower as the king the next, and the only Princess Cecelia, she for whom the Castle Glower and all the griffins have the greatest love!”

  More curtsies, more bows, and then suddenly: hugging.

  The king and queen of Grath, having finished their elaborate formal greetings, now rushed forward with arms outstretched. Queen Amatopeia swept Lilah up in a hug, literally lifting her off the ground and placing kisses on both her cheeks. King Kurlath gathered up Queen Celina, kissed her loudly on both cheeks, and then shook her a little, calling her his “queen sister.” Then they switched, with the king hugging and kissing Lilah, the queen doing the same to Queen Celina, and then, to Celie’s discomfort, turning their attention to herself and Rolf. Rolf and Celie soon found themselves enveloped in silk and lace and also lifted off the ground. The queen’s kisses left sticky spots of lip rouge on Celie’s cheeks, but she was pleased that the king’s kisses were actually warm and dry. From the smacking noises she’d expected something a bit more moist.

  “And now that is being the finish,” King Kurlath announced. “We can be coming into the palace and having of food and comfort.”

  “How lovely,” Queen Celina said.

  They all began to move toward the doors of the palace, and servants started to appear out of other,
smaller doors, to take care of the carriage and the luggage. They were ascending the shallow steps to the palace, which Celie noticed with fascination were set with seashells, when Rufus came screeching down from the sky to land on the top step in front of them.

  Celie braced herself, figuring that Queen Amatopeia was probably going to scream. Most ladies did when they saw a griffin for the first time, and Lulath’s mother was a very vocal person to begin with.

  But she’d forgotten about the queen’s competent dog handling. This was a woman who knew animals, and loved them. And so, too, did the king.

  The royal couple instantly went still, which was the best thing they could have done. Then, in a reverent and hushed voice, the queen asked if she could approach the griffin.

  “What whom does he seek?” the king asked, also in a very quiet voice.

  “It’s, er, Rufus,” Celie said. “He’s mine. I suppose he’s seeking me.”

  She stepped forward and grabbed hold of Rufus’s harness. She gave him a little shake and then stroked his head. He cooed and butted her in the chest.

  “What are you doing, bad boy!” Celie scolded. “You’re supposed to stay with Pogue and the ship!”

  Pogue Parry, a knight and a good friend of all the Glower family, was coming after them with the parts of a massive ship that was Lilah and Lulath’s wedding gift from Celie’s father, King Glower. He was also bringing a wagon containing toys, harnesses, and food for the various griffins, as well as Rolf’s newly hatched Dagger-the-Golden, who was too small to fly for long.

  Queen Amatopeia had sidled closer, and now she slowly extended her hand. She raised her eyebrows at Celie and waited for Celie’s nod before moving her hand closer to Rufus. Rufus sniffed her hand delicately, and then he lashed his long lion tail and squawked.

  “He likes you,” Celie translated.

  “Here comes my Lady,” Queen Celina said, pointing to the sky. “She’s the queen of the griffins,” she explained to the Grathians. “And we call her Lady Griffin.”

  “Wondrous,” whispered King Kurlath.

  The lithe golden figure circled above them twice before she landed beside her son, Rufus. The queen of the griffins had attached herself to Queen Celina after they had brought her from the griffins’ home world of Hatheland, where the Castle had also been built, centuries before. Lord Griffin—her mate and the king of the griffins—was bonded to King Glower, but even more so to the Castle, and so he had stayed home with the king to watch over the Castle and Sleyne. Queen Celina stroked Lady Griffin’s head, and then invited King Kurlath to be sniffed and approved by the griffin queen.

  Lilah’s Juliet and Lulath’s Lorcan the Destroyer were not far behind. Rolf scanned the skies for his griffin, but Dagger had only just started to fly while they were on their journey and wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

  Celie knew that Pogue wouldn’t have let a griffin as young as Dagger take off on his own anyway. The carts with the ship and the griffins were almost a day behind them at this point, since they had rushed ahead in the royal carriage to meet Lulath’s family. Only a strong flier with a good sense of direction could have followed them.

  “Oh, they are the darlings!” Queen Amatopeia enthused. “But Lulath! Lorcan the Destroyer? What a name for this fine beast!”

  “I am being this fond of our ancestor Lorcan,” Lulath said stiffly.

  His mother just shook her head and shared a look with Lilah. “And this is being your darling?” she asked Lilah, holding out a gentle hand to Juliet.

  Lilah proudly introduced Juliet. Even Celie had to admit that Juliet was a beautiful griffin: delicately boned, sleek, her fur and feathers a shining bright gold with a hint of cream at the tips of her wings. Rufus was more stocky in build, larger, and a darker gold, with copper-brown markings on his wings. Celie thought him to be the finest of all griffins, of course, but Juliet looked like an artist’s ideal of the animal.

  The doors to the palace opened again, and a small gray-and-white dog sidled out. It took one look at the griffins and its puffy tail drooped. Rufus, meanwhile, saw it and hissed.

  “No!” Celie grabbed Rufus’s harness. “Don’t you dare!”

  “Oh, the horror!” King Kurlath said, throwing up his hands. “Will they be having the small dogs for eating?”

  “No, because they know better,” Celie said, making her voice stern and looking at Rufus as she said it.

  “They want to play with the dogs,” Lilah said, pulling back on Juliet’s harness. “But the way they play is too rough. They tear their toys apart when they play.”

  “Oh, very,” Queen Amatopeia said, and apparently could think of nothing to add. Celie didn’t blame her. The entire palace was full of griffin chew toys.

  “We can be taking the griffins to the gardens direct,” King Kurlath said. “And then we must be thinking careful of the dogs and the birds and where they are being.”

  Lulath’s mother let out a small scream. “And where are being your only darlings, my son?” she demanded. “Where are being JouJou and Kitsi, Bisi, and Niro?”

  “They are in the carriage,” Lilah was quick to assure her. “In their travel baskets. One of the servants is bringing them.”

  “Are you thinking I would be giving up my darling girls? Even for so fine of a griffin?” Lulath looked mortally offended.

  “It is being only a question,” his mother said, mollified. “Now, to be following this way, please!”

  She led them away from the front doors and across the side of the courtyard to a high, arched doorway in a wall inlaid with beautiful pale-pink seashells. Celie made herself a promise to explore every inch of the Grathian royal palace and touch the beautiful shells that decorated it.

  But for now she led Rufus through the arched doorway and into a long tunnel formed by an arching row of trees with purple flowers that dangled like grapes. She did reach out and touch the flowers, and Rufus snatched a bunch and then spit them out. Celie would have been embarrassed, but King Kurlath saw and laughed.

  “They are the precious, are they not?”

  Celie felt a wave of relief wash over her. She loved Lulath, and would never be embarrassed by anything she said or did in front of him—or anything Rufus did, either—but she had worried the whole way to Grath that perhaps Lulath’s parents were different. Perhaps they were very formal or very stiff in their manners, the way Lulath had first appeared to be, with his fancy clothes and fastidious habits. She had often wondered if Lulath’s stories about his family’s many pets were true (although now they knew for certain that he was not exaggerating when he talked about the dogs), or if he had been sent to stay in Sleyne because his family wanted to be rid of him.

  Judging from the warm welcome they had all received, his parents hadn’t sent him to Sleyne to be rid of him. And they really did seem eager to add Lilah to their family as well. And of course they liked dogs; Celie herself was very fond of dogs, and Lulath’s girls in particular. But griffins were another matter—though it did look as if Lulath’s parents were prepared to welcome griffins into their home.

  “Ah! This very garden!” King Kurlath said, throwing open another arched door. “Please to be thinking of it always and forever as your garden, our family of the Glower!” He swept forward and then turned to beckon to them with both hands.

  The griffins didn’t need any encouragement. They jostled and squawked as they left their people behind and tried to be the first through the door. Finally the tangle of wings and talons was clear and the two-legged creatures could follow them. Celie let her mother and the Grathian queen go first, then Lilah and Lulath and Rolf, so she was last and couldn’t see anything for a moment, just griffins and the backs of her family and friends, who had all gone silent.

  Celie didn’t know what had happened, at first. But then everyone began to wander slowly forward, and she was able to get a look at this very garden, which had just been presented to them.

  It was breathtaking.

  Banks of exotic flowe
rs filled the garden with color and perfume. The close-cropped lawn was the color of emeralds, and here and there were stone benches or tables that were inlaid with shells the creamy white of the finest pearls. Across the garden was a low stone wall, and Rufus rambled over to it with Celie at his heels. When they got there, Celie gasped at what she saw.

  Beyond the wall the ground dropped away, and hundreds of paces below them was something Celie had never seen before.

  The sea.

  Chapter

  2

  The Royal Palace of Grath, the official name of which translated into Sanctuary by the Sea, was distractingly lovely. Every line of the Sanctuary seemed to have been drawn by an artist’s hand, and every stone placed with an artist’s eye. Where Celie’s beloved Castle Glower was pleasantly sturdy and functional, the Sanctuary was made entirely for beauty. This meant that not every room was comfortable, and some bits of the Sanctuary had silk ropes draped across them, because they were too fragile to be used. But it was all very fascinating, and took Celie’s mind off other things. Most of the time.

  “I don’t like it here,” Celie announced on the fifth day.

  They were out in their garden, overlooking the sea, eating breakfast. They ate breakfast and lunch there every day, and Celie spent a great deal of time watching the ocean and trying to keep Rufus from plunging headfirst over the wall. She had no objection to him flying over the water, and she had twice ridden him herself as he dipped his toes in the waves, but he had a fascination with the cliff that worried her. It would be like him to test his speed by diving off and seeing how close to the rocks at the bottom he could get before extending his wings.

  “What do you mean? It’s so beautiful,” Lilah said.

  She was reclining on a bench, sunning herself. Juliet lay on the grass beside her, also basking. Lilah was beautifully attired in pink silk trimmed with blond lace, which had been yet another gift from Queen Amatopeia. The queen seemed to think of Lilah as a sort of large doll to dress and coo over, and Lilah loved every minute of it. Celie thought it was quite disgusting.