Now that she thought about it, her estate Comptroller probably was a thief.

Aliya continued studying the castle at night. She stayed inside for practical reasons. I don't want to run into a guard dog in the yard. She needed to lose some weight, but getting bitten by the castle guard dog was not how she planned to do it.

In her nocturnal walks through the castle, she decided that all the servants were on the take. Everything was too old and run-down. True, there was little reason for Lily to use large sections of the castle—she never had guests, so she only used six of the many rooms—but according to Martha's stories...

I'll deal with the crooked servants later.

♦

Food was another problem. Aliya wasn't just hungry, she wanted to eat everything in sight. Her new body had lost weight during its illness and demanded food. During her illness, she had been given chicken broth, red wine and something like toast, which wasn't bad at all. Once she got out of bed, however, the food seemed to Aliya like something Ivan the Terrible might have had on his table: roasted hare's kidneys, head of pike with garlic and other modest dishes. On her first day out of bed, her breakfast was brought in on a tray. She counted at least ten eggs that had been hardboiled, chopped and mixed with what looked like wine. There were two types of porridge: oatmeal with mushrooms and wheat porridge with berries. Off to the side, lay a piece of ham that looked like it weighed at least a pound, and a piece of cheese the same size. There was a large loaf of wheat bread, accompanied by at least a half-pound each of butter, honey and jam, all in dishes the size of large plates. She was expected to wash all of this down with beer, wine or cider.

Her stomach grumbled happily. Aliya grumbled not so happily. "What is all of this?"

"Your breakfast, My Lady."

There's no way I can eat all of this! Or can I? In her previous life, Aliya would have needed a week to plow through the food on the table, and she would have shared with friends. She wrinkled her nose at the eggs in wine, but her stomach was raring and ready to go.

She felt nauseous just looking at the unsalted sheep's milk cheese, but her hand reached out with a spoon to scoop out a chunk of it.

The drinks on the table made her teeth clench shut, but her fingers held onto the pitcher of wine. What if I'm an alcoholic in this life? That's the last thing I need.

Aliya pushed away everything but the two dishes of porridge. "Martha, I only want porridge for breakfast from now on. Nothing else."

"But Lily, you'll starve like that."

"It's not up for discussion."

It was obvious Martha heard the steel in Aliya's voice. She nodded in assent.

Aliya did the same at lunch. Of the twelve dishes offered to her, she kept just two. Soup and a meat of some kind. Nothing heavy and nothing fried. She was just as strict at dinner. She instructed the cook to serve her only vegetables—any kind of vegetable—but no meat, cheese or bread. Wine was off the table, but they could leave the cider

I'll teach you to make fruit juice and wash the pots before you use them, but until then, I'll stick to cider. The alcohol kills bacteria, so there's less chance of dying of dysentery. Based on what she knew of healers in her new world, Aliya suspected that there was no treatment for something like dysentery.

♦

She was fed up with her forced isolation but prevented by irrational fear from going outside. She argued with herself and called herself a coward, but nothing helped. She was afraid that as soon as she left the castle grounds, she'd be recognized for what she was: a woman from another world. The people would cry, "Seize the witch!" or something just as bad. So, she put off going outside. I can study this world perfectly well using books. Then reality crash-landed on her.

Martha scratched timidly at the door, slipped into the room and announced, "Lily, dear, Doctor Craybey is here to see you."

"So what?" Aliya had told her Nanny never to let him near her again, and she had no intention of getting out of bed, but she decided she couldn't send him away

"He can't examine you like that! You need to get dressed."

Aliya stayed right where she was. She was comfortable in bed, and she also had a book hidden under her blanket. She couldn't get up without exposing her source of knowledge.

"Nanny, when I was sick, did I get dressed for doctor visits?"

"No, my dear."

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