I didn’t look back, but I heard Valus grunt, and the dull thud of two bodies colliding. I reached the stairs and scrambled up before I turned.
A figure in black—was it the same one who attacked Nol and me? No, this one was smaller—grappled on the floor with Valus. My heart slammed against my ribs. Two attackers. I looked around for a weapon. How many of them were there?
“Help!” I shouted. Where was everyone in this house? “Intruder!”
The figure threw off Valus and streaked away, fast and silent as a shadow. Valus struggled to his knees and looked at me.
“I think your life is still in danger,” he said.
Nol sprinted into the foyer, blood streaming from a cut above his eye. “He ran away,” he said, and looked at Valus. “What happened?”
“There was another one,” I called from the stairs. I descended them, not wanting to be alone and vulnerable. Every column and corner promised danger. “We need to call Tallyn immediately.”
More footsteps. Servants appeared, and my sister in a dressing gown.
“What’s going on?” she gasped, looking from the blood pouring down Nol’s face to me. “Was there a fight?”
“An intruder,” Nol said. “Someone needs to speak to the household security.”
Tallyn arrived as everyone was speaking. He grabbed my arm and steered me off to the side. I told him what happened, and his mouth tightened.
“Tallyn,” I said. “I need to speak with Annah at once.”
~ ~ ~
We made the journey to Annah’s house in the middle of the night under cover of darkness while the rest of the house slept. I sat silently, wrapped in a cloak. Tallyn didn’t speak either. He appeared to be thinking deeply, and I left him alone.
When we reached my grandmother’s house, I met her in the same room as before. When she arrived, she hugged me. I was still with surprise.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” she murmured.
“Valus’s information has changed everything,” she said. “We need to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” She paused. “I’m glad you’re here, Tallyn, although you were remiss in you duties earlier by not protecting my granddaughter from her attackers.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Tallyn agreed. “I failed you both. I am deeply sorry, and it won’t happen again.” He spoke firmly, not looking at me as he spoke.
Annah nodded. “I trust that it will be so, and that next time we won’t have to rely on a Dron and the son of our mortal enemy to protect Aemiana.”
“Was it Tempest?” I asked. I was annoyed at her scolding Tallyn, although he didn’t seem to be. “How did they know I was alive?”
“Announcements for the gala? A spy?” Tallyn shrugged. “It could be any number of things. Someone could have spotted you in the garden sphere.”
I rubbed my arms. This was insanity.
“Regardless, now they know,” Annah said. “We will have to take serious action to keep you safe, Aemi. This is no longer a matter of mere familial affection, but of the security of this republic.”
Tallyn’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
Annah paused and shot him a glance. “Now, Tallyn, to explain what’s going on, the senate is taking you into our confidence. Of course, you shall tell no one what you are about to hear.”
Tallyn waited gravely as Annah recounted what Valus had told us earlier. His expression changed to one of shock, which quickly smoothed into professional impassiveness. His shoulders, however, stayed rigid, and his jaw clenched tight.
I wondered what he thought. He didn’t ask any questions.
After she’d finished, I told them both about the glass city and what I’d discovered. Again, Tallyn listened without moving or speaking. Annah nodded gravely as I described the scant memories that had returned to me, as well as the word I’d seen. She seemed to take it as merely a confirmation of what she already believed.
“Tempest isn’t going to stop,” Annah said when I’d finished. “But this latest attack lacked planning and finesse. Someone is becoming desperate, and desperation means they will try again, and poorly, which may show their hand and allow us to trace them.”
“Trace them?” I repeated. “When they come to the gala?”
Tallyn and Annah looked grim. “Perhaps, if they show,” Tallyn said. “We’ll have to be ready.”
“Meanwhile,” Annah continued, addressing mainly Tallyn, “we need to keep Aemiana safe. The fate of Itlantis may depend on it, if we are going to use her memories to find Trulliman’s city.”
I rose to my feet in shock. “Find the city?”
She turned her face toward me. “Yes. I have spoken with the inner circle of the senate. They are in agreement. We’re going to find Perilous.”
Breath fled my lungs. I sat down hard in the nearest chair.
Perilous. The name that had haunted me since my childhood. The word on the lips of the woman who I’d called mother. The painting by my father. The mysterious place the Dron woman asked about.
Perilous.
Whatever it was, wherever it was, it was going to be revealed to me.
Tallyn paced. He was focused on the problem at hand. He rubbed his chin with one hand, scowling at the floor.
“We’ve got to keep you safe. We need to buy time.” He looked at me for a long moment, and then took a deep breath. “I have an idea, but you aren’t going to like it.”
“What?”
You need to die.”
“Die?” I said, alarmed.
“We need Tempest to think you’ve died. We need everyone to think you’ve died.”
“I... I see.”
Everyone?
I thought of Nol.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “Fake another poisoning, just like last time. You’ll collapse, and we’ll rush you away. It will be a complete secret until we can reveal it to those we trust.”
I was reeling. “Surely Tempest isn’t going to be convinced that I’ve died,” I said. “Not if I simply pretend.”
“That’s why you’re not going to pretend,” Tallyn said.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE WHOLE GRAYWATER estate glittered with decorations on the night of the gala—strands of sparkling cloth and gossamer banners in the Graywater colors draped the walls and columns, and colored lanterns hung on strands in the corridors and foyer, casting little circles of blue and green light over the floors. Music echoed faintly through the halls and leaked beneath my door as I stood before a mirror in my room, staring at my reflection.
The dress Tallyn had selected was silver and black, a mermaid cut that hugged my hips in glittery black and flared out at my knees in a froth of silver underskirts. The top came up to my neck and covered my arms down to my wrists, where the sleeves almost swallowed my fingers, hiding knives strapped to my wrists that I could use to defend myself against an attacker. Beneath the skirts, which parted easily, I wore a simple bodysuit. My hair was swept off my neck in a mass of braids and curls, an elegant bun that a servant girl had created with pins and combs, and mixed in with the combs were a few sharpened sticks that could also serve as weapons if I needed them. I touched the necklace that hung cold and heavy around my neck, a collar-like piece that would shield me from a blade.
Everything I wore had a double use of protection or defense as well as style and beauty, just in case something happened tonight. In case Tempest tried to strike again.
My stomach rolled with fear. I wiped my palms on the dress and took a deep breath to calm myself.
We had a plan. Follow the plan and everything would be fine.
The house had already begun to fill with guests when I stepped into the hall. I walked slowly, my head high, projecting a confidence I didn’t feel. Tallyn fell into step beside me from his place at a column, and from the shadows, so did Nol.
With them both at my back, I breathed easier.
Faces turned toward me as I entered the great hall where the majority of the attendees had gathered.
Whispers permeated the air, mingling with the strains of music to create a quiet, ominous cacophony.
I swallowed to ease the tightness of my throat, but I still felt as though I couldn’t breathe. I curtsied to my guests, giving them an enigmatic Graywater smile that my mother would be proud of.
Tables laden with food lined the windows at the edge of the room. Tob had outdone himself. Lobster tarts, puffer fish cake, whale’s milk crème puffs, pickled squid’s eye, stuffed redfish intestines, sea cucumber bisque... Each dish lay on a bed of golden seaweed, gleaming beneath the lights. The plates and bowls were lined with gold.
Nol leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “I think Olis helped contribute to this feast. I see a few subtle Dron touches to the dishes.”
A smile touched my mouth despite my anxiety.
Speaking of the Dron... Garren hovered at the edge of the crowd, dressed in shining cloth, his eyes darting over the jewel-draped guests with a mixture of derision and awe. His gaze kept returning to the tables filled with food, and he scowled with each glance. I wondered if he was thinking of the refugees he’d left behind for this mission.
Beside him, Olis was equally stunning in her dress of shimmering olive green. As I watched, another guest bumped into Garren, and she laid a hand on his arm to keep him from starting an argument.
A few other familiar faces stood out among the crowd. I spotted the twin sons of the Verdusean governor, Mahn and Darek, and moved toward them with a smile. A servant offered me a drink on the way, and I accepted it, gripping the stem of the glass between sweaty fingers.
“My lady Aemiana,” Darek said when I reached them. He bowed. “I am so glad to see you safe and well. We feared the worst for you.”
“I am glad to see you safe too,” I replied, curtsying and giving him a genuine, non-Graywater smile, because I meant the words. Darek was a drink of fresh water in the midst of this salty sea of debutantes. “How did you escape?”
His eyes darkened at the memory. “We took a visitor’s private ship that was docked at our estate. The walls were falling down around us. It was brutal.”
Mahn nudged him. “My brother is a hero. He managed to evacuate every member of our staff as well as operate a ship he’d never seen the controls for.”
“I’m impressed,” I said. I remembered my mother telling me Darek had been destined for a military career before Nautilus’s war. “You are a good captain?”
“The best,” Mahn said as Darek shrugged and made a noise of dismissal. “He would have...” Mahn stopped. “Things might have been different, if not for this conflict.”
Darek’s expression darkened at some private thought as his brother spoke. He suddenly seemed eager to change the subject. “Shall we dance? This music is excellent.”
I set my glass on a nearby ledge and held out my hands. “Of course.”
It would be good for the partygoers to see me behaving as though nothing were wrong.
“Lady Aemiana.”
I turned away from Darek to see another familiar face.
Alin Vial.
My smile curdled. At the last party in my honor, he’d drugged me.
He bowed, and somehow he managed to make the gesture sarcastic. “I just wanted to pay my respects,” he said. “For managing to wiggle your way to freedom once again. You’re a slippery fish, aren’t you?”
“I suppose you would know,” I replied coolly. “I’m impressed at your gall to attend this gala, given the fact that you’ve tried to poison me with drugs previously... and our other history.”
He grinned a shark-like smile, showing all his teeth. His eyes were flat and hard. “You underestimate my courage. And by history, do you mean the fact that you blackmailed me?”
“Sometimes courage and stupidity are confused for one another.”
Alin ignored this barb. “I suppose your late appearance to Verdus after the attack will fuel more rumors of your involvement with Nautilus? I can’t wait. They make such good reading material when I’m bored.”
“I should think the gossips would have something else to talk about now that Primus is lost—”
“The lady and I were about to dance,” Darek said, interrupting a brewing conflict. He took my hand and drew me away. Alin watched us go without comment.
Once on the dance floor, I exhaled angrily. “I despise him. What lies is he spreading about me?”
“I know,” Darek said simply. “We all do. He is not liked, Aemiana. Everyone knows he is not to be trusted.”
“Please, call me Aemi.”
Darek smiled. “Of course. Aemi.” He paused. “Really, everyone knows what Alin is. Don’t listen to the things he tries to plant in your mind.”
“Have there been rumors?”
Darek spun me in a turn. “There will always be rumors, but right now, things are too chaotic for anyone to pay much attention.”
I was not reassured. I wondered if I would be receiving another visit from a senate-appointed official. But then, I would be dead as far as anyone knew.
So much for rumors.
“I hope this party can be more pleasant than the last,” Darek said as the dance ended. “You deserve better.”
I tried to laugh, but it caught in my throat. He didn’t know how close he was to the truth of what was going to happen.
A hand tapped my shoulder. Nol.
“May I cut in?”
Darek withdrew, and Nol placed one hand in mine and the other on my waist. I lifted my head to meet his eyes.
“How are you doing?” he murmured as we danced. The cut above his eyebrow had been stitched, and it gave him a hard, dangerous look.
“I’m nervous,” I confessed quietly. “My skin crawls every time I pass a shadowy corner.”
“Understandable,” he said. “You had a terrifying experience last night, but we’re here to protect you now. You’re safe.”
“Assassins aside, I have other enemies here. They tell me there are rumors about my loyalties yet again. Whispers about me working for Nautilus.”
“The Itlanteans gossip like seagulls,” he said. “Don’t pay attention. These rich busybodies have nothing else to do. If they were with the Dron, they’d each have a task, a function, a purpose. They wouldn’t have time to dance and eat pastries and make up stories about each other’s loyalty.”
I looked over his shoulder at the crowd. “Are Garren and Olis managing?”
“I’m surprised Garren hasn’t required an armed guard to keep him from stabbing someone.”
It was good to laugh about something rather than focusing on fear.
The music changed to something slower, more intimate. We moved a little closer as the other couples were doing, and my pulse sped up. Nol’s hand tightened on my waist, and I felt his breath against my neck.
“Your mother is here,” he said quietly. “She’s watching us.”
I resisted the urge to pull back and turn to see her expression. “Does she look displeased?”
“I can’t tell. She is like Commander Valli—impassive and unreadable. But she isn’t frowning.” He paused. “I think she’d rather you were dancing with someone else. I don’t think I’m am eligible prospect.”
He spoke the words lightly, but they caused a buzz in me anyway.
“You did help save my life last night.”
“You saved your own life with your training and quick thinking,” he said. “I merely served as a pincushion for a knife.”
Tallyn moved through the crowd, stopping at the edge of the dance floor. He met my eyes across the room and lifted a brow.
No sign of Tempest so far.
“I should get some refreshment,” I said. “Tob outdid himself tonight, and it looks like Olis helped him. I see a few modifications to his recipes.”
“I believe she did. Have you seen them in the kitchen together?” Nol asked as we left the dance floor. “I’m always surprised either one survives. They fight as much as they cook.”
It was good to talk like thi
s, as though this night were anything other than the simmering festival of doom that it was. I breathed in slowly to calm myself.
Almost time.
I approached the tables and surveyed the offerings before selecting a lobster tart and bringing it to my lips. The sight of the excessive feast and the taste of buttery crust on my tongue took my mind back to a feast long ago, at the Village of the Rocks.
Nol stayed at my side. “Good?” he asked of the tart as he surveyed the crowd.
“Hmm, try these.” I indicated the cream puffs, and he selected one. I watched him bite into it, thinking. We were so different from the sunburned, anger-filled people we’d been then, our whole world an island of stone ringed by blue-green water and frothy waves, a montage of fish and spears and sand. The universe had been small, bright with unrelenting sun, and pocketed with unexpected happiness. Now, it was complicated, populated by never-ending shadows and the glitter of riches sharp as knives. All this opulence around me, all this gold and sparkle, and I had never felt so strangled. In that moment, the weariness dragged at my bones, and I ached.
“What is it?” Nol said. “You look sad.”
“Nothing.” I turned away from the food and looked at the sea. “I was just thinking of the Village of the Rocks.”
A piece of me ached for that island, that sun-soaked existence, thrall or not. I saw Nealla, sweeping the ashes from the hearth as a piece of fish fried on the big flat rock by the fire, the smell filling the air and mingling with the scent of the sea. I missed Kit’s white flash of a smile, brightened in the brilliance of the light that danced off the water in the cove at the center of the village. I missed the woman who’d raised me, my mother, combing my hair and braiding it into four strands as she sang a song about the ocean waves.
I slipped my hand into my pocket, felt the vial waiting there.
It was time. I need a few hours for it to work.
My fingers dampened with nervous sweat as I pressed it into my palm and lifted my hand to my lips. The liquid burned on my tongue, and I covered my grimace by turning toward an alcove draped with curtains. Nol followed. I dropped the vial into the leaves of a potted plant and turned to face him. The music was muted here, quiet. The other partygoers were shadows beyond the curtain, giving us the illusion of privacy.
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