by Caitlin Seal
Dawn was just rising when the aether in the hall outside Naya’s borrowed room abruptly boiled with distress and anger. A door slammed, and someone spoke, their voice quickly lowering to a bare murmur. Naya roused herself from the semi-sleep she’d settled into and peeked into the hall. She was a little surprised to find the soldier gone from her door. Vanissare, the Ceramoran master of trade, stood nearby, speaking with Lady Briello. They went silent as Naya approached.
“What’s going on?” Naya asked. Vanissare’s shirt was buttoned unevenly and his suit jacket wrinkled as though he’d dressed himself in the first thing on hand without bothering to call a servant. Lady Briello by comparison looked ready to attend breakfast with the queen herself.
Vanissare licked his lips. “We’ve just gotten word. Dalith Valn is dead.”
The world seemed to go still. Naya stared at him. “What?”
“Apparently,” Lady Briello said, her voice heavy with scorn, “they brought him over from the prison for today’s trial just before the assassins attacked here. During the chaos someone killed Valn and the soldiers watching him. It’s a disaster.”
Naya’s legs felt suddenly weak. “Did they catch the assassins?” she asked.
“Of course not,” Lady Briello said with a snort. “Honestly, I told Salno something like this would happen. Talmirans think they can get away with anything. They’ll claim to be investigating, and they’ll make all sorts of noise about what an outrage this is. But secretly they’re all laughing at us behind their hands. I heard from my maid this morning that the two who attacked here were wearing palace servant uniforms. The audacity of it is outrageous! You would think that if Queen Lial wanted us dead, she’d at least have the decency to send someone more subtle to do the job.”
“My lady,” Vanissare squeaked. “Perhaps we shouldn’t make accusations until we know more. We still don’t know for certain if the culprits were actually members of the staff or impersonators.”
Lady Briello opened her mouth as though to begin a fresh rant, but Naya cut her off. “Where’s Lord Delence?”
“In his rooms. He stormed off as soon as we got the news.”
Naya’s knock at Delence’s door was met with silence. She knocked again, louder, and was rewarded by stomping footsteps. When Delence finally opened the door, his features were set into a stern mask. “Miss Garth, go back to your rooms. I’ll deal with you later,” he said.
Naya ignored the smoke of his anger. “Is it true? Is Valn dead?”
She expected him to brush off her question or shout at her. Instead he rubbed one hand over his face and let out a deep sigh. “I only heard an hour ago,” he said. “But yes, it seems to be true.”
Weight settled into the pit of Naya’s stomach. Valn was dead. Just like that she’d lost her best lead on the location of Lucia’s journals. “Lady Briello said the Talmirans are responsible.”
Delence’s jaw tightened as he glanced down the hall. “Lady Briello would do well to learn some discretion.”
“So you think it was someone else?”
“Did you come here for a purpose, or were you just looking for gossip? I’ve got too much to do to waste time with this right now.”
“What are you going to do? What’s going to happen to the Congress with Valn dead?” Naya asked.
Delence was silent for a moment. “I don’t know. The trial has been canceled for obvious reasons. It’s possible the Congress will be suspended until the culprit behind the attacks is determined. Even if the others don’t blame Talmir, they’ll still lose face over failing to provide a safe environment for the negotiations. I’m sure Queen Lial’s delegates will blame us for inviting unnecessary strife by bringing you, but that can be managed.” Delence shook his head. For the first time, Naya noticed the rumpled state of his clothes and the sallow hue of his skin. “I’m sending Francisco and Lucia back to Ceramor aboard the Gallant, but I’ll need you to stay.”
“Really?” Naya asked. Her knees went weak with relief. She’d been certain he’d try to send her away.
Delence’s eyes narrowed. “Unfortunately. If it were up to me, I would send you back as well. I told you last night to return to your rooms. Instead you went and broke a soldier’s arm.”
Naya looked down, feeling a flush rising in her cheeks. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said.
“That’s not how the soldier saw it. I’ve spent half the morning already trying to control this.”
“If it’s such a big problem, then why aren’t you sending me away?” Naya asked.
“Because the Council still wants to hear your testimony regarding the Belavine incident, and no doubt they’ll also want to question you about the assassination attempt. I don’t know when exactly those meetings will be scheduled, but in the meantime you’ll be confined to your rooms. You won’t leave this hall unless it’s to attend an interrogation at the invitation of the queen or the Congress.”
“What? That isn’t fair!”
“You broke a man’s arm!” Delence said, his voice rising to just below a shout.
Naya bit her cheek to keep from shouting back at him. “So I’m a prisoner now?”
“Officially? No, the law still protects you. But that will change if you keep acting like this.”
Naya fought her anger. She couldn’t go looking for Lucia’s journals if she was locked up. She might get out for a few hours with Felicia’s help, but even that would be far riskier now. “You said you’re sending Francisco and Lucia back to Ceramor. Shouldn’t Lucia stay? What if something happens to my bones?”
“You’ll just have to be careful. Francisco is badly injured. I need Lucia to tend him on the journey, and I won’t risk keeping him here. Not after last night.”
Naya tried to come up with an argument that would change Delence’s mind, but she could sense the steel of his resolve in the aether. Bleak despair welled up inside her. With Lucia gone and her every move watched by the queen’s soldiers, she’d be trapped. She’d have no way to save Corten. Creator, she wasn’t even sure she could save herself.
Naya walked slowly down the hall. Frustration and uncertainty churned in her stomach. She paid little attention to where she was going until her footsteps slowed outside the door to her rooms. She ran her fingers over the letters etched into the brass plaque, then opened the door. Part of her expected to find blood and the stench of death. But the servants who’d cleaned the room had done their work well. New carpets lined the floor and one of the low tables had been replaced. Otherwise the room looked exactly as it had before the attack.
Naya shivered as she remembered the way the poison had made the assassin’s body twitch. The woman hadn’t hesitated in killing herself to avoid capture. That wasn’t the sort of loyalty a person could just buy.
As Naya looked away from the spot where the assassin had died, her attention caught on the ornate desk in the far corner. One of the drawers was partway open, marring the smooth contour of the desk’s front. She took a step closer and spotted a corner of paper sticking out. Strange. She didn’t remember storing anything there.
Naya opened the drawer and extracted a thin strip of folded paper. She opened it, frowning at the single line of spidery script.
Seamstress Talia wishes to discuss Blue tablecloths. 8th evening hour at the captain’s house.
Naya’s fingers went numb with fear. She recognized that phrase. It was the same code she’d used to contact Celia after they’d kidnapped Delence. Asking about tablecloths meant she wanted information. She glanced around the room, then stuffed the note into her skirt pocket and carefully shut the drawer.
What was this? An invitation? A trap?
She leaned against the desk, remembering the familiar figure she’d glimpsed at the ball. She’d half convinced herself that the woman she’d seen couldn’t have been Celia. But the wording of the code was too specific to have come from anyone
else. The message even included the reference to Naya’s old identity—Blue.
Why in creation would Celia be trying to contact her now? A trap seemed the most obvious explanation. If Celia was in the palace, then it meant she was working for the queen. The assassins who’d attacked Naya had worn palace uniforms. They’d killed Valn, the one person who might expose any connections between the throne and the plot in Belavine. They’d tried to kill her, maybe because they weren’t sure how much she could expose of Valn’s connections and organization. But they had failed. So now they were trying to lure her away somewhere where they could finish the job.
Naya paced. Something about the theory didn’t sit right with her. Celia was smart and subtle. She’d trained Naya. She had to at least suspect Naya would see the risk behind meeting with her. The note didn’t offer any obvious threats or other incentives for Naya to come to the meeting. It didn’t even demand her silence.
Naya reread the note, trying to puzzle out the meaning of the second line. The time was obvious enough. The codes she’d learned required her to subtract three hours if the time was written out in full, or add three if it was given in numbers. Celia wanted to meet at eleven, but the location wasn’t one Naya recognized. All the codes she’d memorized had been specific to Belavine. There’d never been any reason for them to speak secretly of locations in Talmir. So what was the captain’s house?
She racked her memory for anything Celia had said during their training that might expose the meaning behind the words. Celia wouldn’t have used a code she didn’t think Naya could understand. There would be no point. So she had to be missing something.
Naya drew in a sharp breath when realization struck her. What if the location was just a reference instead of a proper code? If that was the case, then Naya thought she knew where the meeting was meant to take place. The question was what to do about it.
By the time Lucia returned, exhausted, from her work with Francisco, Naya had drawn together the bits and pieces of a plan.
“I’m sorry I didn’t check on you earlier,” Lucia said as she shut the door. Her dress was stained with spots of blood and ink, and dark bags stood out under her eyes. “It’s been ages since I worked with ink and flesh, so fixing Francisco’s tattoos took longer than I thought it would.”
“How is he?” Naya asked.
“He’ll live. The surgeon knew his business and I’ve repaired the fading on his runes. He got very lucky. The wound alone could have killed a living man, and if those soldiers hadn’t intervened when they did, the contact with the wraith eater would have broken the bindings on his soul.”
“So resurrected who keep their bodies are more durable than the living?” Naya asked. She’d experienced the power of wraiths for herself, but she’d always assumed the bodied undead were more normal.
Lucia grimaced. “Yes. It’s part of what gave the Mad King the idea to start his war. The tattoos binding bodied undead to this world can help sustain them even through wounds that would kill the living. They also tend to heal more quickly. That said, they still die if enough damage is done to their tattoos. And wraith eaters of course can strain the binding magic and eventually send their souls back to death.” Lucia sighed, then stretched her shoulders. “Let’s have a look at your bones before I collapse.”
Naya shook her head. “If Delence asks you about them, I need you to tell him they’re cracked.”
Lucia blinked. “Well, I’ll have to assess the damage first.”
“No. I mean I need you to tell him my bones are cracked even though they’re fine.” Naya flexed her fingers. They still ached a little, but the pain was fading.
“Why?” Lucia asked.
“Delence plans to send you and Francisco out to the ships as soon as he can be safely moved. You still have my spare bones on the Lady, right?”
“I do.”
“Good,” Naya said. “I need an excuse to get out of the palace for a few hours without anyone following me around. There’s no way I can do that if I’m locked up here. But if I can convince Delence to let me go back to the ship now and stay there until you can repair my bones, I think I can slip away.” Delence knew Naya had been resurrected with an illegal reaper binding. But Lucia had managed to keep secret the extra modifications she’d made that allowed Naya’s bones to heal. If Delence thought her bones were cracked, then he’d have no choice but to let Lucia stay long enough to fix the damage.
Lucia’s eyes brightened. “Have you figured out where my journals are?”
“Not exactly, but I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
Naya chewed her lip. “I think I know who Valn was working with, and I think Celia is back in Talmir.”
“What?!” Lucia asked in a barely suppressed whisper.
“I’m still not sure of all the details. But help me get out of the palace unwatched for a few hours and I think I can finally get us some answers.” If she was very, very lucky, she might get more than answers. But Naya didn’t want to doom that luck by speaking her hopes aloud.
Lucia sat back, rubbing her face with one hand. “Creator. This is dangerous, isn’t it? I should probably try to stop you. You’re so young. You shouldn’t have to be doing any of this.”
“I’m not that young,” Naya said. “I can do this. And when I do, we’ll finally have a way to bring Corten back. We can expose Valn’s allies and put an end to all of this.” She felt like her chest was expanding as she said the words. It was a desperate sort of hope. Still, she would gladly take it over the despair she’d felt before finding Celia’s note. She would make this work. She had to. If Celia’s note was a trap, then Naya would find a way to slip it. She would get her answers, one way or another.
Lucia met Naya’s eyes, then nodded slowly. “Perhaps you can. Just please, promise me you won’t do anything too rash.”
“I’ll try. And you should take a nice long rest before you come to the Gallant. You look ready to fall over.”
“How much rest?” Lucia asked, obviously catching on to Naya’s meaning.
“At least until after sunset. In fact it would probably be best if you waited until tomorrow to come to the ship,” Naya said. “You look really tired.”
Lucia yawned. “Now there is a request I am more than happy to fulfill. You’re sure you’ll be all right?”
“I’ll be fine.” Naya smiled, then hurried away. She found Delence near the end of the hall, looking like he was about to leave.
“I need to speak to you,” she said. He tried to brush past her, so she fell into step beside him. She let her shoulders slump and held her left hand protectively against her chest.
“Not right now. I’ve got a meeting to attend,” Delence said.
“This will be quick. Lucia examined my bones, and one of them is cracked. She said it would be dangerous to leave it alone. I have to go back to the Gallant if she’s going to replace it before they leave for Talmir.”
Delence stopped and gave her a critical look. “Why didn’t you say anything about that earlier?” he asked.
“I didn’t want to complain unless I was sure there was a problem.”
“Fine,” Delence said, after a pause so long it left Naya feeling like she would explode with impatience. “I think I can convince the queen and the other delegates to allow that much. Once Francisco is stable enough for the journey, you can go across with them.”
“If it’s all right, I’d like to go to the ships now. I worked as Lucia’s assistant for a while. If someone sends my bones and the rest of her tools from the Lady, then I can get everything ready while she rests. That way we won’t cause any more delays than we have to.” Naya lowered her eyes and tried to look meek rather than eager. Lucia would need very little help, but she hoped Delence didn’t know that.
“I’ll see if I can get approval,” he said with a nod. “Wait in your rooms until I send for you.”
Naya returned to her rooms. She made a quick survey of her belongings, then stuffed everything she thought she might need into a small bag and summoned Felicia.
“I’m going back to the Gallant for a day or two,” she said once Felicia arrived. “Could you carry a message to Mel for me before I go?” She didn’t know if Mel would accept a letter from her after what she’d seen last night. But she wanted a chance to explain herself, and she wasn’t sure when else she’d get it.
“Of course,” Felicia said. “After that I’ll pack my things. Do you know how we’ll be getting to the docks? I can see about arranging for a carriage if you haven’t done it already.”
Naya shook her head. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but you don’t have to come with me. I’ll just be there until Lucia replaces my cracked bone.”
Felicia looked down. “I’d rather come if it’s all the same. There won’t be anything for me to do here while you’re gone.”
“There probably won’t be anything for you to do on the ship either. It’s not as though I’ll need new hairstyles while I’m waiting for Lucia to carve my bones.”
Felicia let out a very unladylike snort. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with looking nice even if there’s nobody else to see. But even if you want to wear nothing but shifts and keep your hair a tangled mess, I’m sure I can still find some way to be useful.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want? I wouldn’t mind the company, but someone did just try to kill me. You’d probably be safer staying away.”
“I’m sure. I’ve been thinking, and since I haven’t had much luck finding any lost princes, I’ve decided I’ll have to look for adventure elsewhere. Following you seems like a good way to find it.”
Naya raised her eyebrows. “What about that boy in the kitchen?”
Felicia waved the comment away. “Oh, I’ve decided anyone who can be dissuaded from talking to me by a cook with a cleaning rag isn’t worth the effort.”
Naya laughed. “I see. Felicia, has anyone ever told you you’re a little odd?”
