by Tara Sim
Cayo swallowed and looked away, unable to stand the sight of them anymore. “So, what, this is your form of justice?”
“It is. If you have a problem with it, puppy, you can leave.”
But he couldn’t leave, not until he asked her about the Vaults.
“They’ll all be handed over to the Port’s Authority soon enough,” Romara assured him, putting her knife back. “A full day and night here, then on to a cell. This step is crucial. It tells them not to fuck with me in the future.”
“Whatever you say, Romara.”
She was still holding the cigarillo, and she took a hit off it as she narrowed her eyes at him. “I think I’ve answered quite enough of your questions, Cayo. It’s time for you to return the favor.”
She led him back upstairs, through the casino with its hair-raising noise, and then up to where he knew her living quarters were. He had been here only once before, when she had roused him the morning after he’d lost himself to the Vice Sector. Right before everything had fallen apart.
A room in the back of the apartment had been converted into an office. It was quieter here than it was downstairs, but Cayo could still hear the thin melody of music, the quiet roar of the crowd.
Romara sat behind her desk and took one last, long inhalation before snuffing her cigarillo in an ashtray. Cayo looked around and wondered if this used to be her father’s bedroom. There were knife and bullet marks in the walls, and a dark stain in the corner he didn’t want to examine too closely.
“Where exactly is your father?” he asked. He felt jumpy in his own skin, the uneasiness of knowing there was a spider in your room but unsure where exactly it was hiding.
“You’re done with questions, remember?” She was no longer the smirking Slum Queen, but a businesswoman who was ready to negotiate. “You’re going to tell me where you went and why. And then you’re going to tell me what you’re doing here and what you want from me.”
He tried not to flinch. He should have known she would guess.
“It’s… a long story.”
“We’ve got time.”
Cayo sighed. He couldn’t tell her everything—he didn’t want to compromise Amaya and the others. So the story came out of him in ribbons, how he had gone to Baleine, how he had found out about the Benefactor, how the counterfeits and sickness were spreading. He didn’t say Soria had gone with him. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he said his sister’s name out loud.
“I came back because I believe there’s something left in a Widow Vault that could help,” he finished. “It might give me some clue how to counter the effects of ash fever.”
Romara stared at him while tapping a finger against the desk. Cayo had never been good at figuring out her tells, but perhaps this was one of them.
The door flew open and Jacques rushed inside. “Your dumplings, Your Majesty!” He tripped in his haste, spilling a couple of dumplings onto the floor. “Oh, drat.”
Romara sighed loudly. “Jacques. I’m in the middle of something.”
The young man turned back to the door. “So sorry, Your Majesty, I’ll just—”
“Leave the dumplings.”
Jacques scurried forward to put the plate on the desk before bowing his way out and shutting the door behind him.
“You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to find good help around here,” Romara muttered as she picked up a steaming dumpling between two of her sharp fingernails. “Help yourself.”
“I’m all right, thanks.”
“So you want a way to gain entry to the Widow Vaults.” Romara leaned back in her chair, raising the front legs off the floor as she nibbled at her dumpling. “It’s very difficult to pull off a heist like that. Even my father was reluctant to try it.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”
Romara laughed. “Now you’re getting it. But really, Cayo, I don’t think you have the right skill set for this sort of thing.”
“I won’t be alone.”
“Even still.” Romara finished her dumpling and rocked her chair forward, the legs thumping against the floor. “If I help you, you’ll be on your own from this point on. Anything that happens to you won’t be on me, understood?”
“Does that mean you know a way inside?”
“Perhaps.” Again she showed him that wide grin, all teeth and ambition.
“What do you want?” He had done this song and dance with her before, knew she wouldn’t merely help him in the name of whatever passed as friendship between them.
“Something fairly simple, all things considered.” Her expression sobered. “I’m looking for a man who goes by the name of Boon. And I have reason to believe you’ve been in contact with him.”
Cayo couldn’t hide his surprise. “Boon?” he repeated. “What do you want with him?”
“Many here in the Vice Sector know my father was working with Mercado—because of you, I might add—but my father made it known that Mercado was also working with this Landless man, Boon, to help bring counterfeit money into the city. And now there’s been a statement from the Rain Empire claiming that the counterfeits are the source behind ash fever.” Romara’s eyes flashed. “The people are angry, Cayo. They want justice.”
He thought of the bodies strung up below the casino and shuddered. “Real justice, or your version of it?”
“Either way.” She stood and began to pace, her arms crossed. “If I can find this man and deliver that justice, the people will bow at my feet. My father’s reign will be well and truly over. It’ll be the final nail locking him in a coffin of his own making.”
“Why do you hate your father so much, anyway?” He had never asked her before, only because he’d been terrified she would flay his face off if he dared.
Romara paused, fingers tightening on her arms. “Isn’t it enough that he’s a terrible man?”
“Not for this level of payback.”
She snorted. “Fine. He…” Romara looked away. “He got my mother exiled.”
“What?” Out of everything he had expected her to say, this was at the very bottom of the list. “How?”
“She was a con artist. Or she used to be, until partnering with my father. I refuse to believe there was anything like love between them, but she gave him three children anyway, my two older brothers and me. Then one day he found out she’d been skimming money from his private coffers to send to her home village in Rehan. He told her if she cared about the place so damn much, she should just go back and stay there. He exposed her location to the Port’s Authority, and they exiled her from Moray. I was ten at the time.”
She had said she’d started planning her father’s downfall when she was ten years old. Cayo knew Salvador was a callous man, but that seemed particularly cruel, even for him. “I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
“Once I gain a bit more influence, I can hopefully convince someone to revoke her Landless status and bring her back.” Her face hardened. “If she’s even alive.”
“I’d say you’re more than influential enough.”
“You’ve seen how many still oppose my rule, Cayo. I’ve done my fair share of hustling, trust me. I even infiltrated the Port’s Authority and leaked the names of the officers secretly working for my father.”
Nausea clenched his gut. “Nawarak. You’re her contact in the Vice Sector.”
“And she’s been quite diligent in weeding out some of my father’s biggest supporters, which got her a lovely little promotion on her end.” Romara threw him a wink. “Keep your enemies close, right?”
Cayo laughed hollowly. Could he trust no one in this damn city?
Then he berated himself; of course he couldn’t. He had already learned that lesson.
“If I show the people that I can do what my father can’t,” Romara went on, “I’ll gain their loyalty forever. A public trial for Boon, the man who brought ash fever to Moray.”
“And my father?” he demanded, lifting his gaze. “Will you put him on trial as well?
”
“I’m waiting to see if he has any other uses first.”
In other words, she wanted to keep Kamon Mercado around just in case she needed leverage.
“Speaking of which, have you gone to see dear old daddy yet?” she asked, leaning against her desk as the slit in her dress revealed the length of her thigh. “Or your sister?”
Cayo’s throat tightened. He tried to swallow, thinking of the pack he had left back at the inn. The words he hadn’t been able to say before now.
“She’s dead,” he whispered.
Romara was silent as Cayo stared at the floor, longing to be anywhere but here. When she finally moved, he expected her to return to her seat, or to open the door and tell him to get out.
He didn’t expect her to lay a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, startled by her grim expression.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You should have led with that, Cayo. Shit.”
He exhaled shakily. “Yeah, well. That’s why I’m here. I’ve got to do anything I can to put a stop to this, Romara. That’s why I need to know how to get into those Vaults. If there’s a chance a cure is waiting there, I need to take it.”
Her hand tightened on his shoulder. “And that’s why I need to know where Boon is. Don’t you want vengeance for your sister?”
Soria wouldn’t have cared about vengeance. He could almost see her shaking her head at him, telling him not to go down that road. But the burning in his chest told him differently.
Cayo clasped his hands together. “He’s on the outskirts of the Shanty Sector.” That was what Amaya’s friend on the Brackish had told them.
He could practically feel Romara’s smile as she squeezed his shoulder. “Thank you, Cayo.”
Perhaps it would be better this way, he thought as Romara dug through a cabinet. Now Amaya and the others wouldn’t have to get their hands dirty with Boon.
But it still left him uneasy.
Romara handed him a rolled-up length of parchment. “Blueprints of the Widow Vaults. They’re not entirely up to date, but it’s the best I’ve got.”
Cayo stood and took it from her, the parchment heavy and glossy with wax. “Thank you.”
“The least I can do.” She hesitated, and for one terrifying moment Cayo thought she would hug him. Instead, she gripped his jaw and shook his head a little.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said. Her sharp fingernails dug into his skin. “But that doesn’t mean you get to be careless. Whatever your plan is, make sure you’re careful. All right?”
“Worried about me, Romara?”
“Always.” She let him go and turned back to her dumplings. “You’re not a big dog yet, Cayo. And we all know puppies get into more trouble than they can handle.”
Cayo took a deep breath before walking into the room at the inn. Everyone’s heads turned in his direction, and he lifted the parchment.
“I have blueprints of the Vaults,” he said. “Will that help?”
Liesl laughed in delight and grabbed them. “How on earth did you manage that?”
“I told you I had a good contact.”
“The one from the Port’s Authority?” Remy asked with a frown. “She would just give something like this up?”
Cayo carefully skirted the truth even as guilt stabbed him like a knife. “I have it, don’t I?”
Liesl spread the parchment on the table. Cayo spotted Amaya sitting at the edge of one of the beds, staring blankly into space. There was something off about her, a hollowness that made his unease return.
He went to sit beside her. She stirred and looked at him.
“I take it the meeting went well,” she said. Even her voice was devoid of emotion, all flat and unfeeling. “Good job.”
He should tell her the truth—that he had gone to Romara even though he’d said he wouldn’t, that he’d had to give away Boon’s location to get the blueprints. But he had finally done something useful, something that could benefit everyone. He didn’t want to tarnish that, even if it meant denying Amaya her vengeance.
“Yeah,” he said with a forced smile. “Looks like we’re finally on the right track.”
Her faint, echoing smile twisted the knife in him further.
What’s the best way to find out what a man is truly like? Easy: Open the safe he keeps under heaviest lock and key.
—A SAYING FROM MORAY
The next night, they were ready to hit the Vaults.
Amaya almost asked why she couldn’t just say she was the rightful heir to her mother’s Vault, but that would do no one any favors. Amaya Chandra was supposed to be on a debtor ship, for one thing. For another, the city had no doubt learned the scandalous true identity of the erstwhile Countess Yamaa by now.
So she let Liesl cobble together a plan using the blueprints Cayo had retrieved. He’d seemed a little off last night when he returned, just half an hour after Amaya had. But she had no right to question him about it, not when her mind was still spinning after her encounter with Boon.
The moon was hidden behind clouds when they set out. Amaya felt as if she were moving through a dream, all observation and no consequence. Remy must have noticed, because he wrapped a hand around Amaya’s wrist.
“Are you ready for whatever we might find?” he asked. “Or not find?”
“I’m ready. I just want this to be over.”
Her father had already disappointed her more than she’d ever thought possible. Whatever her mother was hiding, it surely couldn’t surpass that.
The Business Sector was quiet this time of night. Then again, the whole city was quieter than usual. But that didn’t prevent guards from attending to their patrols, pacing up and down the streets, standing before the building that sat above the underground Vaults.
The structure was done in the style of the Rain Empire, with columns and marble and senseless adornments. A set of shallow, wide steps led up to the main doors, which were closed and locked for the night. Under a triangular pediment carved with statues read a long yet simple phrase: Blood to blood, name to name, bone to bone.
Amaya swallowed. Her mother’s blood sang inside her, her father’s name forsaken, her bones formed from the dust of her ancestors.
The five of them lingered in a dark alley as Liesl counted the guards. “Remember what we agreed on,” she whispered. “If anything happens, we split up. We find new safe houses. We only send word once things calm down.”
“And if we’re caught?” Cayo asked.
“You said you have a contact in the Port’s Authority, didn’t you?”
He shifted. “Yes, but…”
“Patrol coming,” Deadshot announced softly.
“Go,” Liesl hissed.
They raced across the street and around the back of the building. According to the blueprints, the Vaults were built underground and spread out far more than the office building above them. Drawn on paper, it had looked like an ant colony. But in order to find out which Vault was her mother’s, they needed access to the offices.
“No back doors,” Liesl had said while hunched over the blueprints, “but look at what we have here.” She had pointed above the building’s cornice, to a parapet flanked by marbled lanterns. “Windows leading into the attic. And see this little square? There’s a panel that opens and closes, likely for a water hose in case a fire breaks out. That’s our only way in. And out.”
Amaya didn’t like putting all their hopes in a small slab of stone, but there was no other way, short of strolling up to the front doors.
Despite there being no back door, a trio of guards stood at attention along the back of the building. One of them held a long, sleek rifle, the other two adorned with swords at their hips.
Liesl nodded at Remy, who breathed out and rolled his shoulders back before slipping out of the alley and toward the guards. Amaya’s heart lodged in her throat at the way the guards’ attention immediately snapped to him.
“Evening,” Remy said in his best Rehanese. Although he had grown up spe
aking Circíran, most of the Bugs had spoken Rehanese, and he had picked up the language quickly.
So Amaya was fairly certain that wasn’t the reason why the middle guard swung his rifle up, aiming its barrel at Remy’s chest. Remy immediately raised his hands to show he was unarmed.
“Shit,” Liesl hissed. “The uniforms.”
Amaya saw it. The uniform Liesl had managed to snag earlier that day—she didn’t reveal how, only mentioned something about visiting the nearest laundering facility—didn’t match the uniforms of the Vault guards. The color of Remy’s was more of a middling blue whereas the guards wore deep navy, the crest on Remy’s lapel silver and theirs gold.
Deadshot quickly broke off from the others as Cayo reached uncertainly for Jazelle, sweat already lining his brow. Amaya had no idea what Deadshot was doing until they heard a shot ring out nearby.
The guards around the front of the building yelled in surprise. Making the most of the distraction, Remy leaped forward and got the guard with the rifle in a headlock. Amaya took care of the one on the right, knocking his legs out from under him and letting him crumple to the ground, where she choked him into unconsciousness just like Avi had taught her.
The remaining guard was halfway to unsheathing her sword when Deadshot returned and whacked her with the butt of her pistol. The guard collapsed.
“They’re going to feel that tomorrow,” Liesl said as she motioned for them to drag the bodies into the alley. “Let’s hope you didn’t do any permanent damage.”
“I’m very skilled at knocking people out, thank you very much,” Deadshot said, grabbing the guard under the armpits. “A bad headache, a minor concussion. Some bed rest and they’ll be fine.”
