“You know Sab and I have never—”
“What I know is less important than what the world sees,” Kit said. “Allow me to indulge in a little allegory. Art. Art is not one great act of creation, but many small ones. When you read one of my poems, you fail to see the weeks of careful work it took me to build it—the thinking, the scratched-out words, the pages I burned in disgust. All you see, in the end, is what I want you to see. Such is politics.”
Loth puckered his brow.
“To ensure an heir, the Dukes Spiritual must paint a certain picture of the Inysh court and its eligible queen,” Kit said. “If they believed your intimacy with Queen Sabran would spoil that picture—dissuade foreign suitors—it would explain why they chose you for this particular diplomatic mission. They needed you gone, so they … painted you out.”
Another silence fell. Loth clasped his ring-laden fingers and set his brow against them.
He was such a fool.
“Now, if my feeling is correct, the good news is that we may be allowed to sneak back to court once Queen Sabran is married,” Kit said. “I say we weather the next few weeks, find poor old Prince Wilstan if we can possibly manage it, then return to Inys by whatever means needful. Combe will not stop us. Not once he has what he wants.”
“You forget that if we return, we will be able to expose his scheming to Sabran. He would have considered that. We will not get near the palace gates.”
“We will write to His Grace beforehand. Make him some offer. Our silence in exchange for him leaving us in peace.”
“I cannot be silent about this,” Loth bit out. “Sab must know if her Virtues Council machinates behind her back. Combe knows I will tell her. Trust me, Kit—he means for us to be in Cárscaro for good. His eyes in the most dangerous court in the West.”
“Damn him. We will find a way home,” Kit said. “Does the Saint not promise that all of us will?”
Loth drained his tankard.
“You can be very wise, my friend.” With a sigh, he added, “I can only imagine how Margret must feel at this moment. She may have to inherit Goldenbirch.”
“Meg must not burden that brilliant mind of hers. Goldenbirch will not need her as heir, because we will be back in Inys before you know it. This mission may not seem survivable,” Kit said, back to his jocular self, “but you never know. We may return from it as princes of the world.”
“I never thought you would have more faith than I do.” Loth took in a deep breath through his nose. “Let us rouse the driver. We have tarried here for long enough.”
5
East
The new soldiers of the High Sea Guard had been allowed to spend their last hours in Cape Hisan in whatever way they chose. Most of them had gone to bid farewell to friends. At the ninth hour of night, they would set off by palanquin to the capital.
The scholars had already left on the ship to Feather Island. Ishari had not stood on deck with the others to watch Seiiki disappear.
They had been close for years. Tané had nursed Ishari through a fever that had almost killed her. Ishari had been like a sister when Tané first bled, showing her how to make plugs out of paper. Now they might never see each other again. If only Ishari had studied harder—given more of herself to her training—they could have been riders together.
For now, Tané had to turn her mind toward another friend. She kept her head down as she wove through the clamor of Cape Hisan, where dancers and drummers were out to celebrate Choosing Day. Children skipped past, laughing, painted kites flying above them.
The streets heaved with people. They mopped at their faces with flat-woven linen. As Tané dodged merchants peddling trinkets, she breathed in the spice of incense, the scent of rain on sweat on skin, and the waft of sea-fresh fish. She listened to the tinsmiths and traders calling out and the gasps of delight as a tiny yellow bird warbled a song.
This might be the last time she walked in Cape Hisan, the only city she had ever known.
It had always been a risk to come here. The city was a dangerous place, where apprentices might be tempted to act in ways that would corrupt them. There were brothels and taverns, card games and cockfights, recruiters sent to press them into piracy. Tané had often wondered if the Houses of Learning had been built so close to all this as a test of will.
When she reached the inn, she let out her breath. There were no sentinels.
“Excuse me,” she called through the bars.
A tiny girl came to the gate. When she saw Tané, and the blue tunic of the High Sea Guard, the child knelt at once and set her forehead between her hands.
“I am looking for the honorable Susa,” Tané said gently. “Would you fetch her for me?”
The girl scurried back into the inn.
Nobody had ever bowed to Tané that way. She had been born in the impoverished village of Ampiki, on the southern tip of Seiiki, to a family of fisherfolk. One crisp winter day, a fire had sparked in the nearby forest and swallowed almost every house.
Tané had no memory of her parents. She had only avoided sharing their death because she had chased a butterfly out of the house, to the sea. Most foundlings and orphans washed up in the land army, but the butterfly had been interpreted by a holy woman as intervention from the gods, and it was decided that Tané must be trained as a rider.
Susa came to the gate in a robe of white silk, richly broidered. Her hair poured loose over her shoulders.
“Tané.” She slid the gate aside. “We must speak.”
Tané recognized the notch in her brow. They slipped into the alley beside the house, where Susa opened her umbrella and held it over them both.
“He is gone.”
Tané wet her lips. “The outsider?”
“Yes.” Susa looked nervous. She was never nervous. “There was gossip in the market earlier. A pirate ship was sighted off the coast of Cape Hisan. The sentinels looked all over the city for smuggled freight, but when they left, they had found nothing.”
“They searched in Orisima,” Tané realized, and Susa nodded. “Did they find the outsider?”
“No. But there is nowhere to hide there.” Susa glanced toward the street, her eyes reflecting its lanternlight. “He must have escaped while the sentinels were distracted.”
“No one could cross the bridge without the sentinels noticing. He must still be there.”
“The man must be half ghost if he can hide himself so well.” Susa tightened her grip on the umbrella. “Tané, do you think we should still tell the honored Governor about him?”
Tané had been asking herself the same question ever since the ceremony.
“I told Roos we would collect him, but … perhaps if he stays hidden in Orisima, he will be able to avoid the sword and slip away on the next ship back to Mentendon,” Susa went on. “They might mistake him for a legal settler. He was no older than us, Tané, and perhaps not here by choice. I have no desire to condemn him to death.”
“Then let us not. Let him make his own way.”
“What of the red sickness?”
“He had none of the signs. And if he is still in Orisima—and I cannot think it otherwise—the sickness cannot go far.” Tané spoke quietly. “Further association with him is too much of a risk, Susa. You took him somewhere safe. What happens now is up to him.”
“But if they find him, will he not tell them about us?” Susa whispered.
“Who would believe him?”
Susa took a deep breath, and her shoulders dropped. She looked Tané up and down.
“It seems all of the risk was worthwhile.” Her smile made her eyes sparkle. “Was Choosing Day everything you imagined?”
The need to talk had been welling up for hours. “And more. The dragons were so beautiful,” Tané said. “Did you see them?”
“No. I was asleep,” Susa admitted. She must have been awake all night. “How many riders will there be this year?”
“Twelve. The honored Unceasing Emperor has sent two great warriors to raise our numbers.”
“I have never seen a Lacustrine dragon. Are they very different to ours?”
“They have thicker bodies, and one more toe. It would be a privilege to ride with any of them.” Tané pressed closer under the umbrella. “I must be a rider, Susa. I feel guilty for wanting so much when I have already received so many blessings, but—”
“It has been your dream since you were a child. You have ambition, Tané. Never apologize for that.” Susa paused. “Are you afraid?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Fear will make you fight. Don’t let a little shit like Turosa get the better of you, whoever his mother is.” Tané gave her a scolding look, but smiled. “Now, you must hurry. Remember, no matter how far from Cape Hisan you fly, I will always be your friend.”
“And I yours.”
The gate to the inn slid open, making them both start. “Susa,” the girl called. “You need to come inside now.”