“We need to get out of here. Forget Bo Yul-Bayur.”
Matthias cut a dismissive hand through the air. “It’s too late. If the guards think there’s a prison break in progress, the checkpoints will be on high alert. They’re not going to let anyone just walk through.”
“We could still try,” said Jesper. “We get Inej’s feet patched up—”
She flexed them, then stood, testing her bare soles on the gravel. “They feel all right. My calluses are gone, though.”
“I’ll give you an address where you can mail your complaints,” Nina said with a wink.
“Okay, the Wraith is ambulatory,” Jesper said, rubbing a sleeve over his damp face. The rain had faded away to a light mist. “We find a cosy room to bash some partygoers on the head and waltz out of this place decked in their finest.”
“Past the embassy gate and two checkpoints?” Matthias said skeptically.
“They don’t know anyone escaped the prison sector. They saw Nina and Kaz so they know people
are out of their cells, but the guards at the checkpoints are going to be looking for hoodlums in prison clothes, not sweet-smelling diplos in fancy dress. We have to do this before they get wise to the fact that six people are on the loose in the outer circle.”
“Forget it,” said Nina. “I came here to find Bo Yul-Bayur, and I’m not leaving without him.”
“What’s the point?” said Wylan. “Even if you manage to get to the White Island and find Yul-Bayur, we’ll have no way out. Jesper ’s right: We should go now while we still have a chance.”
Nina folded her arms. “If I have to cross to the White Island alone, I will.”
“That may not be an option,” said Matthias. “Look.”
They gathered around the base of the glass dome. The rotunda below was a mass of people, drinking, laughing, greeting each other, a kind of raucous party before the celebrations on the White Island.
As they watched, a group of new guards pushed into the room, trying to form the crowd into lines.
“They’re adding another checkpoint,” Matthias said. “They’re going to review everyone’s identification again before they allow people access to the glass bridge.”
“Because of Yellow Protocol?” asked Jesper.
“Probably. A precaution.”
It was like seeing the last bit of their luck drain from a glass.
“Then that decides it,” said Jesper. “We cut our losses and try to get out now.”
“I know a way,” Inej said quietly. They all turned to look at her. The yellow light from the dome pooled in her dark eyes. “We can get through that checkpoint and onto the White Island.” She pointed below to where two groups of people had entered the rotunda from the gatehouse courtyard and were shaking the mist from their clothes. The girls from the House of the Blue Iris were easily identified by the colour of their gowns and the flowers displayed in their hair and at their necklines. And no one could mistake the men of the Anvil – extensive tattoos on proud display, arms bare despite the chilly weather. “The West Stave delegations have started to arrive. We can get in.”
“Inej—” said Kaz.
“Nina and I can get inside,” she continued. Her back was straight, her tone steady. She looked like someone facing the firing squad and saying damn the blindfolds. “We enter with the Menagerie.”
EIGHT BELLS AND HALF CHIME
Kaz was watching her intently, his bitter coffee eyes glittering in the light from the dome.
“You know those costumes,” she said. “Heavy cloaks, hoods. That’s all the Fjerdans will see. A Zemeni fawn. A Kaelish mare.” She swallowed and forced the next words past her lips. “A Suli lynx.”
Not people, not even really girls, just lovely objects to be collected. I’ve always wanted to tumble a Zemeni girl, a customer would whisper. A Kaelish girl with red hair. A Suli girl with burnt caramel skin.
“It’s a risk,” said Kaz.
“What job isn’t?”
“Kaz, how are you and Matthias going to get through?” asked Nina. “We might need you for locks, and if things go bad on the island, I don’t want to be stranded. I doubt you can pass yourselves off as members of the Menagerie.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Kaz. “Helvar ’s been holding out on us.”
“Have you?” asked Inej.
“It’s not—” Matthias dragged a hand over his cropped hair. “How do you know these things, demjin?” he growled at Kaz.
“Logic. The whole Ice Court is a masterpiece of fail-safes and doubled systems. That glass bridge is impressive, but in an emergency, there would have to be another way to get reinforcements to the White Island and get the royal family out.”