*
As I walked back down to the Iron Tier I found Kest and Brasti drinking with Feltock. Apparently they were reconciled.
‘Falcio!’ Brasti said. ‘Quite the show up there. I never knew you had it in you. What’s next? Will you be dancing with the Duke himself?’
I gripped his shoulder. ‘Let’s get out of here. I want my room and a bed. In the morning we stop at Lady Tiarren’s mansion and find out what she knows about the Charoites, and then I want to get out of this Gods-forsaken city as fast as possible.’
‘You go,’ Brasti said, raising a cup in the air. ‘If I can’t take the Duke’s life then at least I can drink enough of his wine to make him hurt a little.’
Kest looked into his own cup, his eyes unfocused. ‘That would be difficult, Brasti. The Ducal Treasury of Rijou is likely quite vast. You would need to—’
‘Shut up and drink more wine,’ Brasti said. ‘This could take a while.’
I left them there and took the door from the Iron Tier out to the corridor that led past the kitchens towards the servants’ quarters. I turned a corner and nearly collided with a woman in a purple dress. It was dark enough in the corridor that for an instant I thought it was Valiana. A moment later I realised it was Trin.
‘Falcio,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry, I—’
‘It’s fine,’ I said. ‘Are you all right? Shouldn’t you be with Lady Valiana?’
She corrected me. ‘Princess Valiana.’
‘As you say. Why are you here?’
‘I …’ She put a hand on my arm, and then took it away again. ‘It was very brave of you to try and save that family.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ I said. ‘It’s Valiana – Princess Valiana – who is taking the risk here.’
Trin rolled her eyes just for a moment, before looking back at me. ‘Her father the Duke and that fat slug of his will know where the idea came from.’ Trin’s hand appeared on my arm again. ‘They will look for ways to do you harm.’
I had to laugh at that. ‘My dear, the Dukes and their various fat slugs, all of them, have been looking for ways to do me harm since the day I put on this coat. There isn’t much I can do to make that any worse.’
She leaned into me. ‘I wish I could be half so brave.’
The smell of her hair was intoxicating, as was the feel of the curves of her body against mine. ‘You?’ I said, putting my hands on her arms and gently pushing her away. ‘Valiana would be lost without you.’
Trin’s expression was bitter. ‘Oh, the Princess loves me, much as she did her favourite cat as a young girl. She was positively ruined when that cat died – she cried and cried. For almost a full day. Then she asked for a new cat.’
‘I’m sure that’s not …’ The words drifted away from me. I was too weary to deceive her, even in the interests of making her feel better.
‘Valiana will take the throne,’ Trin said, ‘and you and the others will go to find your fortunes elsewhere. Will you forget me, Falcio of the Greatcoats?’
I looked at this young woman, who had shown herself both clever and quiet, beautiful and shy. ‘I don’t think that would be possible.’
She smiled as if I’d just given her a prize, and her lips parted, just a little.
‘I should go,’ I said. ‘It’s late and I’d like to spend as few hours conscious in this city as possible.’
‘The Princess has told me to leave her alone tonight. I’ve never walked the hallways of this palace, and I would not dare to do so alone, though I am told it is very beautiful. Perhaps you and I could find some reason not to sleep?’
She was lovely and intriguing, and I do not get many offers as sweet as that one, not since Aline, my wife, first sought me out at a market dance and—
‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go.’
I felt sorry for her, being alone and afraid in a nest of snakes. She was right to want to find some beauty in the world, some companionship, wherever it might be. ‘Perhaps Brasti would—’ I instantly, yet far too late, realised my mistake.
Trin’s face went as cold and dead as a gravestone in winter. ‘I thank you, First Cantor, for your thoughtful recommendation. I have taken up too much of your time.’
She walked right past me down the corridor.
‘Trin, wait …’
But she was already gone.
I stood there for a few minutes, torn between trying to find her to apologise and leaving. She had come to me with kind words and generous intent and I had had turned her away. There were a hundred things I could have said to refuse her while still showing her compassion. Instead, I’d made her feel like a whore. Saints, I thought, heading to the shabby little room they’d given me to share with Kest and Brasti, get me out of this Gods-damned city before I fail at something else.