‘Tailor!’
She looked me up and down – not my face, mind you, nor my hands or feet. Just my coat.
‘I see you’ve done your level best to ruin my greatcoat, Falcio val Mond.’
I felt unnaturally self-conscious. ‘I—’
‘Shut it. I’ve got more important things to deal with right now.’
The Tailor turned to Radger and Laetha. ‘Well now, children. What unwise things have you been up to while you had me roped in the cellar?’
Neither replied, and she kicked Radger, who groaned.
‘You have children?’ I was incredulous.
‘Bah. Certainly not Radger and Laetha. No, I paid these two fools for a place to stay and a story people would believe.’
She kicked Laetha, hard. ‘But it turns out they were even stupider than I’d believed, eh, Laetha? Thought you’d tie up an old woman and make some easy money?’
‘And “Mattea”?’ I asked.
She smiled her evil smile again. ‘Would’ve thought you’d’ve picked up on that, Falcio. It’s an old Pertine word, after all.’
Mattea. Thread.
‘So you make your living as a nanny to noble houses, spreading stories of the Greatcoats?’
‘Does more good than livin’ out in the pissing rain huntin’ for scraps, don’t it?’
Aline suddenly gripped the Tailor around the waste and started sobbing.
The Tailor returned the child’s furious embrace. ‘Oh, my sweet,’ she said. ‘Oh, my sweetest of girls. I’m sorry if my little lie hurt you any. You keep callin’ me Mattea if you like. And I promise, there are only nine hundred and ninety-nine more lies that I told you – but never, never, never would I have thought my foolishness could bring you into such peril. Never, never.’
‘… Not your fault,’ Aline said between sobs.
The Tailor sighed. ‘No dearie, I suppose you’re right. Not my fault, but my responsibility, yes. My responsibility now.’ She squeezed the girl tight one more time before gently pushing her arms aside.
‘You have to go,’ she said to me, rising. ‘Radger and Laetha didn’t lie entirely: near everyone on these streets is lookin’ for you and the reward you mean to ’em.’
She reached over to the table and took the amulet and put it around Aline’s neck.
‘Filthy magic,’ she said, ‘but cheap too, thanks to the laziness of men. Easy enough for a master mage to make, but they don’t work too well together. Keep this on and the others won’t work, at least ’til they think of something else.’
She turned back to me. ‘Fly now, Falcio val Mond, you great bloody fool. You’ve made a good mess of things now.’
‘How is this my fault, exactly?’ I asked. I felt like she was scolding me.
‘Rijou and the Blood Week: so how many d’you think you can trust for a hundred miles in any direction?’ she asked.
‘No one,’ I said. ‘Not one soul.’
She gave a mean smile. ‘Soul? Some arse-kissing God must’ve made you an optimist, boy.’
The Tailor kissed Aline on the top of the head one final time. ‘Now, get yourselves out of here. Find a place to hide until the Blood Week ends.’ The Tailor turned to me, and all the fires of every hell were in her gaze. ‘It’s on you now, Falcio. Get her to the Teyar Rijou and make sure her name is called. You owe him that.’
I didn’t see how I owed Lord Tiarren any more than I had already given in trying to keep his daughter alive, but I wasn’t about to challenge whatever it was that was driving the Tailor.
‘What about them?’ I asked, pointing at Radger and Laetha in the corner.
‘Them? You don’t need to worry about them.’
‘What about – what about the Duke’s men?’ Laetha asked, tears streaming down her face.
‘Ah, now, sweet little Laetha, you don’t have to worry even a little bit about those nasty big men. Not one little bit.’ She took the knife from Aline’s hand and weighed its balance. ‘Nice little knife this. Think I’ll keep it, if it’s a’right with you.’
I nodded – what else could I do? – and she pointed us towards the back door before turning her attention to her ‘son’ and ‘daughter-in-law’. ‘Now go, like I said. What comes next is not right for her tender eyes nor your foolish conscience.’
We left the Tailor to her responsibility.
I took Aline’s hand and pulled her out through the hidden door in the bedroom into the back alley. It was only later that I realised that, when she had given me the hard candy from my coat, she’d also pocketed the soft candy for herself.