I was impressed, but also unnerved. Being around Nikolai was always like this, watching him shift and change, revealing secrets as he went. He reminded me of the wooden nesting dolls I’d played with as a child. Except instead of getting smaller, he just kept getting grander and more mysterious. Tomorrow, he’d probably tell me he’d built a pleasure palace on the moon. Tough to get to, but quite a view.
“Have a look around,” Nikolai said to us. “Get a feel for the place. Nevsky’s unloading cargo in the hangar, and I need to take care of repairs to the hull.” I remembered Nevsky. He’d been a soldier in Nikolai’s old regiment, the Twenty-Second, and not particularly fond of Grisha.
“I’d like to see Baghra,” I said.
“You’re sure about that?”
“Not remotely.”
“I’ll take you to her. Good practice should I ever need to walk someone to the gallows. And after you’ve had your fill of punishment, you and Oretsev can join me for dinner.”
“Thank you,” Mal said, “but I should look into outfitting our expedition to retrieve the firebird.”
There’d been a time, not so long ago, that Mal would have bristled at the thought of leaving me alone with Prince Perfect, but Nikolai had the grace not to register surprise. “Of course. I’ll send Nevsky to you when he’s done. He can help arrange your accommodations as well.” He clapped a hand on Mal’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Oretsev.”
The smile Mal returned was genuine. “You too. Thanks for the rescue.”
“Everyone needs a hobby.”
“I thought yours was preening.”
“Two hobbies.”
They clasped hands briefly, then Mal bowed and moved off with the group.
“Should I be offended that he doesn’t want to dine with us?” Nikolai asked. “I set an excellent table, and I rarely drool.”
I didn’t want to discuss it. “Baghra,” I prodded.
“He was impressive in that barley field,” Nikolai continued, taking my elbow to steer me back the way we’d come. “Better with a sword and gun than I’ve ever seen him.”
I remembered what the Apparat had said: Men fight for Ravka because the King commands it. Mal had always been a gifted tracker, but he’d been a soldier because we were all soldiers, because we had no choice. What was he fighting for now? I thought of him diving from the mesh platform, his knife moving across the militiaman’s throat. I am become a blade.
I shrugged, eager to change the subject. “There’s not much to do underground besides train.”
“I can think of a few more interesting ways to spend one’s time.”
“Is that supposed to be innuendo?”
“What a filthy mind you have. I was referring to puzzles and the perusal of edifying texts.”
“I’m not getting back in that iron box,” I said as we approached the door in the rock. “So you better be taking me to the stairs.”
“Why does everyone always say that?”
I heaved a sigh of relief as we descended a broad, delightfully stationary set of stone steps. Nikolai led me through a curving passage, and I shrugged off my coat, beginning to sweat. The floor directly below the observatory was considerably warmer, and as we passed a wide doorway, I spotted a maze of steaming boilers that glowed and hissed in the dark. Even the ever-polished Nikolai had a fine mist of perspiration on his elegant features.
We were most definitely headed to Baghra’s lair. The woman never seemed to be able to keep warm. I wondered if it was because she so rarely used her power. I’d certainly never been able to shake the chill of the White Cathedral.
Nikolai stopped at an iron door. “Last chance to run.”
“Go on,” I said. “Save yourself.”
He sighed. “Remember me as a hero.” He knocked lightly on the door, and we entered.
I had the disconcerting sense that we’d stepped right back into Baghra’s hut at the Little Palace. There she sat, huddled by a tile oven, dressed in the same faded kefta, her hand resting on the cane she’d taken such pleasure in whacking me with. The same servant boy was reading to her, and I felt a burst of shame when I realized I hadn’t even thought to ask if he’d made it out of Os Alta. The boy left off as Nikolai cleared his throat.
“Baghra,” Nikolai said, “how are you this evening?”
“Still old and blind,” she snarled.
“And charming,” Nikolai drawled. “Never forget charming.”
“Whelp.”
“Hag.”
“What do you want, pest?”
“I’ve brought someone to visit,” Nikolai said, giving me a push.
Why was I so nervous?
“Hello, Baghra,” I managed.
She paused, motionless. “The little Saint,” she murmured, “returned to save us all.”
“Well, she did almost die trying to rid us of your cursed spawn,” Nikolai said lightly. I blinked. So Nikolai knew Baghra was the Darkling’s mother.
“Couldn’t even manage martyrdom right, could you?” Baghra waved me in. “Come in and shut the door, girl. You’re letting the heat out.” I grinned at this familiar refrain. “And you,” she spat in Nikolai’s direction. “Go somewhere you’re wanted.”
“That’s hardly limiting,” he said. “Alina, I’ll be back to fetch you for dinner, but should you grow restless, do feel free to run screaming from the room or take a dagger to her. Whatever seems most fitting at the time.”
“Are you still here?” snapped Baghra.
“I go but hope to remain in your heart,” he said solemnly. Then he winked and disappeared.
“Wretched boy.”
“You like him,” I said in disbelief.
Baghra scowled. “Greedy. Arrogant. Takes too many risks.”
“You almost sound concerned.”
“You like him too, little Saint,” she said with a leer in her voice.
“I do,” I admitted. “He’s been kind when he might have been cruel. It’s refreshing.”
“He laughs too much.”
“There are worse traits.”
“Like arguing with your elders?” she growled. Then she thumped her stick on the floor. “Boy, go fetch me something sweet.”
The servant hopped to his feet and set down his book. I caught him as he raced past me for the door. “Just a moment,” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Misha,” he replied. He was in desperate need of a haircut, but otherwise looked well enough.
“How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“Seven,” snapped Baghra.
“Almost eight,” he conceded.
He was small for his age. “Do you remember me?”
With a tentative hand he reached out and touched the antlers at my neck, then nodded solemnly. “Sankta Alina,” he breathed. His mother had taught him that I was a Saint, and apparently Baghra’s contempt hadn’t convinced him otherwise. “Do you know where my mother is?” he asked.
“I don’t. I’m sorry.” He didn’t even look surprised. Maybe that was the answer he’d come to expect. “How are you finding it here?”
His eyes slid to Baghra, then back to me.
“It’s all right,” I said. “Be honest.”
“There’s no one to play with.”
I felt a little pang, remembering the lonely days at Keramzin before Mal had arrived, the older orphans who’d had little interest in another scrawny refugee. “That may change soon. Until then, would you like to learn to fight?”
“Servants aren’t allowed to fight,” he said, but I could see he liked the idea.
“I’m the Sun Summoner, and you have my permission.” I ignored Baghra’s snort. “If you go find Malyen Oretsev, he’ll see about getting you a practice sword.”
Before I could blink, the boy was tearing out of the room, practically tripping over his own feet in his excitement.
When he was gone, I said, “His mother?”
“A servant at the Little Palace.” Baghra gathered her shawl closer around her. “It’s possible she survived. There’s no way of knowing.”
“How is he taking it?”
“How do you think? Nikolai had to drag him screaming onto that accursed craft. Though that may just have been good sense. At least he cries less now.”
As I moved the book to sit beside her, I glanced at the title. Religious parables. Poor kid. Then I turned my attention to Baghra. She’d put on a bit of weight, sat straighter in her chair. Getting out of the Little Palace had done her good, even if she’d just found another hot cave to hide in.
“You look well.”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said sourly. “Did you mean what you said to Misha? Are you thinking of bringing the students here?” The children from the Grisha school at Os Alta had been evacuated to Keramzin, along with their teachers and Botkin, my old combat instructor. Their safety had been nagging at me for months, and now I was in a position to do something about it.
“If Nikolai agrees to house them at the Spinning Wheel, would you consider teaching them?”
“Hmph,” she said with a scowl. “Someone has to. Who knows what garbage they’ve been learning with that bunch.”
I smiled. Progress, indeed. But my smile vanished when Baghra rapped me on the knee with her stick. “Ow!” I yelped. The woman’s aim was uncanny.
“Give me your wrists.”
“I don’t have the firebird.”
She lifted her stick again, but I flinched out of the way. “All right, all right.” I took her hand and laid it on my bare wrist. As she groped nearly up to my elbow, I asked, “How does Nikolai know you’re the Darkling’s mother?”
“He asked. He’s more observant than the rest of you fools.” She must have been satisfied that I wasn’t somehow hiding the third amplifier, because she dropped my wrist with a grunt.
“And you just told him?”
Baghra sighed. “These are my son’s secrets,” she said wearily. “It’s not my job to keep them any longer.” Then she leaned back. “So you failed to kill him once more.”
“Yes.”