Kyra wasn’t aware of much as she sprinted to the Palace, just the next corner to turn and the next person or obstacle to dodge. If anyone complained about her passing so carelessly, she didn’t hear it. After the Red Shield at the Palace gate waved her in, she made straight for the Palace healer named Ilona, who had tended to Kyra’s wounds before. Though she was in the Palace’s employ, she wouldn’t hesitate to help an injured child of low birth.
Ilona was a slender woman with ebony hair and a heart-shaped, freckled face. She took a half step back when she saw Kyra’s wild expression, and listened intently as Kyra related her story. Once Kyra finished, Ilona gathered two apprentices and took a wagon down to the beggars’ sector. Her lips pressed into a thin line when she saw Idalee. In a commanding voice that belied her small frame, Ilona ordered the gutter rats away and commanded her apprentices to help Idalee up.
As the wagon rolled out of the courtyard, the beggar woman Kyra spoke to earlier called after them.
“The noblemen who beat your friend were the three sons of Lord Agan,” the woman said. “If anyone at the Palace cares to know who did this, or cares at all.”
Or cares at all. That was the question.
Idalee was listless by the time they arrived at the Palace, her head lolling side to side whenever the wagon hit a bump in the road. They brought the girl into Ilona’s patient room, and the healer set to work right away. She wasted no breath in explaining anything, and Kyra relegated herself and Lettie to the corner of the room, huddling next to shelves of dried spices and staying as much out of her way as possible. Lettie’s eyes never left her sister. The girl stared at Idalee as if she couldn’t see the healer or apprentices circling her bed at all. It broke Kyra’s heart, and she wrapped her arms around Lettie, wishing she could tell her that Idalee would be just fine. But she couldn’t bring herself to lie.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Malikel swept through the door. “Kyra, what is this?”
Kyra hadn’t expected to see Malikel so soon. Ilona must have dispatched some servants. “Sir, my sister was beaten by Lord Agan’s three sons.”
Malikel came to a stop at the head of Idalee’s bed, looking far too much like Death’s messenger looming over Idalee in his flowing red robes. “How is she, Ilona?”
“Not good, sir,” Ilona answered quietly.
Malikel turned to Kyra again. “Tell me what happened.”
The Councilman didn’t interrupt Kyra as she told him what she’d pieced together. “They could have killed her,” she said. “The magistrate should know about this.”
“You say there were witnesses?” Malikel asked.
“A crowd had gathered to watch, but nobody interfered. Two of them were Red Shields,” Kyra said. And they’d stood by while Idalee choked on mud.
Idalee whimpered again, and Ilona apologized, though Kyra wasn’t sure if Ilona was speaking to Idalee, Malikel, or Kyra.
Malikel took one last look at the girl. “I’ll speak to the magistrate on her behalf. We’ll see what we can do.”
Kyra was afraid to hope for justice, not with everything she’d seen on the streets. But if Malikel were behind Idalee…“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
After Malikel left, Lettie started to nod with fatigue. Kyra took a blanket from a shelf next to Idalee’s bed and coaxed Lettie to lie down. Lettie resisted at first, but she finally gave in, and Kyra rubbed her back. The floor was hard stone, and the blanket was a closely woven wool that didn’t offer much padding, but the girl nonetheless fell quickly asleep. Kyra left her there and found a servant boy to carry a message to Flick. Then she sat in the corridor outside Ilona’s door and sifted through the guilt-laden questions whirling through her head. Should she have tried harder to get Idalee to listen to her warnings? Anger flared through her at the thought. A child shouldn’t have to fear for her life every time she misspoke, no matter whom she was talking to.
She’d been there a while when Tristam came hurrying around the corner, still in uniform. Though their argument was still fresh in her mind, Kyra’s spirits lifted to see him. She began to stand, but he motioned for her to sit back down.