I took off over the roof. The shutters were drawn and bare, rainwater dripping down the sills and echoing in my ears. I half-ran, half-slid down the rows of windows rising out of the roof. A pair of bleary eyes that looked like Eleven’s glanced back at me through the slats of one. I raced away from her.
On the other side of the building, the trio of invited had holed up together in a large room. Two, Three, and Four paced about, getting dressed and stretching. I scaled a defunct chimney nearby, slipping on the wet tiles, and dangled my legs over the chimney’s edge. The tiles laid out beneath me were all loose and slick. Even acrobats wouldn’t risk it.
I needed to feel them out. If they were to be a trio till they died, they were an issue. I couldn’t fight them all at once.
“If you’re only in this for the money, there’s a troupe missing tumblers you could join,” Four said before waving to me as he crawled out the window set into the sloping roof.
“That how you all know each other?” I yawned.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Two muttered. She stretched and tugged her arms behind her back.
“That’s why I’m asking.” I copied her. Cool, burning relief slid down my shoulders and spine, and I sighed. “An odd place to take friends, is all. Keep secrets all you like.”
“Says Sal, Sal, Sal who knows nothing about secrets.” Three—who must’ve overheard Ruby the first day of auditions—crossed her left arm across her chest and pulled it close. “Do this one.”
I did and my shoulder cracked, but, Lady, was it worth it. Wasn’t fair them being my age and having all this training. Circuses traveled all around picking up kids to train and offering up a bit of joy in the aftermath of the war, but they didn’t pay you till you were in the show and had earned your keep. I’d no time for that growing up.
“Should do your legs too.” Three grabbed her foot and pulled it over her head.
“I’m not doing that.”
Two leaned into Three, using her shoulder to balance, and whispered in her ear. I cocked my head to the side—couldn’t hear them.
“Any particular reason you’re here?” Four stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“Sunrise was nice.” I shifted backward, ready to jump and run, and covered the motion by waving to the fiery clouds spilling over the eastern spires. “Wanted to know where everyone sleeps.”
“Don’t worry,” said Two. “We’ll switch it up.”
“Keep you on your toes.” Four frowned.
I grinned. “Sounds fun.”
He ripped his hand from his pocket, and I tumbled backward, landing crouched on the roof behind the chimney. His thin throwing knife sliced through the air above me and clattered to the tiles. I darted away from them.
“Less fun,” I shouted over my shoulder.
Four’s booming laugh followed me across the roof. I glanced back, but they weren’t chasing. Four clapped Two on the back, and Three waved. I raced along the tiles and inhaled, head clearing with each breath.
Thirteen
I entered the dining hall from the strength training courtyard just as Four, Two, and Three walked in from the dorms. Three shook her head at me. She nudged Four.
They’d have been good friends to have. They were good friends.
And they’d have to kill each other eventually.
I took the seat next to Four and fanned my dress over my knees. There wasn’t much use for pretty things with Grell, but if our coming days were all push-ups and stances, I’d take my chances. I could move just as easily in this dress.
And it made me feel better. I’d not been able to wear a real one for ages.
“If I were, hypothetically, to talk about you behind your back,” Four said, pouring a cup of tea and swirling a spoonful of sweet orange blossom honey into it, “how should I refer to you?”
I grabbed the honey—of course the palace had fancy honey to waste on people doomed to die—and spooned it into my cup.
“I’ve got a giant number stitched to my mask.” This was easier with people I only met once and who only knew how I was that day. Most everyone else wanted me to pick one, make addressing me easier on them by denying myself. I was already dressing so they could get it right. The least they could do was try. I didn’t see why I had to choose. “Who do I look like?”
“Someone who’s going to regret the sweetness of her tea after we start training.”
Two laughed into her stuffed roll.
“Address me however I look.” I was both. I was neither. I was everything, but that wasn’t exactly a friendly conversation between strangers trying to kill each other. Least he asked nicely. “Why are you talking about me?”
“Either way, eat some real food.” He smeared half-melted butter over a thick slice of bread and took a bite. “I said it was hypothetical. It means I theorized—”
“Means you guessed, but no one asks that if they’re not really talking.” I glanced at him over the rim of my cup, honey already too sweet for me. I’d never heard the word before now, but I’d no desire for everyone in the room to know that. “You really want to play teacher in a fight to the death?”
Two snorted. “He does it to everyone.”
“The eternal older brother,” Three said, popping a handful of berries into her mouth.
Four scowled, finally looking more seventeen than thirty.
“Stop pouting.” I took another sip of tea and grinned. “You’ll wrinkle faster.”
Four’s mouth snapped into a straight, unwrinkled line.
Abel, Amethyst’s servant, led Fifteen into the breakfast nook with the Left Hand. They’d skipped over most of the other auditioners.
I took another sip of tea. The trio hadn’t been invited to speak with the Left Hand today. “Why haven’t you tried to kill me?”
“Rude saying Four didn’t try,” Two said. “He’s been throwing knives since he started walking.”
He’d not been trying to hit me. I’d seen knife throwers often enough to know what aiming looked like.
“I like you.” Four brushed the crumbs from his mask and wiped his hands clean. “And I don’t enjoy killing people I like.”
“I’m not leaving. Have the decency to do it quick, as quickly as you’ll do it for each other when the time comes.”
Two squeezed her eyes shut and Three winced.
Four glanced over my shoulder. “I heard you that day. Nothing personal.”
“Twenty-Three?” Abel leaned over my shoulder, purple collar bright in the corner of my eyes. “The Left Hand would like to see you.”
I downed the last of my too-sweet tea and marched to the nook, trying to keep the exhausted shaking from my knees. Emerald wore green again—she lived up to her name. Ruby turned to me when I entered, red mask at odds with his sun-yellow clothes and black stitching.
“Don’t bother sitting.” Ruby held up his hand. “One question.”
“Do you want to start learning how to read and write now?” Emerald leaned forward, brass nails tapping her mask. “If you progress further in the competition, you must attend tutoring, but you may start now if you wish.”