Tobry raced in. ‘Stay under the bed, that’s Lady Ricinus.’
Tali crouched there, fingering her knife. If discovered, she would be caught and sold back to the chancellor. She could think no further than that.
‘Where is Rixium?’ came Lady Ricinus’s chilly voice as her heels clicked along the hall. ‘It’s five-thirty. He should be dressing for the Honouring.’
Tali started. She must have slept all day.
‘I don’t know, Lady Ricinus,’ said Tobry politely. ‘He wasn’t here when I returned in the early hours.’
Lady Ricinus gave a disapproving sniff.
Tobry must have felt a mischievous urge for he said, ‘Perhaps he’s run off to a monastery.’
‘He will be there,’ said Lady Ricinus in a voice so cold it made Tali’s teeth ache.
Lady Ricinus’s breathing was quick and shallow; a musky perfume wafted off her. Her heels tap-tapped through the salon and scalderium, then up to the studio and down again. Rix’s door was flung open, then Tobry’s. Tali clenched the knife, though she could hardly use it on Rix’s mother, could she? Oh yes.
‘When my son returns, tell him I require audience with him immediately.’
‘I will so inform him,’ said Tobry virtuously.
Lady Ricinus swept out. Tobry bolted the door. Tali crept from beneath the bed and followed him into Rix’s bedchamber, where he began rifling through an enormous wardrobe. ‘What time is the Honouring?’
‘The ball is at eight o’clock and the Honouring will be straight afterwards. I’m sure he’ll be back any minute.’
‘Are you going to the ball?’
‘Of course,’ said Tobry, picking out a crimson velvet tailcoat and holding it up against himself. ‘As Rix’s closest friend, I’m required to be there.’
There had been no dancing in Cython, save in the privacy of one’s cell. ‘I suppose it will be a very grand affair,’ she said, sighing.
‘The grandest of the year. House Ricinus isn’t well liked, but it’s so exceedingly rich that none of the nobility, nor indeed Hightspall’s vulgarly wealthy commoners, would think of missing it.’
‘It doesn’t seem right, with all the war and ruin outside.’
‘It’s a sign of defiance, and therefore good for morale.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘The enemy may break our walls and burn our shanty towns, they may have taken the outlying provinces and be marching on Caulderon again, but they will never crush our spirit. That’s what the Honouring says, to our own people as much as to the enemy, and it’s why even
‘I’m sure he’ll be there.’
‘I’m worried now. He … wasn’t in a good state when I saw him yesterday evening.’
‘You didn’t tell me that.’
‘It’s … a private matter. Dreadful.’ Tobry looked away. ‘He was so distraught …’
‘You’re afraid he’s done something terrible. Is it — ’ There was no one around but she lowered her voice. ‘Is it about the treason?’
‘How did you know about that?’
Tali told him everything.
‘And you informed the chancellor of this?’
‘Before I went to the Crag.’
‘The bastard! He set a trap and Rix fell right into it.’ Tobry told her about the poisoned dog, and what the chancellor had said to Rix.
‘The worst poison of all,’ said Tali. What did that remind her of? The clues were starting to fall into place, and everyone would be at the Honouring. She had to go.
She glanced at Tobry from under her eyelashes. ‘I’d love to see it,’ she said wistfully. ‘The beautiful ladies in the gowns, the handsome noblemen in their uniforms …’
‘Not to mention the unhandsome fallen nobility.’ Tobry pointed out. ‘But the guests will also be there for a baser reason.’
‘What’s that?’
‘To be witness when House Ricinus rises even higher or, should rumour prove well founded, to delight in its destruction.’
Tali limped into the scalderium, absently studying herself in the full-length mirror. She took a deep breath, fluffed up her hair and walked back to Tobry, who was inside Rix’s wardrobe now, frowning at a collection of kilts.
‘Tobry?’ she said, fighting an urge to chew her fingernails. No, she was Lady Tali, heir to the ancient, noble House of vi Torgrist. She would act like a lady at all times.
‘Mmn?’ he said absently.
‘Are you taking anyone to the ball?’
‘Certainly not. Why be tied to one dreary woman when you can have the choice of dozens?’
He had not intended to insult her. He had no idea what she was thinking, yet she felt insulted. However, Tali could not be cowed that easily.
‘Do you think
He turned sharply. ‘Of course not. You’re the loveliest — ’ Tobry studied her, head to one side. ‘What are you saying?’
She twisted her fingers behind her back. It was up to the man to ask, wasn’t it, and the lady to be asked. What if he said no? What if he laughed? What if he was so thunderstruck that he could not reply?
‘Will you take me to the ball, sir?’ There. She had done it.
He did not speak for a minute. He just gazed at her in a way that made her blood rise and her ears burn.
‘It’s a terrible risk,’ he said.
‘Worse than hiding here? Wherever I go in Hightspall, I’m hunted, but who would expect me to be at the grandest ball in all the land?’
‘Your enemies will consider all possibilities.’
‘If I am to be caught, to fail in my quest and die, just once I would like to go to a ball.’
She looked at him so wistfully that he sprang forwards and gave her a hug, before stepping away, bowing and looking more than a little surprised at himself.
‘I will take you to the ball, my beautiful Lady vi Torgrist.’ He pursed his lips, then smiled. ‘You shall be a distant cousin of mine, Lady Felysse Tybell, from the remote, cold and rainy county of Murge. That will explain your pale complexion and unfamiliar accent, while make-up applied by my own skilled hands, and a mask, will further conceal you.’
At the right-hand end of the wardrobe, among a series of gowns, were several in her size. She picked out a pale blue, gauzy one that reminded her of Eulala’s gown and held it up before her. It was almost weightless and she knew she would feel free in it. In a loincloth she had always felt free, slave though she had been. ‘Can I wear this?’
‘Only if you wish to attract every eye in the ballroom and provoke the most delicious scandal.’
‘What’s wrong with it? Does it plunge too low at the front?’
‘Not at all,’ said Tobry, inspecting the area. ‘Bosoms are in this year, by which I mean, half out. It is not the custom, however, for the rest of a lady’s anatomy to be visible through the fabric, no matter how charming her figure may be.’ He rotated her as if to confirm her charms for himself. ‘I’ll go out and find something suitable, but not sleeveless. Your slave mark must be concealed. Hmn.’
‘I don’t want you to go to any trouble …’ Yes, she did.
‘My Lady Felysse, I shall go to as much trouble as I please,’ said Tobry with a gallant bow. ‘And a mask, of course. What would you prefer? Fox, cat, eagle, owl?’
‘What about a mouse mask?’ said Tali, thinking of her poor little Poon, taken by that dreadful cat in the
