Bitterblue

17

LECK IS DEAD.

But if Leck is dead, why isn't it over?

Treading carefully through her corridors that night, up her staircases, Bitterblue tried to wrap her head around these murder attempts that baffled her. She could understand an instinct to move on, move ahead, leave the pain of Leck's time behind. But react by becoming like Leck himself? Kill? It was insane.

Her guards let her into her rooms. Hearing voices inside, she froze, panicking. Her brain caught up with her instincts: The voices, which came from her bedroom, belonged to Helda and Katsa. 'Weaselbugger,' she whispered under her breath. Then a male voice cleared its throat in her sitting room and she had a small heart attack before realizing it was Po.

Marching in to him, she said in a low voice, 'You told them.'

He sat in an armchair, making folds in a piece of paper against his thigh. 'I didn't.'

'Then what are they doing in my bedroom?'

'I believe they're having an argument,' said Po. 'I'm waiting for them to finish so that I can resume the argument I'm having with Katsa.'

There was something funny about Po's face, about the way he was steadfastly not turning it to her. 'Look at me,' she said.

'Can't,' he said glibly. 'I'm blind.'

'Po,' she said. 'If you could even begin to imagine the night I've had—'

Po turned. The skin under his silver eye was spectacularly bruised and his nose was swollen.

'Po!' she cried. 'What happened? Katsa didn't hit you in the face!'

Making a final fold in the paper he was working with, Po raised it over his shoulder and hurled it across the room. Long, slender, and winged, it glided on air, swerved dramatically leftward, and crashed into a bookcase. 'Hm,' Po said with maddening calmness. 'Fascinating.'

'Po,' said Bitterblue through clenched teeth. 'You are being provoking.'

'I have some answers to your questions,' he said, getting up to recover his glider.

'What? You've asked them already?'

'No, I haven't asked any of them,' he said, 'but I've gathered some data.' He smoothed the crumpled nose of the glider and flung the thing again, this time straight at the wall from a short distance. It crashed and fell. 'Just as I thought,' he said musingly.

Bitterblue collapsed on the sofa. 'Po,' she said, 'take pity on me.'

He came to sit beside her. 'Thiel has a cut on his leg,' he said.

'Oh!' said Bitterblue. 'Poor Thiel. A bad cut? Do you know how it happened?'

'He's got a big broken mirror in his room,' said Po, 'but beyond that, I really couldn't say. Did you know he plays the harp?'

'Why does he keep that broken mirror around?' exclaimed Bitterblue. 'Is the wound stitched?'

'Yes, and it's healing cleanly.'

'It's a bit creepy what you can do,' she said, leaning back, closing her eyes. 'You know that, Po?'

'I had time tonight to poke around,' he said blandly, 'while I was lying in bed with ice on my face. Next, you won't believe what Holt did earlier tonight.'

'Oh,' said Bitterblue, moaning. 'Did he dive under a team of galloping horses, just to see what would happen?'

'Have you ever been to your art gallery?'

The art gallery? Bitterblue wasn't even entirely certain where it was. 'Is it on the top floor, overlooking the great courtyard from the north?'

'Yes. Several floors directly above the library. It's quite neglected, did you know? Dust everywhere, except where pieces of art have been recently removed—which is why I was able to count the exact number of sculptures that have been stolen from the sculpture room. Five, in case you were wondering.'

Bitterblue's eyes popped open. 'Someone's stealing my sculptures,' she said as a statement, not a question. 'And returning them to the artist? Who's the artist?'

'Ah,' said Po, pleased. 'You seem already to be familiar with the overriding concept here. Excellent. I had to go have a chat with someone—Giddon—to understand it myself. Here's the situation: Holt had a sister named Bellamew who was a sculptor.'

Bellamew. Bitterblue had an image of a woman in the castle: tall, broad- shouldered, with kind eyes. That woman had been a sculptor?

'Bellamew sculpted transformations for Leck,' Po continued. 'A woman turning into a tree. A man turning into a mountain, and so on.'

'Ah,' said Bitterblue, understanding now that not only did she have some familiarity with Bellamew's work, but Bellamew had had familiarity with her once. 'Did Giddon tell you all this? Why does Giddon always know more about my castle than I do?'

Po shrugged. 'He knows Holt. Really, you should be asking Giddon what's wrong with Holt, not me. Though I didn't tell Giddon what I witnessed.'

'Well? What did you witness?'

Po smiled. 'Are you ready for this? I witnessed Holt entering the castle from the city with a sack on his shoulder. He carried it up to the art gallery, removed a sculpture from the sack, and placed the sculpture in the sculpture room, right on the non-dusty spot it was missing from. That girl who disguised Danzhol's boat and turned into canvas, you remember her?'

'Oh, balls!' said Bitterblue. 'I'd forgotten all about her. We need to find her and arrest her.'

'I feel more and more that we don't,' said Po. 'She was with Holt tonight, because, guess what? She's Bellamew's daughter and Holt's niece. Her name is Hava.'

'Wait,' Bitterblue said. 'What? I'm confused. Someone stole my sculptures to give back to Bellamew, but Holt and Bellamew's daughter are bringing them back to me?'

'Bellamew is dead,' said Po. 'Holt stole your sculptures. Holt brought them to Hava, Bellamew's daughter, but Hava told Holt, no, the sculptures had to go back to the queen. So Holt brought them back, with Hava supervising.'

'What! Why?'

'Holt puzzles me,' said Po, musing. 'He may or may not be mad. He's certainly confused.'

'I don't understand!' said Bitterblue. 'Holt stole from me, then changed his mind?'

'I think he's trying to do the right thing,' said Po, 'but is confused about what the right thing is. I understand that Leck used Bellamew, then killed her. Holt feels that Hava is the rightful owner of the sculptures.'

'Is Giddon the one who told you about Hava?' asked Bitterblue. 'Shouldn't something be done about Hava if she's floating around the castle? She tried to kidnap me!'

'Giddon doesn't know about Hava.'

'Then how did you figure all this out?' cried Bitterblue.

'I just—did,' said Po, looking sheepish.

'What do you mean, you just did? How can I be sure it's all true on the basis of 'you just did'?'

'I'm quite certain it's all true, Beetle. I'll explain why another time.'

Bitterblue studied his battered face as he smoothed the glider against his leg. It was clear to her that he was upset about something he wasn't saying. 'What are Helda and Katsa arguing about?' she asked quietly.

'Babies,' he responded, flashing her a tiny grin. 'As usual.'

'And what are you and Katsa arguing about?'

His grin faded. 'Giddon.'

'Why? Is it about Katsa not liking him? I would love someone to explain that to me.'

'Bitterblue, don't pry into the man's business.'

'Oh, such commendable advice, coming from a mind reader. You can pry into his business whenever you like.'