“Seventy crowns,” Verci said.
“Fair. Besides, Dayne owes me five.”
Dayne broke out laughing. “You did win that bet.”
“You fool,” the skinny kid said. “Do you know most people go through rigorous study of magic and its effect on the physical world and the body for years before even attempting something like that, and you do it by accident?”
“Listen,” the Thorn said. “I would love to continue this whole conversation with all of you, but I am utterly famished. And I bet Minox is as well.”
“That is accurate,” Minox said.
“So, I’m telling you, around the corner is this fabulous Fuergan restaurant that is absolutely one of the best things you’ve ever tried. Can we please just go there?”
“He’s been talking it up,” Dayne said. “And I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday. Shall we?”
“Why not?” Jerinne said. “It’s not like I’m not going to get in more trouble with Amaya.”
Amaya found almost everything she needed at Hemmit’s flop. A place to hide, something to bandage her side, and a bottle of Fuergan whiskey to dull the pain.
But no Hemmit.
There had been a bundle of documents already delivered to his flop, though. Evidence of the Grand Ten, the vast conspiracy seeking to undermine the crown and the government, with the ten conspirators named. Including herself as The Warrior.
If he had received it, so had all the other newssheets. Surely interesting enough for those reporters to investigate on their own, confer with each other, contact the Constabulary and the marshals. Before midday they would find the slaughter in the opera house—it was there to be found, after all—and that would surely be proof enough to confirm everything in the bundle.
But Hemmit wasn’t here. She had checked first at The Nimble Rabbit with the owners—who she clearly had spooked—but they hadn’t seen him, or Maresh or Lin since lunchtime the day before.
It was possible none of them had come back from the excursion with Dayne and Jerinne.
She had no idea how to reach out to either of them. They were the only other ones she trusted right now, or at least trusted enough to listen to her fairly. But they would either be at the chapterhouse or the Parliament, and there was absolutely no way she could go to either of those places.
Where else could she even go?
Someone knocked on Hemmit’s door.
“Hemmit? Are you there? No one is in the office.”
Lady Mirianne.
More knocking. “Hemmit?”
Amaya had to make a choice. She opened the door, grabbed Lady Mirianne by the wrist, and pulled her inside.
“Amaya!” she exclaimed. “What are you—are you all right?”
“Decidedly not,” Amaya said, sitting on Hemmit’s bed.
“Oh my saints,” Lady Mirianne said, noting the bandage on Amaya’s side. It was already seeping with blood, and she’d need to change it. “What happened? Why are you . . . why did you come here?”
“I guess it’s not in the newssheets yet,” Amaya said.
“What isn’t?” Lady Mirianne said. “I had noticed there was a stir of a story in many of the sheets—something about a conspiracy—but I wondered why my own newssheet hadn’t printed anything today. I found no one at the offices or at the Rabbit, so I came here.”
“That,” Amaya said, pointing to the bundle. As Lady Mirianne thumbed through the papers, Amaya went on. “Hemmit and the others went with Dayne and Jerinne on something. They were going to sneak into the Necropolis of Saint Terrence. But maybe they’ve not come back yet. Maybe they got in as much trouble as I did.”
“Oh, my,” Lady Mirianne said. “These are . . . this is all quite serious. I presume you deny the allegations in here.”
“I do,” Amaya said. “There is an actual Grand Ten, but I’m not a part of it. Though Grandmaster Orren and Colonel Altarn of Druth Intelligence are.”
“What?” Lady Mirianne said. “Are you certain?”
“Of those two, quite.” Amaya nodded, pointing to her injury. “This was the cost of tangling with the two of them. Barely escaped.”
“Grandmaster Orren did this?” she asked with incredulity. “He did this to you?”
“After killing three people right in front of me. I . . . I never . . .”
“Three?” Lady Mirianne choked on the word as she sat down. Lady Mirianne let out a deep breath. “Well that . . . that must have been . . . very difficult to see. And you saw Colonel Altarn as well?”
“She taunted me. This was a trap for me that I just walked into, and . . . I had suspected her and the Grandmaster, but . . . to see it? See them both be so savage, it was . . .”
Lady Mirianne got to her feet. “We have not been close, Amaya. I understand if that’s at all my fault. I have not been the friend to you that I could have been.”
“This isn’t the moment—”
“But it is,” Lady Mirianne said. “I believe in you, in your innocence in this conspiracy. That you have been incriminated by malefactors who wish to use you as a patsy.”
“Thank you,” Amaya said. It wasn’t much, but in this moment of complete failure, she would take any bit of kindness she could find, even from Lady Mirianne. “I was thinking, I need to get ahead of this. Maybe turn myself into the marshals, or the Parliament, so I can get my side of the story on the record.”
“No,” Lady Mirianne said firmly. “If this is true, think about it. The corruption is everywhere. Chief Toscan. Chief Quoyell. There are surely people who are working with Altarn and Orren. The corruption in this city is deep, and there’s no trusting whoever you might turn yourself over to isn’t part of it.”
“So what do you suggest?” Amaya asked.
“My carriage is outside,” Lady Mirianne said. “Let’s get you into
