Chapter 37
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
EVIE
“ L eesa, they’re just things,” I said after she let out another long sigh.
She furrowed her brows at the golden mound resting on top of the cart we were pulling through the Capital. “Beautiful things. Rare things. Gifted things.”
“ My things. To do with as I please.”
And it pleased me greatly to use them to our advantage.
I’d ransacked my closet, full of dresses and robes I hadn’t asked for, and grabbed the ones with golden thread woven through lush, expensive fabrics and breezy Elekan silk. The gem trimmings on some of them were enough to pay Petrylla for the shipment.
Then I ransacked the few jewels which had been waiting for me in Phoenix Peak since my first wedding.
I’d stared long and hard at my coppery crown, but decided against picking it. Flames had definitely licked the metal at one point, melting the edge in the back so that the metal drops looked like tiny coppery drops.
Bloody drops.
I could begrudgingly admit I liked its stubbornness to not liquefy in whatever inferno had maimed it. And I doubted it would fetch me many coins if I could have pawned it off without consequences.
This was a royal crown, after all.
The rest of the pricey trinkets could go without remorse.
I didn’t need all these silks and jewels, which had been crafted and sewn for a queen, not for whatever I was right now–someone marching through the Capital with a squeaky cart, that’s what.
Owyn had offered to oil the groaning wheel, but that would have defeated the purpose. With Petrylla promising the shipment and Adara sending letters left and right, we were running out of time.
The cart’s creaks attracted bewildered stares.
I was forced to welcome them.
What I didn’t welcome were the guards striding through the Capital like they suddenly owned the damn place. At every other corner, clusters of three or four of them stood out like dark thorns between the colorful houses and flowers. They grimaced at anyone who passed by them, as if they owned the roads.
This must have been what the pamphlet had meant by a firmer presence for the advisors .
The guards were posted at strategic spots, I realized with a start, on the biggest and fastest roads leading to the port and the Merchants’ Prefecture.
The strategic locations for every resource in the Capital.
“Have the guards ever been stationed outside Phoenix Peak?” I muttered as we passed Myrcel, the guard from the night of the fire.
In the daylight, I could see he was a particularly sour-looking man, with a face like a mean, spoiled baby that seemed so at odds with his huge size. I didn’t know if he’d grimaced or leered our way, but the simple flicker of his eyes made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Instincts never lied.
I needed to look out for that one.
“Not since the Scarlet Bane,” Leesa whispered, looking just as uneasy as I felt, her shoulders tense and her gaze darting around.
“I don't like this.” The civilians didn’t seem thrilled, either, despite what the pamphlet had said. Most of them readjusted their paths when they noticed the guards, giving them a wide berth.
What were Banu and Valuta playing at? The population was already on edge from the war, the rations keeping everyone on edge.
Why add to that nervousness?
Frightened beings were more easily herded, but to what end?
A ghostly intuition crept up my spine. The Dragon needed to know about this.
The clusters of guards grew in number and size as we neared the bridge leading toward the Merchants’ Prefecture.
The most industrious of the Blood Brotherhood had built their manufacturing empires right across the deep gorge carved by the Obsidian River in its search for the ocean. It cleaved the Capital in two, with only two points connecting them–the harbor and this bridge.
Wide enough for half a battalion to pass through if needed, the bridge was as straight as Allie’s arrows. Thick and sturdy, it had a web of plump, twisted vines acting as guardrails; beautiful ones, too, with pink and purple flowers sprinkled between the winding leaves.
Beyond it, the merchants’ buildings loomed, with their soaring, spindly chimneys coughing up white smoke. The lower levels of the workshops were obviously older, large rocks and bricks tamped down by centuries, but the structures turned scrawnier and crooked at the top floors. The newer generations of merchants had been in such a rush to build bigger and taller, they’d ended up with spiked roofs, so unlike the plump, colorful civilian houses.
Our cart squeaked toward the other side while the guards frowned at us. Leesa distracted me from their malevolent stares with details only someone born in this city would know.
“The sturdy one on the corner, with the big green entrance, is where most of the copper coins are cast,” she said. “The gold ones are minted in the secret basement of the cottage behind it.”
A corner of my lips twisted up. I was past being shocked at how suspicious this Clan was.
Even in their own city, the Blood Brotherhood were so wary of everyone and everything, it was almost endearing how they squirreled their resources away and looked over their shoulder.
“That cellar must be huge,” I said. The Blood Brotherhood’s vaults were hurting from the war, but it was still one of the richest Clans in Malhaven.
“They say the basement bores down into the ground, deeper than the gorge itself. Lord Aryon takes his job as Coinmaster very seriously,” Leesa said. “He even refused to be part of the Senate of Sages because he didn’t have the time.”
That sounded like the worst excuse in the world.
Which meant Aryon didn’t much care for the advisors and their schemes–and that he was powerful enough for them to leave him alone to do his job.
The streets on this side of the Capital were both louder and more deserted. Cold metallic bangs, clanks, and thunks resounded from every direction. The workshops from the blacksmith ward were the noisiest, the chimneys spitting smoke and embers high in the sky from their ash-covered bricks. Heat radiated from that side of the prefecture. The large group of guards stationed up and down the smokey alley sweated, beads dripping down their faces.
“The blacksmiths are always guarded, but only the warriors have the right to do it,” Leesa said.
The warriors who actually used the mighty swords forged in the blaze within. The ones ready to give their lives for the Clan, not just pretend they’d be willing to. “They’re not here, are they?”
“We have to walk past them down the alley.” Leesa sighed. “It’s the quickest way.”
“Quickest doesn’t always mean best. Where’s the printing press?”
She frowned, but changed course nonetheless.
The metallic murmurs faded into thumps and the rich sound of snapping leather. The buildings here were stained with a familiar brown coating; I remembered it all too well from the winters spent leaching acorns and tanning hides.
The air was sharp and uninviting. Leesa and I covered our mouths and noses.
“Hide Row has the best tanneries in all of Malhaven.” Leesa nodded at the tall fences surrounding the buildings. Sharp metal prongs grew from the top, bits of leather stuck between them. “They beat the finished armors on the prongs. If they have the smallest scratch, they aren’t given to the army.”
I patted my own armor, fingers lingering on his blood. I quickened my steps toward the bend in the road.
These streets had a botanical scent, which wafted from the piles of reeds waiting to be soaked and pummeled into scrolls. A pungent, inky liquid flowed through the small canals bordering the steep roads.
This part of the Merchants’ Prefecture was slower. Quieter.
I heard the steps rushing toward us from half a mile away, even as the cart squeaked louder on the pavement’s sharp incline.
I whirled around, switchblade half-opened, only to find myself staring at a familiar face.
“Nylen.” My brows rose somewhere near my hairline as he stopped in front of us, a carefree smile playing on his lips.
“Saw you from the blacksmith road. Didn’t believe my eyes at first.” His grin widened.
“I was surprised to see the guards all over the Capital as well,” I said evenly.
“New orders.” His mouth twisted and opened, hesitant. Then he jerked his sculpted chin at the cart. “Let me help you with that.”
“You’re sweet, but we got th–” Was all I managed to say before he took the handle away from me and Leesa.
Our hands touched for the barrest moment.
My knees quaked at the softness of his fingers, so unlike The Dragon’s, which had been weathered by over a decade of training.
I flinched back as if scalded, before I managed to school my features into what I hoped was bland indifference. Leesa still gave me a curious glance as the three of us continued up through the printing district.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, highly aware that the stares coming from the few civilians who’d wandered outside their workshops to enjoy a smoke and a piece of bread.
When it had been just Leesa and I, the looks had been guarded and curious.
Now that Nylen had joined us, they were outright disapproving.
They infuriated me.
I doubted that they hated seeing a royal in the Merchants’ Prefecture or that a guard accompanied me.
It was because I dared to walk alongside a man close to my own age, wasn’t it? The Dragon could marry another woman, but gods forbid I had the gall to bump into another man in public while my husband was away.
I grit my teeth and sped up.
The hypocrisy in the Blood Brotherhood ran deep.
I might have been imagining things, but the bond gave a sharp tug. I let my energy seek within me, but found only a numb trace of him on the other end.
“These hills can be rough.” Nylen grimaced at the cart’s squeaky wheel. “I can help you with that if you want.”
“They teach you how to be handymen in guard training, too?” I asked.
He laughed, and it sounded deep and open. “No. But I do know how to spear someone in just the right point in the neck so that their heart fills up with blood.”
Of course he would. “I’m envious. How long does it take to develop a skill like that?”
“Years and years.” He nodded at me. “Though I hear you’re good with weapons. You might learn that trick faster than me.”
My heart galloped and I hoped everyone would blame the sudden redness in my cheeks on the nasty hill we trudged up. “Careful, Nylen. People will start thinking you’re trying to flatter me.”
Leesa squeaked as if, yes, that’s exactly what she was thinking.
He shrugged, completely nonplussed. Beads of sweat poured down his face under the unforgiving Capital sun, but his stride was powerful and even. “Just speaking the truth. You were allowed to enter the Arena. Most weren’t.”
Yes, he was indeed trying to flatter me. My blood raced. “If you only speak the truth, then what’s happening with these new orders? I doubt the advisors went through all that trouble just for me.”
He hesitated. “We were instructed to have eyes everywhere in the Capital.”
So spying. “Why?”
“The advisors say they fear an attack.”
“What do you say?”
His dark stare met mine. There was a graveness there I hadn’t seen before. “That they sounded suspiciously excited about the possibility of an attack when they instructed us to patrol the entire city.”
My knees wobbled once more. “Who would attack us now?”
“Apart from the Serpents and Protectorate?” Nylen licked his lips. “They made it very clear they fear a betrayal from inside the Clan.”
I missed a step, tilting awkwardly to the side. Nylen’s hand shot out and I let him steady my elbow, despite the pounding in my chest.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, my face about as red as Kaya’s wedding dress. I shook my shoulders, willing the shivers away, and met Nylen’s stare head on. “A betrayal?”
He nodded gravely.
“Be careful,” he whispered. “They’re planning something. I can feel it.”
I almost barked out a laugh. Banu and Valuta were obviously scheming, it’s what they did. Sending out their guards to show they were ready to defend the civilians against the wretched traitor who had infiltrated their precious Clan.
I licked my lips. “Nylen, you’re a guard.”
He inclined his head, turning to me as we reached the top of the hill. “You noticed. Now I’m flattered.”
“I don’t do it often.” The smirk I’d learned from him bloomed on my face. “Why are you helping me?”
His gaze trailed toward the sky as a deep sigh ripped from his chest. “That day in the palace, you spared Loryk without a second thought. It made me realize the ones I promised to serve wouldn’t have.”
I ducked my own gaze to keep him from seeing the guilt there and said nothing. So many words, all of them stuck in the back of my throat.
One thing I did know.
Nylen was nothing like The Dragon.
The silence that followed was broken as a door from the factory behind us flung open, followed by a gasp.
“Your Highness, such a surprise. What brings you to our little Merchants’ Prefecture?” Isalyth hurried our way so fast, I was afraid her shoes would slip off. “Such a shame my uncle is out on his daily walk and can’t greet you properly.”
“Yes, such a shame we passed your business right at this hour,” I said, sharing a charged look with her.
Isalyth’s smile twitched in sync with her eyes as she took in the golden mound on the cart, peeking from underneath the flimsy grey cloth I’d thrown on top of it. “Updating your wardrobe?”
Senses like a bloodhound, this one.
“Not quite,” I answered politely. “More of a royal duty. I’m on my way to Lady Valysia’s shop.”
“I’m sure Valysia won’t be able to contain herself when she sees you.” Isalyth siddled closer, in a movement that seemed so natural, it must have been rehearsed hundreds of times. We didn’t need to be at court to use its tactics. “After all, we’d all love everyone to know when a member of the royal family passed our humble thresholds. It’s a great honor.”
I appreciated that Isalyth was trying to warn me that Valysia would spread the news about my little trip, but that was the whole point of it.
Everyone in the city needed to know I’d sold my precious belongings.
They’d find out soon enough why.
“So good of you to say, but don’t worry. You now know about it before Lady Valysia, and her trade isn’t the only one I plan to support.” As soon as the words left my mouth, Isalyth’s smile grew. “That pamphlet has smeared my reputation long enough, I need to rebuild it. I’m always taken by surprise by the lies they write.”
“We’d all love a fair bit of warning before we’re startled like that.”
“Hopefully we’ll get one if something truly important happens.” My smile was starting to hurt. I leaned toward her and whispered, “With the war going, we might have the surprise of a dynasty coming very soon.”
A covert deal was a covert deal. I planned on helping Isalyth as much as she helped me.
“Nothing too serious, I hope,” Isalyth lied through her teeth. Her gaze lingered on Nylen, sparking with calculated curiosity. “Good thing you have a strapping guard to protect you while The Dragon is gone. I don’t think we’ve met.”
He sent a dazzling smile her way. “Nylen, at your service.”
I watched him bow low. Owyn not meeting him was one thing, but he’d somehow escaped the notice of the biggest gossip in the city. Nylen must have been very clever.
“Well.” Isalyth placed a hand over her heart. “Aren’t you something?”
The question was what .
“It’s been a pleasure, Lady Isalyth, but we must leave,” I said. “We are on a tight schedule, after all.”
“I’ll be sure to give my uncle your regards,” she said.
“Please do.” Isalyth and I shared one last meaningful look before we hurried away, straight toward another group of guards grimacing our way.
“It seems my presence is attracting the wrong kind of attention,” Nylen said when we reached the garment district. Wafts of lavender and cedarwood permeated the air and vibrant splotches of pigment colored the pavement tiles. “I should leave you to whatever you’re doing.”
Good. Then maybe my heart would stop trying to gallop itself out of my chest. “I always seem to attract that kind of attention, don’t I? Thanks for the cart.”
As soon as Nylen departed with a smile and a bow, Leesa turned to me, confused. “Are you sure we can trust him?”
“The only guard we trust is Owyn, since he’s no longer one. We stay away from all the others.” I yanked the cart away, adrenaline pushing my almost-healed legs faster. “Now let’s get this over with before the whole continent finds out what I’ve been up to.”
Unlike most of the other establishments in the Merchants’ Prefecture, Lady Valesya had a proper store front, decked and frilled with fabrics of all kinds, from the soft and breezy, to the thick and luxurious.
Entering her shop was like walking in a rich, fragrant cocoon.
“Your Highness,” Lady Valesya greeted us even before the bell on her door finished announcing our arrival. She was decked out in her garment district best, with a crimson dress that had feathers sewn on its lapels. “I heard you were coming to see me, of all people?”
Gods above, information leaked in this place faster than the snowy mountain tops during the spring.
“Quite right. I have a request.” I leaned over the counter. “But this needs to stay between us.”
Lady Valesya tilted her head to the side in a perfect imitation of pure innocence. “I am the definition of tact. Whatever you tell me will not leave these walls.”
The Sages really needed to get better at lying. “How many coins do you have in your shop?”