23. 22 #2
Their secret? Everyone knew Wisdom knew everything.
“I vouch for her trustworthiness.”
Theolis paused, staring at her son. Then she frowned and opened her hand.
Davian dropped the coin in.
“I have seen nothing connected to these crimes,” Theolis said bluntly.
“Aseem discusses you often, but he doesn’t know anything more than suggesting the Ekrissian girl has similar markings to the Merriment child.
If a Leader knows anything beyond that, they aren’t discussing it in their offices.
” She narrowed her eyes at Davian. “Though I cannot vouch for the validity of each book’s location. ”
“Some Leaders have less paperwork than others.”
“And some seem to be aware of ears,” Theolis said, and there was an accusation there. One I didn’t understand.
Davian shrugged. “If you want me to put Camriel’s book in his bedroom instead, I can do so. Though I am not convinced you’d want the content of those conversations.”
Theolis sighed. “Ravi.”
Davian froze, and she did, too. For a second, they had slipped back into something else. Something familiar and familial. A comfortable bickering, a well-worn exasperation. Mother and son. And then, statues.
“Thank you for your assistance, mother,” Davian said, regaining his composure a fraction faster. “You have earned your gold.”
Theolis blinked and stared at a bookcase. “What now?”
Davian spread his hands. “Now, we enjoy the party.”
“You’re staying.” She seemed surprised, if Theolis was ever surprised.
“I ought to have at least a dance or two,” Davian suggested with a maddening ease. “Your other guests might get suspicious.”
Once more, there was an irritation that passed over her features before she could subdue it. She opened her mouth, thought better of it, then she nodded. But as Davian reached his hand out to me and nodded back, she slipped again.
“Behave, please,” Theolis whispered.
It was a warning, one she couldn’t bite back. Cautioning him not to embarrass her. But there was an undercurrent of care there.
Davian stilled.
I took his hand and squeezed it. “Let’s go.”
He nodded once, and then he was pulling us out of the room, as fast as we could without it seeming improper or common.
We didn’t stop until we were back down the stairs, and into the empty entrance hall.
He leaned heavily against the wall. “That was awful.” He still held my hand in his. “Thank you for coming with me.”
I smiled, and then glanced around us, dropping into a whisper again. “You’re spying on each of the Houses?”
That was as much as I could deduce. They hadn’t spoken of what they had heard from other Houses, but what they had seen. They were watching the Leaders of each House, and if Davian’s comment was literal, they were watching through books?
“Correction, my mother is.” Davian reached into the other inside pocket of his coat, and pulled out a narrow tin container.
He twisted the lid and drank heavily, before returning it with a relieved sigh.
With him leaning against the wall, I was at the perfect height to admire the angle of his jaw and the bob of his throat.
He was as intoxicating as the scent of the dark liquid on his tongue as he pressed a finger to his lips.
“It’s Wisdom’s greatest secret. Don’t tell anyone. ”
I didn’t know how to respond. Instead, I worked the ring off of my finger, and held it out for him.
He raised his eyebrow, and my body pulsed with it.
“It’s served its purpose,” I said. “Has it not?”
He paused, then nodded, plucking it from my fingers as he tucked it back into a narrow pocket. I tried and failed not to read into his pause, or into my slight disappointment.
But thankfully, Davian didn’t linger on it. He straightened and pulled me towards the noise of music and laughter, and before we knew it, the meeting was behind us, and ahead was—everything.
Through another heavy curtain, the ballroom was beautiful. Here, the wooden panelling was warmed by hundreds of candles, half on elaborate brass scones, and half on a single candelabra hanging down from four heavy chains. The floor was tile, and the ceiling painted with a blue sky.
There was a statue of Knessus at the centre of the room, and fresh flowers had been cut and positioned in brass vases at her feet.
Most of the guests stayed on the outskirts, leaving a ring around the statue like this was the Merriment festival and the children were about to run around the dance pole.
The minstrels had just finished their song, and were tuning their instruments in the corner to prepare for the next.
Acrobats waited near the statue, poised on the balls of their feet for the next beat.
The room watched, sipping on drinks and eating food small enough to hold with your fingers and eat in two bites.
It was decadent, and the myrrh burning in the room gave an almost sleepy feel to the room. This was not a wild event, but one carefully curated and designed.
In the musical silence we entered into, the guests were using the chance to speak and mingle, and our entry did not go unnoticed.
Several eyes, all in the faces of people I had never seen before—with the exception of the younger Sea devotee, Tomas—turned to look at us.
Each recognised Davian in an instant, surely as who he presented to the world, and not as Ravi, the forgotten son of Wisdom.
I couldn’t see Horan nor Camriel, and I was glad to hide in the relative anonymity of Davian’s shadow.
More happily, I couldn’t see Robar either. The view of the other side of the ballroom, and likely the exit to the garden, was blocked from here, and I had no interest in rectifying that.
Davian seemed less happy to be the centre of attention. He turned to me, and dropped my hand as he studied me from head to toe. “I’m going to get us a drink. What would you like?”
I had no idea what was on offer. “You decide.”
He smirked and pointed at the floor. “Stay here.”
I nodded.
I had no desire to make small talk with a bunch of nobles I had never met. We would stay here until Davian had got all of the gossip he needed, and satisfied the requirement of our attendance, if that was even true. Then, we could go home.
Not home, I corrected myself. Back to the House of Pain.
I shuffled to the edge of the room, so my back was almost to the wall.
I wasn’t really breaking Davian’s request, I was only three steps from where he had left me.
The idea of seeing Robar at any moment, mingled with the knowledge he would have no idea who I was, and completed with the realisation I perhaps had no idea who he really was…
my skin flushed, then chilled with every passing second.
If he had something to do with Jusia’s disappearance, could he truly show his face? Would be look upset? Guilty? Would he mourn her, as he had never mourned the loss of me? Had he even cared about either of us?
“What is the fopdoodle doing here?”
I jolted. A man had appeared in front of me, from Knessus knew where. It took me a second to place his narrow form, those cheekbones under piercing blue eyes, the slight accent. “Oh, it’s you.” I placed his name. Vasile. “Va—”
“That’s not my name here,” he interrupted with a cautioning look. “Is yours still Annie?”
My voice stuck, forgetting that I had told this man my real name. The music started up in the distance, a lively tempo that was still lower than my heartbeat.
He looked different to how he had in the taverna, when I had been questing after Robar. This time, he was dressed for the occasion. Arguably overdressed. He wore ornate plum robes dripping in silver chains, contrasting with an elaborate golden brooch which shouldn’t have worked, but somehow did.
I cleared my throat. “It is.”
“Well, Annie, will you tell me what you’re doing here?” he said, wafting his hand around the room as if he belonged here.
And certainly he did, far more than me. He was a nobleman, then. That wasn’t how he had presented himself before, but he was invited to this ball along with the Leaders of the city.
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers. And I could ask you the same question.”
Vasile grinned. Then he offered me his hand. “Can you dance with me instead?”
I darted a look towards the nearby table, hoping for Davian. Or even Camriel. Anyone who could save me. There were too many people, and I couldn’t see either of them, despite their height.
Vasile beckoned me with his hand. “Come on. One dance. It wouldn’t do to embarrass me in front of all these people, would it?”
It was true; those nearest to us, a younger couple and an older woman, were watching. An outstretched hand, a dance in the background. I was here suggesting myself to be a young noblewoman myself. I had no reason to refuse.
Vasile had been oddly kind to me the last time we met, but I couldn’t help the offsetting feeling in my gut. He had said nothing untoward, done nothing to suggest his status in either way. But there was an air about him of deception, and I didn’t trust him.
It would be over soon enough, though. And he was right; if he was in fact a nobleman of Dytho, I ought not create an enemy. I offered a wavering smile. “One dance.”