For Want of a Fiend (7 page)

Starbride straightened. “My, my. I’ve never asked, but I thought you had, well…”

Katya resisted the urge to grin. “A lot of lovers?”

“And still at court.”

“This one, well, we were…in love.” Katya laughed softly. “I was in love.”

A soft touch on her cheek brought her back to Starbride’s sympathetic gaze. “She didn’t love you back?”

A stab of hurt wandered through Katya, surprising her. She thought the feelings of three years ago gone and dealt with. “No.”

“Well, I was going to be jealous, but I won’t now that I know she’s a fool.”

Katya wrapped her arms around Starbride, and Starbride met her halfway, surprising her with some heat behind a long kiss. When Starbride’s tongue snaked gently into her mouth, Katya moaned, shifted closer, and pulled Starbride into her lap, over her leg. Starbride caressed her, fingers brushing her cheek, her hair, her ear. Katya slid a hand up Starbride’s bodice, making her moan in turn.

Starbride kissed her way to Katya’s ear. “Does the Order have to meet right now?”

“No, no,” Katya said, half a whisper, half a moan as she traced Starbride’s ear with her tongue.

Starbride pushed Katya backward, cutting off all conversation.

In Katya’s abandoned summer apartment, Starbride sat at the table with the rest of the Order of Vestra. She couldn’t help but think of how her life had changed in such a short while, from law student to princess consort to member of a secret order, protecting the crown of a nation many in her homeland considered an enemy. But those Allusians who thought of Farraday as an enemy hadn’t fallen in love with its princess and taken her responsibilities to heart.

Katya began with the itinerary for the fall festival. “It’s mostly following my family and keeping an eye out. Standard stuff.”

“The old wait-and-see-what-happens.” Brutal leaned back in his chair. “My favorite.”

“I’ll have my own troubles just getting Reinholt to go,” Katya said. “I’m tempted to have you carry him over your shoulder, Brutal.”

“If the crown prince wants to start down the path to enlightenment via my chapterhouse, I will be happy to teach him.”

“I’d pay to see that,” Starbride said.

Brutal glanced at where Maia had sat. “Maybe…” He gave Starbride a look.

She took his cue. “Maybe we should put someone there.” Her stomach hurt at the thought of replacing Maia at all, but if Brutal was ready to fill that empty chair…

“Who?” Katya asked.

“Hugo,” Brutal said. “He knows our secrets, and he seems capable.”

“Have you been talking about this behind my back? All of you?” Katya touched her chest, and Starbride knew she was missing the burn of her pyramid necklace.

Pennynail made a motion across his throat as if he hadn’t been speaking about it. Katya barked a laugh. “You’re excused.”

“There’s nothing to be angry about,” Brutal said. “You just need time to consider it.”

“We talked about it before the fight this morning,” Starbride said. “Horsestrong preserve us, was that only this morning? It’s been a long day.”

“My bruised ribs confirm it was only this morning,” Katya said. “I’ll think about Hugo. He did volunteer to listen to gossip for me.”

Starbride smiled a little and caught Brutal doing the same. Before Katya could catch them, they both hid the look.

All of them turned as the door to the secret passageway clicked open, and Crowe limped inside. Pennynail helped him to a chair, but everyone else tensed as if ready to give aid.

For once, Crowe didn’t wave Pennynail’s help away. He clutched a cane that King Einrich had given him, another thing he rarely used.

“Crowe,” Starbride said. She wanted to follow with, “You should be resting,” but no doubt he knew that.

Katya filled in the gap. “You should have sent a message rather than come yourself.”

He sighed, too tired to argue it seemed. Starbride counted the heartbeats until he got his breath back. She shook the thought that he’d be gone soon before it could bring tears to her eyes. He was there
now
.

“A contact of mine in Dockland has sent word,” Crowe said. “He’s seen Maia.”

The room seemed to have less oxygen as they all took a breath. “He’s certain?” Katya and Brutal asked on top of one another.

“My contact is not a man who makes mistakes with identity.”

“Where is she?” Starbride asked.

“The Warrens.”

Katya rubbed her temples. Brutal squeezed his eyes shut.

“What is it?” Starbride looked from one pained face to another. She remembered how poor Dockland was, though plenty of money passed through it from the docks to Marienne, but that hadn’t made everyone look so anxious before.

“The Warrens holds the poorest of the poor,” Brutal said. “A refuge for thieves and criminals and the only sanctuary for the lame and the mad.”

“I’ve heard that even the city Watch doesn’t go there,” Katya said. “I’ve never been.”

“No,” Crowe said. “The kind of criminal we usually deal with considers himself above that place.”

Starbride grimaced as she remembered the opium dealers and kidnappers the Order had once had to associate with to get information. “What would Maia be doing there?”

“It’s the perfect place for Roland to hide,” Crowe said. “Unlucky for him, Maia showed her face, and a face like hers stands out in the Warrens.”

“Maybe she was trying to escape,” Brutal said. The words hung in the room like a haze.

“We go in tonight,” Katya said.

Starbride opened her mouth to protest the long day again.

Before she could say anything, Crowe said, “We cannot devise disguises that will fool the people who live there. We can’t pretend we belong.”

“Someone who only visits, then,” Brutal said.

Crowe shook his head. “Who does?”

Katya rubbed her chin. “Not even the Watch.”

They were getting out of hand; no one pointed out that night had already fallen, that they should give up on their plans until the next day. But Starbride felt the thrill of adventure pull at her, something she’d only read about before the Order. The only people who would visit a rat’s nest such as the Warrens were… “People looking to exploit the residents. Do prostitutes live there? They’re certainly exploited. We could pretend we’re looking for a good time.”

Katya grinned slowly. “A good time?”

Starbride blushed. “I read that once.”

“Exploited as prostitutes are,” Crowe said, “they don’t frequent the Warrens. The streetwalkers who don’t work in brothels tend to stick together in the better areas of Dockland.” At Starbride’s quizzical look, he smirked. “I don’t have to read. I know people.”

“I’ll bet,” Brutal said.

While Crowe glared at him, Starbride snapped her fingers. “We could pretend we’re looking to hire thieves. Do people hire thieves?”

Pennynail shook his head. Crowe echoed the gesture. “One would hire a burglar if he wanted something stolen, which is just a higher class thief. I don’t think people would go to the Warrens to hire a burglar.”

“What if it’s something darker and more sinister?” Starbride’s eyes fixed on the table as she became lost in her own manufactured adventure. “What if we’re rogue scientists or pyradistés, something like that, and we’re looking for poor unfortunates to experiment on?”

She glanced up to find everyone staring at her. “What?”

“I think you read too much,” Brutal said.

Crowe shrugged. “It’s different. It could work.”

“It is good,” Katya said, “but I wouldn’t know how to dress for that part. And if someone did ask us what we were doing, we could hardly blurt that out. We’d get mobbed.”

Pennynail shook his head again. He took a purse from his waist and shook it, making the coins jingle. “He’s right,” Crowe said. “More likely we’d be awash in offers as the residents tried to sell one another to us.”

Starbride’s bile rose. “That’s awful. Maybe the way to do it is to simply not be seen.”

Pennynail clapped at the idea.

Brutal snorted. “That’s fine for him, but I’m not exactly unremarkable and neither is Katya.”

“I can be stealthy when I need to be,” Katya said.

“When hiding in the forests or sneaking through abandoned houses in the country,” Brutal said. “City skulking is not your cup of tea and you know it.”

“Peace,” Crowe said before Katya could rebut. “You can all go to Dockland and then wait outside the Warrens while Pennynail reconnoiters.”

Starbride frowned. “You’d normally go with him, Crowe, to back him up.”

“And I’d do it now if I could.”

“I’ll look after him for you,” Starbride said.

“Everyone, ready your things,” Katya said. “We meet by the servants’ stables in fifteen minutes.” She gripped Starbride’s arm and waited until the others filed out.

“Please tell me you didn’t mean you were going into the Warrens with him,” Katya said when they were alone. “You were just reassuring Crowe, yes?”

Starbride licked her lips, stalling as she thought of something diplomatic. “Katya—”

“No.”

“You didn’t let me say anything!”

“I can read your face. You’re not Crowe, Star.”

“I’m his replacement.”

“Not yet.”

Starbride stood and paced, hands landing on her hips only to swing free and then plant on her hips again. “Then when? When will I be trained to your satisfaction?”

“In a few years—”

Starbride snapped her fingers. “Wrong. The answer is never. You will never be comfortable with me taking on the dirtier parts of Crowe’s job.”

Katya’s mouth worked for a moment “And so?”

“Then be uncomfortable with it. I have accepted a responsibility, Katya. I can’t go staying home every time it gets hard.”

“No one’s suggesting you stay at home. You’re going, just—”

“Just under your watchful eye.” She tried to keep her rising temper from blowing off her head. “I will not be the only member of the team that must be protected.”

Katya touched her chest as if searching for the necklace she no longer had to wear. Starbride should have made her another of the damned things. She didn’t need it to keep a Fiend at bay, but maybe Starbride could make it flare from time to time and give Katya the heat she was looking for.

“We watch each other’s backs,” Katya said.

“You watch my back and my front and every side.” Starbride pointed a steady finger in Katya’s direction. “And if you leer at that statement, I will fling a chair at you.”

“I’m too angry to leer.” She dropped into a chair and drummed her fingers on the arms.

Starbride slid into a chair beside her and tried on her best reasonable face. “I will skulk, sneak, and stick to shadows and rooftops. I will do as Pennynail bids me.”

“Can you promise me you’ll be safe?”

“If you promise me the same.”

Katya kissed her hard, and Starbride slid her arms around Katya’s neck. When they broke apart, Katya pressed their foreheads together. “I want you in and out quickly.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t follow him into the building. Just stay nearby and let him go in alone.”

“Yes.”

“If he doesn’t come out, you head back for us instead of following him. I will come for you if you’re overdue.”

“Yes, yes, and yes again. I love you, my worrier. Now let me do the job which you recruited me for.”

“I’m never going to stop damning myself for dragging you into this.”

Starbride kissed the tip of her nose. “Then you’d better damn me too for going willingly.”

*

Starbride dressed in a black leather outfit she’d had specially made, just in case skulking was ever on her agenda again. As Dawnmother braided her hair into a bun above her neck, Starbride watched herself in the mirror.

“This will do very nicely. Katya will be pleasantly surprised.”

Dawnmother snorted. “Only because your outfit’s tight enough to be scandalous.”

When a knock came at the secret passageway, Starbride grinned. “Time to find out.” After Dawnmother made a discreet withdrawal, Starbride called, “Come in.”

She’d been about to sprawl seductively on the divan. When Pennynail walked through the door, Starbride stood so quickly she stumbled. “I didn’t expect you.”

After a quick glance around, he pushed his mask up on top of his head. “Had that made did you?” He pointed at her outfit and grinned like a loon.

Starbride fought the urge to cross her arms. The outfit wasn’t tight enough to warrant the look he gave her. “I thought it apropos.”

“Yeah, if the look you’re going for says, ‘I’m Captain Obvious of the Sneaky Squad.’”

“Look who’s talking!”

“Don’t tell me you had a hood made as well?”

She just stopped herself from saying, “It’s detachable.” She left it where it lay, dangling down her back. “Says the man in the mask.”

“Mine is functional. And brown, I might add, which blends in so much better than black.”

“And the buckles? How are they meant to blend in?”

He looked down at his outfit. “They’re so I can get out of it quickly. What did you think they were for? Striptease?”

Starbride felt the blood rush to her cheeks. “I have to tell Dawnmother I’m going. Since almost everything else I own is for court, this will have to do.”

“Don’t worry. Once I have my mask on, I won’t tease you at all.”

Starbride ignored him and opened Dawnmother’s door. “It’s Pennynail. I’m going.”

“Won’t you let me come with you?”

Starbride shook her head. She put the satchel Crowe had given her across her body and tightened the straps until it hugged her. Crowe had supplied her with pyramids she thought she’d find useful, mostly flash bombs, but a few fire pyramids as well, and one that could detect other pyramids in use. She even brought one for sorting through someone’s mind, if it came to that.

“I’ve been practicing climbing, Dawn. You’ve just been watching.”

“Because it’s silly.”

Starbride gave her a look. “I promise, when we go out gathering information in Marienne, you can come along.”

“I’ll hold you to that. And if you’re not back by morning, I’m coming looking for you.”