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It’s late, close to the twenty-third hour, when I return to the apartment. I stayed late with Perg, who now rests in his own chambers, which measure roughly the same size as mine, so that he also has to use public waterworks and baths, which will be hard with his injuries. Boredom and depression overwhelm him, so I stayed to play a board game that his nurse lent him. Unsurprisingly, it’s a war game, with so many pieces and strategies that it took me nearly an hour to get the hang of it. Perg won every match, but he deserves to winsomething.
I worry I gave him false hope, stretching myself to interpret the stars, the gods’ will for his future. Especially when I can’t even read my own.
Hoping Unach’s anger has fizzled out, I carefully knock on her apartment door.
“What?”she responds sharply.
I pull the handle and step inside. Unach sits at the tall table near her bedroom door. She rubs her temples and glances up at me.
“Oh, I forgot about you. The request got approved. You’re welcome.”
I let out a long breath. I now have a lock on my door and legal protection. “Would you like me to tidy up?” I ask not only to fill my new role, but in hopes of cheering her up as well.
Unach waves a hand. “Go to sleep. I’ll have plenty for you to do in the morning.”
I think of my dark chamber, of Grodd’s slinking shadow. But I’m safe. I’ll even run through the market screaming that I’m protected by a Montra, to make sure Grodd knows it, too. And if he comes anyway, I think I could scream loud enough for it to carry through the walls to this apartment. At least my neighbors would hear ...
As I turn for the door, I notice Azmar’s bedroom door ajar. It’s dark within. He always sleeps with his door shut. “Where is Azmar?”
“Hell if I know,” Unach grumbles. “Probably knocking down a pillar somewhere.”
I hesitate, peering into Azmar’s room. I think of Kesta and frown.
Unach’s chair pushes back, and her tired countenance suddenly morphs into suspicion. “What were you and Azmar doing? You came here together.”
I flush. “I assisted him in Engineering.” Unach knows this.
“And got back later than usual.” She looks me up and down, and I try not to cow beneath her gaze.
“He helped me with some purchases. I’ve been ... concerned about Grodd.”
She doesn’t hear my words, and her voice takes on a chill. “Are you in love with my brother?”
My heart slams into my ankles, and I step back. “I ... What? Of course not!”
Unach closes in on me. “I’ve seen you moon-eyed with him. Flushed and eager to please—”
“U-Unach.” I hold up both hands and scramble for an excuse, landing on the first one she’ll believe. I try to smile, like it’s all a joke. “Y-You’re mistaken. Humans don’t show affection the way trollis do. I’ve been here long enough to know. I’m just trying to be a good ... servant.”
Unach cocks her head to one side, considering this. If I have any upper hand with her, it’s that I understand trollis far better than she understands humans. She’s never lived among my kind.
To hammer in the nail, I add, “No offense, Unach, but he’s ... trollis.”
The suspicion leaks out of her immediately. Ofcoursehumans are bizarre. Ofcourseone would never be interested in a trollis! This is something she understands completely. And while that fact settles my fear, it also cracks my hope.
I’m not human,Azmar said. It was likely less a declaration than a response to my “moon eyes,” putting me in my place.
And yet.
Unach is not one for apologies, so she merely waves her hand in my direction, as though swatting at a fly. “You can go.”
I exit before she can question me further.
Somehow the shadows have intensified in the long corridor outside. I wonder at Grodd, at Azmar’s claim that someone came to my door last night. I have not seen Grodd today, thankfully. Perhaps he’s lying low. Perhaps his labors as a Pleb have kept him busy.
But I worry about Azmar. I didn’t hear his entire conversation with Unach, but I know he took the full brunt of her anger.Knocking down a pillar somewhere.I’ve never witnessed Cagmar’s engineers demolish anything, only make plans for it.
Then I remember the pillars in the military training rooms, and before I realize what I’m doing, I’m in the lift and heading that way.
