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“What, you figured I’d haul your dummies for free?”
“Your room and board here are pretty fine payment compared to what you made do with before, I’d imagine,” he says dryly, and I can’t even argue that point.
But he offers the coins, and I slip them into my purse with the list. I don’t need to give actual money to the shopkeepers for the supplies he’s asking for, since the college has its accounts set up anywhere I’m supposed to shop, but I don’t want my personal purchases ending up on any official record.
“Do you have the new passcode for the entrance?” he asks.
I rattle off this week’s absurd phrase. “Light fires for lusty ruby lizards. Don’t worry. I’ll be back to make you regret all your recent life decisions in a few hours.”
The gleam in his eyes flares a little brighter. “I’m counting on it.”
I definitely shouldn’t be tingling over that look.
As I head out of the Domi, Julita pipes up in the back of my head.You and Stav seem to be getting along a little better now that you’ve had a chance to get used to each other.
She sounds pleased about it. I roll my eyes. “I don’t think it’s time to throw a party to celebrate our deep and abiding friendship.”
It doesn’t hurt, you at least making peace with him. Even if he can be an ass, he’ll have your back when it counts. I wouldn’t have gone to him otherwise.
I’m not sure how much I trust my ghostly guest’s ability to judge character beyond what was useful to her goals, but I know better than to say as much out loud.
Walking through the streets of the central wards in full noble garb is a strange experience. Apparently this getup is much more convincing than my old faux-silk dress, or else my intensive practice at keeping up the airs is paying off. The regular if respectable citizens who cross my path give me plenty of room on the streets, and the business owners plying their wares tip their heads to me as ifI’mrespectable.
It takes almost no time at all to place the orders Stavros asked for. Most of the supplies will be delivered to the college over the next few days, but I tuck the kivseed oil and a couple of other smaller items that he wanted right away into my pouch.
Then I stroll through one of the crumbling gates in the old city walls and make my way through the narrower streets of the middle wards.
What are you up to now, Ivy?Julita asks eagerly.
“I figured that while I’m out and about, I should stop by the nearest of the herbal shops the Crow’s Close apothecary told us about.”
Oh, excellent. Perhaps the owner can get us closer to tracking down those scourge sorcerers.
“That’s the plan.” Not all of it, but the part I’m willing to tell her about. “Other than Wendos and those two students you pointed out to me at the hunt, is there anyone else I should be keeping an eye out for—anyone you’ve seen around when you’ve noticed the evidence of sorcery?”
Julita gives a sigh of frustration.No. The only indications are what I told you before. No one was around the times in the woods, and there were dozens of people in the hall when I overheard that murmuring directed at the prince. With all the jostling, I don’t know who was close enough to me in that moment… I froze up a little at first, hearing those words.
A sense of shame tinges that last sentence. My gut twists at the thought of her childhood torments.
I haven’t asked her much about her life outside of her investigations—have tried to pretend I don’t have a ghost invading my skull as much as possible. That’s seeming increasingly ridiculous.
And gods, she must be lonely. I’m not exactly great company even to the living.
I check the street signs at a corner to confirm I’m in the right spot on my mental map of the city. “You said your brother disappeared—your family hasn’t heard from him at all? How long has it been since he headed to the college?”
More than three years now, and there’s been nothing. It probably sounds horrid, but I hope he’s dead. My parents assume so. I’m going to be a far better countess over Nikodi than he ever— Well. I would have been.
My stomach clenches up more at the reminder of the future she’s lost.
I wait until a couple of passersby are behind me before murmuring, “I’m sorry. I guess that’s what you were studying at the college for?”
Yes, I was on the self-governing track. So many subjects to consider as master of your own domain.She manages a light laugh.Unfortunate that few of them come in handy for unraveling a conspiracy.
“Should I let your parents know what happened to you, one way or another, at some point?” I venture. I have no idea whether her relationship with them was any better than mine with my own.
Not for now. The longer my killers don’t know that anyone’s aware of my murder, the better, I think. I normally only went home for the quarterly holiday weeks, and I didn’t write often, so they won’t be wondering.
She doesn’t sound particularly attached to them, but then, they did fail to notice her brother torturing her for years. I can see how that might put a damper on any familial fondness.
