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“Then it would surprise you to hear that he repaid his debt this morning?” said Beck, eyes glittering. “In full?”
Kel’s breath caught in his throat. He thought of his armor.Remember your visor, the mask you must wear.He kept his expression neutral as he said, “The whole ten thousand crowns?”
Beck looked smug. “So you are surprised.”
“I am surprised,” Kel said, “that, having been paid by Conor”—he refused to sayrepaid—“you agreed to meet with me at all.”
Beck sat back. His gaze flicked over Kel. His eyes were dark, opaque as metal. “You poisoned Jerrod. I thought that was…interesting. It made me interested in you.”
Jerrod cleared his throat.
“Though the Prince’s debt may no longer be an issue,” Beck said, “I admire a person with nerve, which you seem to have. And I am sure you wish to know where the money I used to set up my business came from. Specifically, who on the Hill gave it to me. A person who wishes very much, let us say, to destabilize the monarchy. It was their idea”—he smiled thinly—“that I buy up Conor Aurelian’s debts. And they gave me the money to do it.”
Kel’s heart slapped against the inside of his rib cage. “Why would I believe,” he said, “that you would turn against your own patron?”
Beck snorted. “Why wouldn’t I? If they happen to wind up in the Trick, I keep the whole ten thousand crowns, not just a cut of it.”
“You’re offering to tell me who on the Hill is betraying House Aurelian,” Kel said. “But you have not said what you want in exchange.”
“Antonetta Alleyne,” said Beck.
In the ensuing silence, one could have heard a feather strike the floor. Kel thought of his imaginary armor, but it did not help. Rage was running through his veins like wires through a puppet. He glanced at Jerrod—as if Jerrod of all people would be any help—but Jerrod was at the door, conversing in a low voice with a boy in a blue velvet suit.
“Specifically,” said Beck, as the boy slipped back out of the room, “a necklace that belongs to Antonetta Alleyne. A gold locket, shaped like a heart.”
“It can’t be worth that much,” Kel said, without being able to stop himself. “Why—?”
“It’s what is inside it that I want,” said Beck. “A piece of information.”
“Information that could hurt her?” Kel asked.
“She is far too rich and protected to be hurt,” said Beck, dismissively. “And the information I have could well save your precious Prince, even your House Aurelian.” He sat back in his chair. “Get me the necklace. Then we’ll talk.”
“And if I don’t get the necklace?”
“We won’t talk. And you came here for nothing.” Beck shrugged his big shoulders. “I’ve nothing else to say. Off you go, Prince’s cousin.”
Kel rose to his feet. Beck was watching him with his odd, metallic stare.What the hell,Kel thought. He might as well ask. Abruptly,hoping to catch Beck off guard, he said, “Where did Conor get the money to pay you?”
Beck raised his hands, palm out. “Don’t know,” he said. “Don’t care. One odd thing—he paid me in Sarthianlire.” He chuckled. “Not that it matters. Gold is gold.”
“We ought to get down to the floor,” Jerrod said to Beck. “There’s some kind of fight brewing over a hand oflansquenet.Things are turning violent.”
Beck rose to his feet and, without another word, followed Jerrod out of the room. Kel watched him go. Therewassomething odd about Beck, something that did not seem to quite match up, but he could not quite put his finger on it, and Jerrod and Beck did not seem to be coming back. After some time spent sitting alone in the room, Kel got to his feet and shrugged.
“Well, all right then,” he said. “I’ll show myself out.”
—
When Lin returned to the Sault, she felt as if she had traveled much farther away from home than simply the Maze. She was absurdly pleased to see the place again, and wondered if this was how Josit felt when he returned from the Gold Roads. (She suspected not; he was always happy to see her, and Mariam, but retained an air of guarded wistfulness about him, the sense that while his body might be in the Sault, his mind was voyaging still.)
She went immediately to the Etse Kebeth, the House of Women, and found Chana in the kitchen. Chana shook her head when she saw Lin. “Mari’s asleep,” she said. “She was in a bad way. I had to give her passiflora tea to calm her down.” She narrowed her eyes. “What did you say to her?”
“Nothing,” Lin protested. “She saw a royal Malgasi carriage on the Ruta Magna. It gave her a shock.”
“Ah.” Chana played with the beaded fringe that edged her cuffs. “I had thought perhaps it was something about the Tevath. The Goddess Festival.” She shook her head. “I had not thought ofsomething so very painful. It took Mariam so long to feel safe in Castellane. To see a Malgasi carriage here…”
“She said something about thevamberj,” said Lin.
