That was a good thing, Taniel tried to tell himself. He was useful. He could get back there and help defend his country.
By killing. The one thing Taniel seemed to be any good at. Pit, he'd even killed a god. Not that anyone believed it.
He shifted in his hammock, reaching for his mala pipe and the enormous ball of the sticky substance Kin had left him.
The mala was gone.
"Awake?" Fell said, her attention leaving Ka-poel.
Taniel pushed himself up. He checked his coat pocket – he still had a coat, that was good – then his trousers and the lip of the hammock.
"What are you looking for?" Fell asked. By her expression, she knew exactly what Taniel was looking for.
"Where's my mala?"
"From what Kin said, you smoked it all. You ran out sometime last night." Fell tossed something into her mouth and crunched. "Cashews?" she asked, holding out a paper bag made from an old newspaper toward Taniel.
Taniel shook his head. He checked the mala pipe. Nothing left. Then the floor. "That thieving Gurlish must have taken the rest of the ball. I got enough to last me weeks."
"I know the rate you were smoking that stuff," Fell said. "I don't think Kin gypped you. He knows where the money came from."
Taniel frowned. Where had the money come from? He looked up at Fell. Ah, that's right. Ricard.
"You know," Fell said, "Ricard's mala den has much better quality mala. The mats are silk, and the entertainment is better than Kin's daughter."
Taniel felt his stomach lurch. He fell back into his hammock. Kin's daughter. Taniel didn't remember anything. "Did I … ?"
Fell shrugged and looked to Ka-poel. Ka-poel gave a slight shake of her head.
Taniel let out a small sigh. The last thing he needed to do right now was bed a Gurlish mala-den owner's daughter.
"What do you want?" he asked Fell.
Fell tapped her pipe out on her shoe and put it in her pocket, then tossed more cashews into her mouth. "We got word from your father today."
Taniel sat up straight. "And?"
"A few things of note to report. The Kez were preparing to attack the next day. That would be three days ago. He was planning on leading a counteroffensive with his best men."
"How many Kez soldiers?"
"Rumors say a million. Tamas didn't say."
His best soldiers meant the Seventh and Ninth brigades. And rumors of a million? That was twice the size of the army at the Battle of Shouldercrown. Even if it were exaggerated ten times, Tamas was still leading ten thousand men against a hundred thousand. Bloody brash fool.
It somehow made it worse that Tamas would probably win.
"Oh," Fell added, as if as an afterthought. "He asked after you."
Taniel sniffed. "‘Where's my damned useless son? I need him on the line.' Something like that?"
"He asked if you'd made any recovery and if the doctors thought his presence would help in any way."
"Now I know you're lying," Taniel said. "Tamas wouldn't leave a battlefield for anyone." Not even me. Especially not me.
"He's been very worried. We sent word that you seemed better, but who knows if it reached him before the battle." Fell reached into her paper bag for another cashew, a small smile on her lips.
"But you didn't tell him I'm awake?"
"No. Ricard thought that perhaps you'd like some time to recover."
So Taniel's entreaties to keep his father in the dark had done some good.
"More like he's worried that Tamas will send for me the minute he knows I'm not laid out."
"That too," Fell admitted.
"Of course." Taniel fell back into his hammock and sighed. He felt tired and used. What was he, other than a tool for others? "That old bastard Tamas -"
He was cut off by the sound of a door upstairs banging open. The stairs into the den shook, and a young man burst into the room. Fell got to her feet.
"What is it?" she said.
The messenger looked around wildly at the den. His chest heaved from hard running. "Ricard wants you at the People's Court immediately."
Fell crumpled up the empty cashew bag and tossed it to the floor. "What has happened?"
The messenger looked at Taniel, then at Ka-poel, and back to Fell. He seemed on the verge of collapse.
"We've word from Budwiel. The city has fallen, put to the torch. Field Marshal Tamas is dead."
Nila sat beside the window, the curtains only slightly parted, and watched the world stroll by in top hats and coats, canes clicking on the cobbles, women tipping their bonnets back to enjoy the sun on their faces. The summer heat bore down on Adro, but no one seemed to notice. The weather was far too nice to care.
She wished she was out there enjoying it. Her room was too stuffy, and Vetas's men had nailed shut all the windows in the house. The air was thick and humid, stifling, and moment to moment she felt as if she was going to faint. Vetas had sent her on errands just yesterday, and the freedom of the sun on her face had felt so wonderful she'd almost left the city, forgetting Vetas and Jakob and all the terrible memories of the last few months.
Her heart leapt into her throat at the sound of the bedroom door opening, but she forced herself not to react outwardly. It wasn't Vetas. He came in from the hallway. Not from the door to the nursery, where Jakob played quietly with a small army of wooden horses and complained frequently about the warmth.
"Nila," a voice said. "You must get dressed."
Nila glanced at the dress laid out on her bed. One of Vetas's goons had brought it up for her an hour ago. It was a long chemise dress of white muslin with a high waistline. The trim was crimson, giving it a flair of color at the hem and the bust, and the ends of the short sleeves. It looked incredibly comfortable, and much cooler than the evening dress he'd told her to wear during her errands yesterday.
There was a silver chain on her bedside table with a single pearl the size of a musket ball, and in a box a pair of new black knee-high boots that she could tell with a glance would fit her perfectly. Three more outfits, each more expensive than the last, hung in the closet.
Presents from Lord Vetas. She'd never owned such fine clothing. The dress was plain enough, nothing gaudy, but the lines were absolutely perfect. A glance inside the hem had shown her the initials D.H. – Madame Dellehart, the finest seamstress in Adopest. The dress cost more than any regular laundress would earn in a year.
"Nila," the voice insisted. "Get dressed."
The expensive clothes and the jewelry made Nila sick to her stomach. She might as well accept presents from a demon as from Lord Vetas. She knew they came with a price.
"I'm not going to," Nila said.
Footsteps creaked across the floorboards. Faye knelt in front of Nila and took her hand.
They'd been cooped up in this manor together for six days and Nila still didn't know much about the woman. She knew that Faye's son was being held as a prisoner in the basement, and that she had other children elsewhere, also prisoners of Lord Vetas. She also knew that Faye would kill Vetas, given the opportunity.
At least, she'd try. Nila was beginning to wonder whether Vetas could be killed. He didn't seem human; he barely ate, he didn't sleep, and he didn't get drunk no matter how much wine he consumed.
Faye tugged at Nila's hand. "Up," she said. "Get dressed."
"You're not my mother," Nila said. The words came out as a snarl.
"She'd tell you the same thing if she were here."
Nila leaned forward. "She's dead. I never knew her, and neither did you. Maybe she'd tell me to break this window and cut my own wrists rather than give in to Vetas's demands."
Faye stood up. The kindly entreaty written across her face seemed to disappear and her expression hardened. "Maybe," she said. "If so, she was a fool." Faye began to pace the room.
Nila had guessed her to be a housewife of some middle-class merchant. She wondered what value Faye had to Lord Vetas. Faye hadn't spoken of it. And only a few words here and there about her children. In fact, the woman was far too calm. Ever since her initial outburst the night she'd been brought in, Faye had been meek as a dormouse. Nila imagined that if she had children, she'd not rest until they were out of danger. Faye was either very patient – and a stronger woman than Nila gave her credit for – or something else. Perhaps a ruse by Vetas? A spy?
That didn't make sense. Nila wasn't worth spying on. If Vetas wanted something from her, he was the type of man to torture it out.
Either way, Nila didn't trust Faye. She couldn't trust anyone here in the Vetas's lair.
"If you don't get dressed," Faye said, "Vetas will take out his anger on you or the boy. Maybe both."
"I'm not his whore," Nila said.
"He's not asked you to do anything degrading." The silent "yet" hung in the air for a moment. "Just to accompany him on his errands. It'll get you out of this damned house again. I'll keep an eye on Jakob while you're gone. Here," Faye said, "let me help you."
Nila let Faye pull her to her feet and strip off her old dress.
"There's new undergarments," Faye said, lifting a small box from the bed.
Nila snatched the box and threw it to the floor. "I've seen them, thank you," she snapped. "Only a whore wears a shift like that." She took a deep breath, realizing that her hands were shaking.