Josef, knowing about Christiana’s and my relationship, was allowed to stay. He had listened attentively to my explanation until I came to the part about Christiana’s letter; after that, he took himself and the letter off to one side. Now he sat at my sister’s writing desk, his prodigious nose bent over the piece of paper.
Christiana herself was pacing back and forth in front of the bed. Her skirts whispered and snapped as she turned at the end of each circuit. She was not pleased with my explanation.
“The Blade wasn’t wearing your livery when he tried to dust me,” I said, “only when he arrived with the letter.”
Christiana paused midstep, raising her chin in that haughty way she’s always had. “And you naturally assumed I was behind it.” She actually had the audacity to sound indignant.
I lowered my hand and looked her in the eye. “You’ve got to be joking,” I said. “The livery, the letter, the setup-what would you think? It’s not as if I don’t have history to fall back on here.”
“We reached an agreement about that, Drothe. I gave you my word!”
I snorted. “I know the worth of your word,” I said. “Don’t forget, I’ve paid visits to people you’ve given your ‘word’ to in the past-all at your request. I know better than to trust your word, Ana.”
Christiana waved a dismissive hand. “That was just blackmail and politics. This is different.”
“Yes,” I said. “It’s me. It’s personal. Even less reason to trust you.”
“So then, why didn’t you kill me? You had your chance.”
I almost told her it was because I hadn’t liked the odds of getting out alive, that I had better things to do. Instead, I told the truth.
“Like you said,” I told her, leaning back into the chair and slipping a seed into my mouth, “it was too straightforward. The messenger to the letter to the assassin to you-you’d never leave a trail that broad for me to follow. If I hadn’t been so tired, so angry, I might have even realized that first. As it was…” I shrugged.
Christiana raised an eyebrow. “Why Drothe, that’s almost a compliment. You do appreciate me.”
“What I’d appreciate,” I said, “is getting some answers. Stroke your ego on your own time, Ana. I have other things to worry about.”
Christiana pursed her lips. “Ooh, poor Drothepholous. With me out of the picture, you don’t know whom to kill now, do you?”
“I can always make an exception,” I said pointedly.
She dismissed my threat with a sniff. “I don’t suppose you have any idea who might want you dead-besides me after tonight, that is?”
“No.” I had already been considering the question myself. The number of people I had crossed recently was small; the number who could afford a Blade of Tamas’s ability, even smaller; and the number who were powerful, or desperate, enough to use magic made it, well.. . zero. Except someone had hired the Blade, given him a piece of glimmer, and sent him after me.
I slumped down farther in the chair. One of the bruises Tamas had given me found a hard edge somewhere and began protesting. I grimaced, then shifted slightly-no good.
“Drothe… ” said Christiana.
“Ana,” I said, “if you warn me about dirtying the upholstery one more time…”
“I don’t give a damn about the chair, Drothe.” There was iron in her tone. I stopped shifting around and looked up.
“How did the assassin know to wear my livery?” she said. “Mine. To get to you?”
I blinked at her implication. If they knew to put Tamas in her livery, they knew about our relationship and knew to send me a letter under her name.
I began mentally kicking myself. That I had missed this was bad enough; that Christiana had had to point it out was even worse. Now I’d never hear the end of it.
“Who knows about us, Drothe?”
“I… No one.” I shook my head, thinking. “The two of us, Degan, Josef. Maybe someone who remembers when we first got to Ildrecca, but I doubt it. It’s been too long-they would have acted on it before this.”
“So, whoever hired the assassin just got lucky and guessed I’m your sister? With no help from you?”
I sat up straighter, not liking what she was implying. “I don’t know,” I said. “You’re the ex-courtesan. You know more about people getting lucky than I do.”
It was a cheap shot and we both knew it. I deserved the kick she launched at my shin. That still didn’t mean I let her land it, though.
“You bastard!” she yelled. “You know I don’t talk about family. I was a courtesan, not a whore like you’re used to. I catered to my patrons’ minds as well as their bodies, and as hard as it might be for you to believe, talking about my brother the criminal was never a part of that. Do you honestly think I’d risk what I have here and at court just to talk about you?”
I was opening my mouth to make things worse when Josef cleared his throat.
“Ah, if I may… ” he said.
“Yes?” said Christiana as she and I continued to glare at each other.
“You’re both assuming whoever is behind this knows about your.. . relationship,” he said. He tapped the letter I had handed him earlier. “This doesn’t mention that at all. If anything, it reads more formally than most of the baroness’s correspondence with you, sir. More of a summons than a letter, if you will.”
“There’s a difference between the two when it comes to my sister?” I said.
Josef coughed discreetly.
“So they may not know anything about our blood,” said Christiana.
“Just our business,” I concluded.
“Which is bad enough for me, but still more manageable.”
“Oh, thank the Angels for that!” I said caustically as I got out of the chair and walked across the room. I rested a hand on the back of Josef’s chair and looked over his shoulder. Christiana glided over to his other side.
“What else can you tell me about that letter?” I said.
Josef had three pieces of paper before him on the desk: my letter and two other crisp, clean documents.
“I’m no expert, to be sure,” said Josef, pointing to the letter Tamas had delivered, “but it seems to me that someone went to a good deal of effort to produce this forgery.”
“So it is a forgery?” I said.
“Drothe!” said Christiana. “How many times do I have to tell you I didn’t write that letter?”
“You haven’t denied it until now,” I pointed out. “Besides, it’s easy enough to ambush a messenger, then alter the letter.” I stared down at the letter, then at the other two documents. The hand looked identical on each page.
“How can you tell?” I asked Josef.
“It’s small things,” he said. “Most of it is very well-done, but you can see errors in the characters for distinction and address. Here, in iro and mneios, and, let’s see… Oh, and there, in phai-far too light a hand. The style is close, but the calligraphy is from a different school than madam’s or my own.”
I looked where he indicated. I thought I saw a difference but couldn’t be sure. I nodded knowingly, nonetheless.
“What else?” I asked.
“Well, the chop is flawed; or rather, it’s not flawed.” Josef flipped my letter and one of the adjacent documents over. Each had a red blob of sealing wax impressed with a copy of Christiana’s baronial widow’s chop.
“The chop on your letter is false,” said Josef. “The baroness’s has a chip missing in the lower-right corner. There is no such flaw in the other seal.”
“A flaw in my sister’s seal?” I said, bending closer to see it. “I’m surprised you haven’t been flogged, Josef.”
“It was done on purpose,” said Christiana. “To prevent problems like this.”
I gave a slight bow of my head-leave it to Christiana to think of something like that.
“And then there’s the paper,” said Josef. “It’s, well, too fine.” He said it almost apologetically.
“Too fine?” said Christiana and I, almost in unison. Her voice was incredulous, while mine was full of amusement.