Suddenly the binding cracked and several pages fell out. Looking back at the first page, Dannyl saw that the writing was already fading again. He drew out several sheafs of paper and topped up the ink in the well. Then he called for a slave to bring sumi and some food.
I am copying out this book now, he decided. Even if it takes me all night.
Lilia hesitated, eyeing the large, stern man inside the doorway. Though he had bowed, it had been a token gesture. Something about him made her uneasy. The man scowled when she didn’t slip in after Naki. His eyes flickered to the street behind her, checking for something. Then he opened his mouth.
“Coming in or not?”
The voice was surprisingly high and girlish, and for a second Lilia fought the urge to giggle. Her nervousness disappeared and she moved past him into the dingy hallway.
It wasn’t much of a hallway. There was just enough room for the guard to stand and people to pass him and reach the staircase. Naki began to climb to the next floor. Odd, muffled sounds were coming from behind the walls and the air smelled of a mixture of the strange and familiar. Lilia felt anxiety begin to pluck at her again.
She had guessed what sort of place this was. She’d known from Naki’s mysterious behaviour – refusing to say where they were going – that it was unlikely they were headed for more conventional evening entertainment. While novices weren’t forbidden to enter such places, they weren’t supposed to frequent them.
They were called brazier houses. Or pleasure houses. As the two girls reached the landing at the top of the stairs, a woman in an expensive but rather tacky dress bowed and asked them what they desired.
“A brazier room,” Naki replied. “And some wine.”
The woman gestured that they should follow her and started down the corridor.
“Haven’t seen you here in a while, novice Naki,” a male voice said from behind Lilia.
Naki stopped. Lilia noted there was no eagerness in Naki’s face as she turned to look back. The smile her friend wore was forced.
“Kelin,” she said. “It has been too long. How’s business?”
Lilia turned to see a short, stocky man with squinty eyes standing half in, half out of a doorway. His lips parted and crooked teeth flashed. If it was a smile, there was no friendliness about it.
“Very good,” he replied. “I’d invite you in,” his eyes flickered to Lilia, “but I see you have better company to distract you.”
“I do, indeed.” Naki stepped forward and hooked an arm in Lilia’s. “But thank you for considering it,” she called back over her shoulder, taking a step forward and guiding Lilia after the serving woman.
They were led upstairs and to a small room with a roomy two-seater chair and a tiny fireplace with a brazier sitting on the tiles before it. A narrow window allowed a mix of moonlight and lamplight in, which was barely challenged by the small shaded lamps hanging either side of the fireplace. The air smelled of fragrant smoke and something faintly sour.
“Tiny, but cosy and private,” Naki said, gesturing at the room.
“Who was that man?” Lilia asked as they settled on the chair.
Naki’s nose wrinkled. “A friend of the family. He did my father a favour once, and now acts like he’s a relation.” She shrugged. “He’s all right though, once you understand what he values.” She turned to Lilia. “That’s the secret to people: knowing what they value.”
“What do you value?” Lilia asked.
Her friend tilted her head to the side as she considered. The lamplight set her profile glowing softly. She looks best at night, Lilia found herself thinking. It’s her natural time of day.
“Friendship,” Naki said. “Trust. Loyalty.” She leaned closer, her smile widening. “Love.” Lilia’s breath caught in her throat, but her friend leaned away again. “You?”
Lilia breathed in, then out, but her head was spinning. And we haven’t even started on the roet. “The same,” she said, afraid she was taking too long to answer. Love? Is it possible? Do I love Naki? I definitely have more fun when I’m with her, and there’s something about her that’s both exciting and a bit scary.
Naki was staring at her intently. She said nothing; she just stared. Then a knock came from the door. Naki looked away and opened it with magic. Lilia felt a warring relief and disappointment as the serving woman brought in a tray carrying a bottle of wine, goblets and an ornate box.
“Ah!” Naki said eagerly, ignoring the serving woman’s bow and retreat. She picked up the box and dumped a handful of the contents into the brazier. A flame flared among the coals, no doubt fired by Naki’s magic, and smoke began to curl into the air.
Lilia busied herself opening and pouring the wine. She handed a goblet to Naki as the girl returned to the seat. Naki lifted the glass.
“What should we dedicate the wine to?” she asked. “Well, of course: trust, loyalty and love.”
“Trust, loyalty and love,” Lilia repeated. They both sipped the wine.
A comfortable silence fell between them. The smoke from the brazier wafted across the room. Naki leaned forward and breathed deeply. Chuckling, Lilia did the same, feeling as if her thoughts were knotted muscles slowly loosening and unravelling. She leaned back in the chair and sighed.
“Thank you,” she found herself saying.
Naki turned to smile at her. “You like it here? I thought you might.”
Lilia looked around and shrugged. “It’s all right. I was thanking you for … for … for making me less wound up, and showing me how to have fun, and … just being good company.”
Naki’s smile faded and was replaced by a thoughtful look. Then a familiar glint of mischief entered her eyes, and Lilia could not help bracing herself. Whenever her friend got that look, what followed was likely to be surprising, and not a little confronting.
This time Naki leaned in and quickly but firmly kissed Lilia.
Lips warm and tingling, Lilia stared at her friend in astonishment and, she was all too aware, hope. Her heart was racing. Her mind spun. That was certainly surprising, she thought. But, like everything Naki does, not as confronting as it seemed it might be.
Slowly, deliberately, Naki did it again, only this time she did not move away. A rush of sensations and thoughts went through Lilia, all of them pleasant and none that could be explained away by the roet smoke or the wine. The wine … She was still holding the goblet and wanted not to be. I think … Naki’s arm had snaked around her waist and she wanted to reach out to her friend – should I still call Naki “friend” after tonight? Leaning to one side, she tried to set the goblet on the floor. I think I am in love.
But she must have set the glass on an uneven surface, for she heard a clunk and slosh as it fell over.
Uh, oh, she thought. But though she did not make a sound, she heard a faint voice utter it for her. A voice coming from the direction of the fireplace.
That’s strange.
She could not help herself. Tilting her head, she looked at the fireplace. Somewhere within the cavity something flickered. Looking closer, she got the strangest impression that something blinked at her.
Someone is watching us.
A shiver of horror ran down her spine and she pushed Naki back a little.
“What is it?” Naki said, her voice even more deep and throaty than usual.
“I saw …” Lilia shook her head, tore her eyes away from the fireplace, which looked dark and ordinary now, and looked at Naki. “I … I don’t think I like this place after all. It doesn’t seem very … private.”