‘You go,’ Brasti said, raising a cup in the air. ‘If I can’t take the Duke’s life then at least I can drink enough of his wine to make him hurt a little.’
Kest looked into his own cup, his eyes unfocused. ‘That would be difficult, Brasti. The Ducal Treasury of Rijou is likely quite vast. You would need to—’
‘Shut up and drink more wine,’ Brasti said. ‘This could take a while.’
I left them there and took the door from the Iron Tier out to the corridor that led past the kitchens towards the servants’ quarters. I turned a corner and nearly collided with a woman in a purple dress. It was dark enough in the corridor that for an instant I thought it was Valiana. A moment later I realised it was Trin.
‘Falcio,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry, I—’
‘It’s fine,’ I said. ‘Are you all right? Shouldn’t you be with Lady Valiana?’
She corrected me. ‘Princess Valiana.’
‘As you say. Why are you here?’
‘I …’ She put a hand on my arm, and then took it away again. ‘It was very brave of you to try and save that family.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ I said. ‘It’s Valiana – Princess Valiana – who is taking the risk here.’
Trin rolled her eyes just for a moment, before looking back at me. ‘Her father the Duke and that fat slug of his will know where the idea came from.’ Trin’s hand appeared on my arm again. ‘They will look for ways to do you harm.’
I had to laugh at that. ‘My dear, the Dukes and their various fat slugs, all of them, have been looking for ways to do me harm since the day I put on this coat. There isn’t much I can do to make that any worse.’
She leaned into me. ‘I wish I could be half so brave.’
The smell of her hair was intoxicating, as was the feel of the curves of her body against mine. ‘You?’ I said, putting my hands on her arms and gently pushing her away. ‘Valiana would be lost without you.’
Trin’s expression was bitter. ‘Oh, the Princess loves me, much as she did her favourite cat as a young girl. She was positively ruined when that cat died – she cried and cried. For almost a full day. Then she asked for a new cat.’
‘I’m sure that’s not …’ The words drifted away from me. I was too weary to deceive her, even in the interests of making her feel better.
‘Valiana will take the throne,’ Trin said, ‘and you and the others will go to find your fortunes elsewhere. Will you forget me, Falcio of the Greatcoats?’
I looked at this young woman, who had shown herself both clever and quiet, beautiful and shy. ‘I don’t think that would be possible.’
She smiled as if I’d just given her a prize, and her lips parted, just a little.
‘I should go,’ I said. ‘It’s late and I’d like to spend as few hours conscious in this city as possible.’
‘The Princess has told me to leave her alone tonight. I’ve never walked the hallways of this palace, and I would not dare to do so alone, though I am told it is very beautiful. Perhaps you and I could find some reason not to sleep?’
She was lovely and intriguing, and I do not get many offers as sweet as that one, not since Aline, my wife, first sought me out at a market dance and—
‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go.’
I felt sorry for her, being alone and afraid in a nest of snakes. She was right to want to find some beauty in the world, some companionship, wherever it might be. ‘Perhaps Brasti would—’ I instantly, yet far too late, realised my mistake.
Trin’s face went as cold and dead as a gravestone in winter. ‘I thank you, First Cantor, for your thoughtful recommendation. I have taken up too much of your time.’
She walked right past me down the corridor.
‘Trin, wait …’
But she was already gone.
I stood there for a few minutes, torn between trying to find her to apologise and leaving. She had come to me with kind words and generous intent and I had had turned her away. There were a hundred things I could have said to refuse her while still showing her compassion. Instead, I’d made her feel like a whore. Saints, I thought, heading to the shabby little room they’d given me to share with Kest and Brasti, get me out of this Gods-damned city before I fail at something else.
A COWARD’S VOW
Staring at the burned wreckage of the mansion that morning was one of the worst moments of my foolish failure of a life. A few bits of wall still stood, but the rest was a husk, slowly breaking into smouldering pieces, supported by the tall stone blocks that had been used to prevent anyone from leaving the house even as the attackers shattered cask after cask of oil onto the building before setting it on fire.
Valiana had been as good as her word. She had asked the Duke, her father, to promise freedom for the Tiarren woman and her children when she surrendered, and he had agreed all too willingly: a welcome gift to his child. But the attackers had picked up the falling crest that signalled surrender and doused it in oil before putting it to the torch with the rest, and then they had watched as everyone inside suffocated and burned.
Kest was with me. Feltock tried to keep the Lady Valiana inside her carriage with Shiballe, but she pushed him aside and joined us at the wreckage, Trin at her side silently shedding tears. Feltock wasn’t stupid. He had a pistol with him, ready for the moment when I would try to kill Valiana.
‘Leave it,’ Feltock said. I could hear the fear in the old man’s voice. ‘The Princess has been commanded by her father to take her Patents of Lineage to Hervor. We have a job, you and I. That’s all we got, that’s all we can do. This isn’t a matter for men like you and me.’
Valiana said my name, softly, tentatively. ‘Falcio …’
‘I am somewhat occupied at this precise moment, your Highness,’ I said. My voice was calm, natural. I wasn’t a fool. I wasn’t going to get myself killed just to assuage my guilt over the death of the Tiarren family. It was too late for them now, and all that was left was a proper burial and useless vengeance.
‘Say it, Trattari. I know you want to,’ she said to me.
If this woman thought she knew what I wanted at that precise moment, then she was surely out of her mind.
Feltock called out, ‘My Lady, please, there are three of them. I can’t be sure—’
‘You blame me for this, don’t you? You think I’m evil – go ahead and say it,’ she demanded.
Kest had his hand on his sword. He was ready for me to lose my temper and for Feltock to shoot me and, when he did, Kest was going to draw that sword like a bolt of lighting and cut Valiana’s throat. And then what? Wait for the next stupid offspring of Dukes to come and become the next tyrant – what would that solve? When would it ever end?
‘No,’ I said softly.
I don’t think they knew who I was talking to because they all hesitated at once. ‘No, Valiana, Duchess, Princess, Empress, whatever you like to be called. I don’t blame you.’
She looked at me and her eyes widened and her mouth opened a little, but she said nothing. She was waiting, cautiously, for absolution.
But I had none to give. ‘I believe in evil, my Lady. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it in my home, and I’ve seen it in the furthest reaches of this country. And yes, I’ve seen it here in Rijou. I saw it in Shiballe with his false smiles and secret plans, and I saw it in the Duke when you asked him to forbear for the sake of the Tiarren family and his eyes lit up, enjoying his private joke. I’ve brought justice to men like that. I’ve even killed them, when I’ve had to. And one day Shiballe and Duke Jillard will find a Greatcoat’s sword in their bellies.’