“Everyone’s a critic,” Michel muttered. Louder, he said, “I wasn’t expecting to meet in a ruin.”
“Ah, right.” Taniel grimaced. “I wasn’t expecting that either, to be honest. You know, Pole and I stayed here for several months when we first came back to Fatrasta. Third floor, corner suite.”
Michel glanced around, half expecting to find Taniel’s silent companion lurking in the ruins of the hotel. “Where is she?”
“Hiding outside the city. Landfall is crawling with bone-eyes. Pole may be able to turn a god inside out with raw power, but she’s all self-taught. We don’t want to risk the Dynize finding her until we’re ready for a serious fight.”
The thought both scared and exhilarated Michel. “Makes sense. So what brings you back? I thought you two left with Lady Flint.”
Taniel stood up, balancing on the foundation stones, hopping from one foot to the other before glancing down at the long drop and stepping into the safety of the ruin of the hotel. He brushed a bit of soot off his sleeve – a wasted effort, because he was covered in it. “Never left.”
Michel made a noise in the back of his throat and pursed his lips. “You’ve been here for three weeks? You’re joking.”
“Afraid not. Lindet abandoned the city. The Dynize, despite all their spies, really have no idea what they’re getting into. It was too good an opportunity for me to do some poking around.”
Michel paced back and forth, kicking a loose brick into the ruins of what had once been the hotel’s wine cellar. The brick clanked twice, then shattered a bottle. Three weeks of flailing around, helping the Blackhats because those were the only allies he knew, worried one of them would find out who he really was and put a knife in his back. All while his real master was wandering around the very same city. Michel talked himself down from shouting and simply said, “You could have told me.”
Taniel eyed him. Two-shot could be warm as a brother, or very very cold. This time he offered a neutral shrug. “I had no idea where you were. I could have used your help sorting through Blackhat files. It wasn’t until yesterday that one of my contacts was able to track you down.”
“Right.” Michel wondered whether to believe him. Master or not, Taniel had his own agenda. It was kept secret for good reason, but it didn’t make it any easier when Michel was left in the dark. “So what happens now?”
“I understand you’re still with the Blackhats?”
“I’ve bunked up with a Silver Rose. We’ve spent the last week or so trying to get Blackhat families out of the city before the Dynize agents find and kill them.”
“Commendable.” Taniel stared at him for several moments, until the silence grew awkward. “Do the Blackhats know you betrayed them?” he finally asked.
“I don’t think so,” Michel responded hesitantly. “Hendres – the Silver Rose I’m working with – knows that Fidelis Jes wanted me dead before Styke cut off his head. But I don’t think she knows why. The fact that I’m here, helping the Blackhats, seems to be enough for her. It seems I’m still a Gold Rose.”
The silence returned, punctuated only by the sound of Taniel tapping his cane against a brick. After half a minute, he seemed to come to some sort of decision. “Are you still my man?” he asked.
Michel opened his mouth, but found himself unable to respond. He worked his lips for several moments, fighting back the urge to punch Taniel in the mouth. “I spent six years dirtying my hands for the Blackhats on your orders.” His voice rose in pitch. “I betrayed the most dangerous man in the country for the Red Hand. I …”
“Ah,” Taniel said gently. “I’m not trying to offend you, honestly. I needed to ask. The world is … volatile right now.”
“I’m still your man,” Michel answered sharply. “And I’ll ask you kindly not to question that again.” The fact that Taniel even felt the need to ask smarted, but he tried to remember that this was a game much bigger than either of them. Infiltrating the Blackhats had been the greatest accomplishment – and danger – of Michel’s life. Now with the Dynize in play, well … Taniel was right. Everything had changed.
“I won’t. I need you to remain in the city.”
Michel had planned on staying in the city to help the Blackhats, but the request still surprised him. “For what?”
Taniel pursed his lips thoughtfully, staring off into the distance for a few moments. “I need you to do something dangerous.”
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
“There’s a … woman. Ka-poel and I have been in contact with her off and on throughout the last few years, and she’s fed us information regarding the Dynize.”
Michel turned his head. “What do you mean by that? No one knows anything about the Dynize, not before they arrived on our shores. Any information you can dig up in Fatrasta is from before they closed their borders – at least a hundred years old. How could you …?” The dots connected in his head and he found his mouth hanging open. “You had a spy in Dynize?”
Taniel idly tapped his cane against a blackened foundation stone. “We did. Only Ka-poel and I know, and I’d like it to stay that way.”
“Kresimir on a stick, Taniel. If you had a spy in Dynize, how the pit didn’t you know that there was an invasion coming?”
“We suspected the invasion.”
“And didn’t tell me.”
“Couldn’t risk distracting you.”
First Taniel questioned his loyalty, and now this. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“She’s not …” Taniel sighed. “She’s fed us information, but she’s not a spy – not in the same way you are. She’s still a loyal Dynize. She didn’t tell us when, exactly, the invasion would happen because she hasn’t been in contact for over a year. But over the last few weeks she’s gotten back in touch with us.”
“And?”
Taniel held up two fingers. “A couple things. One, she knows an immense amount about the Dynize hierarchy. She knows some of their plans, and most of their strengths and weaknesses, which makes her wildly valuable. Two, we think she’s in danger. I need you to find her, convince her to leave, and extract her from the city.”
Michel ran his hands through his hair. “Excuse me?”
“Find her and extract her.”
“Yes, I heard the first and third things you said. I’d like you to repeat the second.”
“I told you, she’s still a loyal Dynize.”
“So …” Michel said, drawing the word out, “you want me to extract a spy who isn’t a spy who probably doesn’t want to come with me?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Why don’t you do it? You’re still here.”
Taniel snorted in frustration. “Despite our best efforts, we haven’t been able to find her. And we have to leave.”
Michel resisted the urge to ask where Taniel and Ka-poel were heading next. Taniel wouldn’t tell him anyway. Compartmentalization, after all. “And the Blackhats?”
“If they’re useful, use them,” Taniel said with a shrug. “But I have the feeling you’ll be in over your head. Anyone from Fidelis Jes’s inner circle might know more about your betrayal and try to kill you.”
“I thought all the Gold Roses left Landfall with Lindet.”
“At least one remained behind, but I don’t know which.”
A shiver went down Michel’s spine. Every rumor had pointed to the fact that the high-ranking Roses had left with Lindet. He was still using Blackhat resources – safe houses, caches, message drops. After the first week he’d decided that no one left in the city knew his true role in betraying Fidelis Jes, and he had not been cautious enough with those resources. “Pit,” he breathed. He took a moment to walk around the ruin, trying to shake loose his own sense of dread. Extracting an informant could be tricky at the best of times, but finding a foreigner in an occupied city could be next to impossible – especially if she didn’t want to be found. He summoned an inner calm, trying to come at the problem logically.