Naya bolted up the stairs and squeezed past the soldiers and delegates still lingering in the hall. She muttered a vague excuse in response to their questions. At the end of the hall, she found one of the unoccupied rooms and slipped inside, locking the door behind her. The room was a mirror of the one she’d been assigned before. The only difference was that the furniture here was upholstered in golden yellows and pale creams instead of shades of green and brown.
Good thing I didn’t get this room. They never would have gotten the bloodstains out.
Naya let out a sound that was part laugh and part sob at the gruesome thought. Her legs collapsed until she was sitting on the floor with her back to the door. She stared down at her hands, feeling the snap of the soldier’s bones in her grip. All she’d wanted was to help find the assassin. He shouldn’t have gotten in her way.
She thought about the look of mingled confusion and fear on Mel’s face, the ice in Leln’s voice that was so different from the hesitant kindness he’d shown her before. So much for proving she wasn’t a monster. Her eyes burned, and not for the first time, she wished she could still cry.
How could she have been so stupid? Even if the soldiers had let her past, the assassin would probably be captured or gone by the time she could get outside and join the search. And if Queen Lial or her soldiers were involved in this somehow, she’d just given them the perfect excuse to condemn her publicly.
Maybe worse, after what she’d just done, Delence could decide that keeping her here wasn’t worth the risk.
A knock came at the door and Naya tensed. Her eyes went first to the window. She could pry it open and escape. The palace grounds would likely still be full of soldiers searching for the assassin. If she was clever, then maybe she could sneak past them. Once out in the city, she could change her face, find a way to keep away from the queen’s soldiers and the city guard. Finding Lucia’s journals would be harder on her own, but not impossible.
She’d taken two steps toward the window when the knock came again.
“Miss Naya? Are you in there?” Felicia called.
Naya hesitated, logic catching up to the panicked spin of her thoughts. She squeezed her eyes shut and drew in aether, trying to calm herself. No. If she ran, she would almost certainly be caught.
“There you are,” Felicia said when Naya opened the door. “Are you all right? What’s going on?” Behind her a soldier stood next to Naya’s door, very carefully not looking at her. So they’d had someone follow her.
More questions brimmed in Felicia’s eyes, though it was obvious she didn’t want to ask them in front of the soldier. “Come in,” Naya said. She saw the soldier’s mouth twitch, but he didn’t object as Felicia stepped into the room and Naya shut the door behind her.
Felicia reached out to touch the torn sleeve of Naya’s dress. “Are you all right? I heard there was an attack. People are saying Francisco was stabbed, and Delence’s man told me I needed to make up a new room for you because there’s a dead body in your old one.” Felicia was obviously trying for a casual tone, but her eyes were too wide to pull it off.
“I’m—” Naya tried to say fine, but the word wouldn’t come out. She swallowed and started over. “Francisco will be fine, I think. Lucia and the surgeon are with him now. They haven’t caught the man who stabbed him though. He could be anywhere. He could be one of the queen’s servants for real.” She was babbling, breathing hard even though her body didn’t need the air. She tried to stop herself but somehow the words kept spilling out. “I’m trying. I’m trying so hard. But I’m not fine. I just killed someone. And I broke a man’s arm. And Mel saw it, and Delence’s going to be furious, and everything is broken. I don’t know what I’m doing here or why I’m even telling you any of this.” She pressed her hands against her eyes in a futile effort to make the whole world disappear.
“Did they deserve it?” Felicia asked after a pause.
“What?” Naya looked up, confused.
Felicia stood with her hands clasped in front of her, not quite meeting Naya’s eyes. “The people you hurt, did they deserve it?”
“I…” Naya took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know. The woman was one of the assassins. I guess I didn’t really kill her, she took something so she couldn’t be captured. I’m not sad that she’s dead. I don’t know if that makes me a bad person. The man whose arm I broke…I don’t know. I guess he was just trying to do his job, but he grabbed me and I was angry, so I hurt him.”
“Well, that’s not so bad then,” Felicia said, flopping down on one of the chairs. “I’ve done all sorts of stupid things when I was angry. When I was nine, I stole my big brother’s birthday cake because he and his friends wouldn’t let me play pirates with them. I hid under my bed and ate the whole thing out of spite, never mind that it was strawberry and I hate strawberries.”
Naya smiled at the absurdity of the image. Somehow it wasn’t hard for her to imagine Felicia with grubby knees and a wooden pirate sword sneaking into a kitchen to take revenge by cake. “What kind of person hates strawberries?”
“Anyone with good taste,” Felicia said with exaggerated affront.
“You must have made yourself sick.”
“Horribly so,” Felicia agreed. “But I think my brother was more impressed than angry. He let me tag along with him a few times after that.”
“That sounds nice.” Naya blinked hard, trying to force away the burning in her eyes and the shaky hiccup feeling in her throat. She sat down in the chair across from Felicia. They stayed that way in silence for several minutes.
“Do you think this has anything to do with that spy you told me about?” Felicia asked abruptly.
“Spy? Oh, that spy.” Naya tried to force herself to think clearly. She’d all but forgotten about the plans she’d made with Felicia. Had that really only been a few hours ago? “I don’t know.”
“Do you still want to try to sneak out?” Felicia asked quietly. “It’s going to be harder with that soldier at your door, but I think we could still figure something out.”
“You still want to?” Naya asked, not hiding her surprise.
Felicia met Naya’s eyes, and Naya was impressed by the force behind her gaze. “I didn’t really before, but now I want to know who attacked us. I know most people who look at me don’t see anyone important, but I’m not stupid. I know how to look and how to listen. It doesn’t take much of that to realize there’s something very wrong going on in this palace.”
“You’re right,” Naya said. She considered the idea for a moment, then shook her head. “But I don’t think we should try anything tonight.” Much as she hated to admit it, the attack had ruined any chance she might have had to go after Valn tonight. Security would be tight all over the palace, and after what she’d done to Ralen’s arm, Leln and the other soldiers would be keeping an especially wary eye on her. If she disappeared now, it would only cause more trouble.
“Then what are we going to do? Should we tell Delence?”
“No!” Naya said. She tried to soften the refusal by adding, “He’ll want to be with Francisco, and I’m sure he’s got more than enough to deal with right now.”
Felicia stayed with Naya a while longer, filling the silence with talk of inconsequential things. It helped. Eventually Felicia’s eyes began to droop and Naya pushed her off to bed.
Dawn was just rising when the aether in the hall outside Naya’s borrowed room abruptly boiled with distress and anger. A door slammed, and someone spoke, their voice quickly lowering to a bare murmur. Naya roused herself from the semi-sleep she’d settled into and peeked into the hall. She was a little surprised to find the soldier gone from her door. Vanissare, the Ceramoran master of trade, stood nearby, speaking with Lady Briello. They went silent as Naya approached.
“What’s going on?” Naya asked. Vanissare’s shirt was buttoned unevenly and his suit jacket wrinkled as though he’d dressed himself in the first thing on hand without bothering to call a servant. Lady Briello by comparison looked ready to attend breakfast with the queen herself.
Vanissare licked his lips. “We’ve just gotten word. Dalith Valn is dead.”
The world seemed to go still. Naya stared at him. “What?”
“Apparently,” Lady Briello said, her voice heavy with scorn, “they brought him over from the prison for today’s trial just before the assassins attacked here. During the chaos someone killed Valn and the soldiers watching him. It’s a disaster.”
Naya’s legs felt suddenly weak. “Did they catch the assassins?” she asked.
“Of course not,” Lady Briello said with a snort. “Honestly, I told Salno something like this would happen. Talmirans think they can get away with anything. They’ll claim to be investigating, and they’ll make all sorts of noise about what an outrage this is. But secretly they’re all laughing at us behind their hands. I heard from my maid this morning that the two who attacked here were wearing palace servant uniforms. The audacity of it is outrageous! You would think that if Queen Lial wanted us dead, she’d at least have the decency to send someone more subtle to do the job.”
“My lady,” Vanissare squeaked. “Perhaps we shouldn’t make accusations until we know more. We still don’t know for certain if the culprits were actually members of the staff or impersonators.”
Lady Briello opened her mouth as though to begin a fresh rant, but Naya cut her off. “Where’s Lord Delence?”
“In his rooms. He stormed off as soon as we got the news.”
Naya’s knock at Delence’s door was met with silence. She knocked again, louder, and was rewarded by stomping footsteps. When Delence finally opened the door, his features were set into a stern mask. “Miss Garth, go back to your rooms. I’ll deal with you later,” he said.
Naya ignored the smoke of his anger. “Is it true? Is Valn dead?”
She expected him to brush off her question or shout at her. Instead he rubbed one hand over his face and let out a deep sigh. “I only heard an hour ago,” he said. “But yes, it seems to be true.”
Weight settled into the pit of Naya’s stomach. Valn was dead. Just like that she’d lost her best lead on the location of Lucia’s journals. “Lady Briello said the Talmirans are responsible.”
Delence’s jaw tightened as he glanced down the hall. “Lady Briello would do well to learn some discretion.”
“So you think it was someone else?”
“Did you come here for a purpose, or were you just looking for gossip? I’ve got too much to do to waste time with this right now.”
“What are you going to do? What’s going to happen to the Congress with Valn dead?” Naya asked.
Delence was silent for a moment. “I don’t know. The trial has been canceled for obvious reasons. It’s possible the Congress will be suspended until the culprit behind the attacks is determined. Even if the others don’t blame Talmir, they’ll still lose face over failing to provide a safe environment for the negotiations. I’m sure Queen Lial’s delegates will blame us for inviting unnecessary strife by bringing you, but that can be managed.” Delence shook his head. For the first time, Naya noticed the rumpled state of his clothes and the sallow hue of his skin. “I’m sending Francisco and Lucia back to Ceramor aboard the Gallant, but I’ll need you to stay.”
“Really?” Naya asked. Her knees went weak with relief. She’d been certain he’d try to send her away.
Delence’s eyes narrowed. “Unfortunately. If it were up to me, I would send you back as well. I told you last night to return to your rooms. Instead you went and broke a soldier’s arm.”
Naya looked down, feeling a flush rising in her cheeks. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said.
“That’s not how the soldier saw it. I’ve spent half the morning already trying to control this.”
“If it’s such a big problem, then why aren’t you sending me away?” Naya asked.
“Because the Council still wants to hear your testimony regarding the Belavine incident, and no doubt they’ll also want to question you about the assassination attempt. I don’t know when exactly those meetings will be scheduled, but in the meantime you’ll be confined to your rooms. You won’t leave this hall unless it’s to attend an interrogation at the invitation of the queen or the Congress.”
“What? That isn’t fair!”
“You broke a man’s arm!” Delence said, his voice rising to just below a shout.
Naya bit her cheek to keep from shouting back at him. “So I’m a prisoner now?”
“Officially? No, the law still protects you. But that will change if you keep acting like this.”
Naya fought her anger. She couldn’t go looking for Lucia’s journals if she was locked up. She might get out for a few hours with Felicia’s help, but even that would be far riskier now. “You said you’re sending Francisco and Lucia back to Ceramor. Shouldn’t Lucia stay? What if something happens to my bones?”
“You’ll just have to be careful. Francisco is badly injured. I need Lucia to tend him on the journey, and I won’t risk keeping him here. Not after last night.”
Naya tried to come up with an argument that would change Delence’s mind, but she could sense the steel of his resolve in the aether. Bleak despair welled up inside her. With Lucia gone and her every move watched by the queen’s soldiers, she’d be trapped. She’d have no way to save Corten. Creator, she wasn’t even sure she could save herself.