Court of Fives

I tuck the baby in Maraya’s arm and hurry over. Vomit stains the front of Amaya’s shroud and she has peed and voided her bowels. Her hair is slimy, like she thrashed in her own spew. The stink of her makes me gag. But she is breathing. When I lift her head and shoulders, she whimpers.

“Oh, my stomach hurts so badly. I need a bath and a massage. Why is this bed so hard? I don’t like this. Make it better.” Her eyes stay closed because she simply assumes someone will make her comfortable. I set her down less gently than I had picked her up and wipe my grimy hands on the driest corner of the shroud she wears.

“Just stay here, Amaya. Don’t move.”

Her eyes pop open. “Jessamy! What are you doing here?”

“Rescuing you, of course!”

She wraps her arms over her stomach and rocks in obvious discomfort. “Can you please hurry? I don’t want to be here anymore.”

I don’t even mock her whining tone. We can’t get out of here quickly enough. I light a new taper from the burning lamp and hurry past the others. In the oracle’s room it takes me a moment to register what is missing.

Both rope and harness are gone. They have pulled up our means of escape and trapped me here.

27

Lord Kalliarkos,” I call as loudly as I dare. Silence is my only reply.

“Kal!”

Fortune save me! What if I’ve been an utter fool? No Patron prince could ever care for a mule like me. If Thynos and Inarsis were in on the plot all along, they would agree to help and then trap me here, like a kick in the face to let me know I got above myself. They are probably laughing right now as they walk out Eternity Gate and leave me buried.

Quite out of nowhere a sharp edge pricks me just under the ribs. Coriander has come up beside me, holding the lit lamp in one hand and the knife in the other.

“I’m going out first.” She holds the knife like she knows how to use it. Flame glints on the blade’s polished surface. The metal is incised with the mark of the winged phoenix, the badge of the royal house. “You’re not leaving me in here.”

My throat is tight and my heart is pounding, yet I slowly raise both hands as in supplication, but really so I can defend myself if she tries to stab me. “That’s right,” I say evenly, “you’ll go first. I just need your help to lift me up to the shaft so I can climb out and get the rope.”

Under my breath I murmur a prayer that I have not been duped. He doesn’t want to be like the other nobles. He told me so.

Coriander moves closer. “Did you scheme with your twin so you two wouldn’t get trapped here?”

“I didn’t scheme with anyone!”

“Then how did you know we were inside? We were drugged and shrouded! No one knew.”

I’m so angry at the accusation that I poke her right in the chest. “I recognized my mother through the shroud. That’s how I knew. Don’t you dare accuse me! Do you believe I would ever have anything to do with burying my mother and sisters in a tomb?”

A sneer twists her mouth. In this place she need not hide her feelings behind a mask: she is just as insolent as her brother. “Everyone knew you were your father’s favorite. The one he took to the army camp with him. The one he treated like the son he never had. You and he came out of this the best, didn’t you? He becomes a general and you get to run the Fives.”

“He didn’t know either!”

“Of course you would defend him.”

“He never whipped you! He isn’t a cruel man.”

“Even the kindest Patron is cruel, Doma. They all walk on the bones of dead Efeans and never give it a thought.”

“He didn’t know this was going to happen! He’s the one who sent me to get you out. He loves her, Coriander. You know he would never condemn her to this!”

To my relief her expression softens and she lowers the knife. “It’s true I can’t imagine him doing this to Doma Kiya.”

Can I grab the knife from her? As if she guesses what I’m thinking she takes a step back.

“Why did you agree to trade places with Bettany?” I study her stance. Her hand is steady but if I rush in I might take her by surprise.

“Doma Kiya promised if I would sit the vigil and let Bettany supervise the house until we got back that she would speak to people she knew and see if she could get my brother freed from prison.”

“My mother said that?” This is not the first time I’ve been knocked off my feet by an example of my mother’s knowing and doing things I am unaware of. Her string of connections seems far more extensive than I ever guessed. Perhaps I too can find other allies, more trustworthy people than Thynos and Inarsis. That Kalliarkos might be in on their plot is a thought I can’t stomach. They must have fooled him too.