Mica shot up from a marble bench by the pool and crossed towards me. She didn’t seem pleased, but I was used to that. I whistled and gave the place the once-over.
“You’ve done all right for yourself.”
She ignored me. “Where the Depths have you been?” she demanded of Sereh. “I’ve had people out looking for you.”
“They didn’t find her,” I quipped.
Still nothing.
“I went home,” Sereh said. “To get my violin.” She lifted the case.
“You should have told me. I could have sent someone with you.”
Sereh tipped her head to one side. “Why?”
She was genuinely curious. I envied her her confidence. She didn’t think there was anything out there she couldn’t deal with. I couldn’t deny I was curious to see how this confrontation would play out — as long as they didn’t kill each other — but it wasn’t what we were here for. I stepped between them, conscious that either of them could take me to pieces before I could blink.
“So,” I said loudly. “This place can’t have come cheap.” I had only meant it as a distraction, but it came out sounding bitter.
Mica glared at me. “I worked for this.”
For some reason, that rubbed me up the wrong way. “Did you? Really?” I couldn’t help the annoyance in my voice. Siblings, huh? “Thousands of people work at least as hard every day of their lives and don’t end up with this.”
“You could have, if you’d stayed.” Then she must have realised it was at least half a lie. “Some of it, anyway.”
“It’s corrupt.”
“And yet here you are.”
Yeah. Here I was. Not too proud or too principled to come begging when I was desperate. I sighed. I hadn’t intended to start a fight with my little sister, and it wasn’t her fault I was in seven flavours of shit.
I was messing this up.
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a bad few days.”
“I noticed. Depths, Nik. The Watch are looking for both you and Benny. You were arrested by the Ash Guard. I can’t help you with that. No one can.”
“You know we were set up, right?”
Mica shook her head. “I know you’re not going around killing people.”
At least she still had that much faith in me. It was about all, though, because she hadn’t finished.
“But Pity, Nik. Burglary, jailbreaks—”
“No one can prove that was me. Look, Mica, all I need from you is some information. I can clear this up.”
The look she gave me was pitying. “Come back home. Let Mother deal with whatever this is. She’s got the resources and the power. You’re just going to get yourself killed.”
“Yeah. Everyone wants me to go back to Mother.”
“Everyone?”
I suppressed a grimace. Probably best not to let Mica know I’d agreed to spy on the Countess for the Wren. I didn’t want to put her in a position where she would have to choose between me and Mother.
“I’ll do you a deal,” I said. “I’ll come back.” I held up a hand. “I’m not moving in with Mother, but I’ll try to make up with her, see if we can get on.” I wasn’t lying. Not strictly. But the only reason I was even considering it was because the Wren was forcing me, so it felt like a lie. “Not until this is done, though. Not until I’ve figured out who’s behind this and stopped them. I’m not going to have Mother holding this over me. I’m not going to be in her debt.”
Mica didn’t look wholly convinced, but at least she seemed to be listening.
“So what do you want to know?”
“Mother’s new mage, Enne Lowriver. I need to find out everything I can about her.”
“You think she’s involved? How?”
That was the question, wasn’t it?
“When Benny and I tried to, um, steal a ledger from Silkstar’s office, it set off a booby trap that was supposed to kill us. It happened at exactly the same time that Silkstar’s Master Servant, Imela Rush, was killed by this ghost-beast-thing I’ve been dealing with. Unless it was Silkstar himself who did it, it would take a pretty powerful mage to set all that up in the middle of Thousand Walls, right?”
Mica snorted. “To say the least.”
“So would Lowriver be able to do it if Silkstar’s wards were down? It was the Feast of Parata.”
Mica stared at the marble flagstones for a minute. When she looked up again, there was doubt in her eyes.
“Possibly. It’s tough to work magic when there’s a high mage nearby without them noticing. I don’t think she could beat Silkstar in a fight — he’s been doing this for too long — and she couldn’t get through his wards, but a booby trap spell? Maybe.”
I would have to take Mica’s word for it. This was all beyond my competence.
“I need to find out what she’s been up to and her background. Where she’s from, her family, friends, that kind of thing. And does she have any connection with the Stacks?”
“I doubt it. I do know she’s from north of Horn Hill.” In other words, from the good part of town. “Her family is wealthy. Not mind-blowing wealthy, but a few generations to the good.” She paced thoughtfully to the fountain and leaned over the shallow water, running her fingers through it. “I think Mother said they were in banking or something.” She straightened, nodding. “Yes. It was banking. Lowriver has got her own house halfway up the hill.”
Horn Hill, because it was the location of the Senate, Thousand Walls, and half a dozen other palaces, including the Countess’s — and because it was high enough to get a breeze and avoid the stench of the city — was the most expensive part of Agatos. If you wanted to snuggle up to power, it was there that you tucked yourself in. I always thought it was interesting that Mica had opted for a house not on the hill.
“I don’t see anyone in her family or her social circle having anything to do with the Stacks,” Mica finished.
I nodded slowly. That was all right. An innocent explanation would leave me floundering again. Suspicious behaviour was what I needed.
“How about the rest of it?”
“I can find out,” Mica said, flicking the drops of water from her fingers and making her way back towards Sereh and me, “but it’ll take a couple of hours.” She wrinkled her nose. “In the meantime, you need to clean up and get a fresh set of clothes, because, Pity, Nik, you’re a disaster.”
She wasn’t the first one to tell me that. I nodded to Sereh, and we followed Mica across the courtyard to her private rooms. I felt her powerful wards tingle as we passed through. A quick glance showed me magic strong enough to turn Sereh and me into soup if Mica hadn’t given us a pass.
She led us across a tiled bedroom, tall, airy, light, and filled with enough plants to start her own private rainforest, to a dressing room roughly the size of my former apartment.
“I’m not sure we take the same size,” I said, looking at her racks of clothing.
She fired me an annoyed look, then threw open a carved, cypress-wood wardrobe. Folded on the shelves were several dozen fashionable men’s outfits.
“Borrow what you want. It shouldn’t be much too small. Just … don’t put it on until you’re clean. I don’t want to have to burn it.”
I didn’t answer that. I was too busy staring at the outfits. She didn’t keep these around just in case her disreputable brother dropped around. And in her private rooms, too.
“Um … why the fuck have you got men’s clothes in your wardrobe? Are you seeing someone? Are you living with someone?”
A muscle twitched in her jaw. “I’m not a kid, Nik. I haven’t been one for a long time.”
I couldn’t help myself. Maybe it was all the shit I had been through these last few days. Maybe being pissed off with my sister was a way to let it out. I didn’t know. All I knew was that I was suddenly so outraged, I wanted to punch this man. I didn’t even know who he was.
“Why didn’t I know?” I burst out.
“Why the Depths would you? You’v
e not exactly been around, have you? You walked away. You don’t have a right to know.”
Bannaur’s balls!
“I didn’t walk…”
But I had. I hadn’t intended to abandon Mica. I had thought she would understand that. But why would she? I had just left. I had been furious with Mother, desperate to get away from the pressure and the contempt that were breaking me, but still. I hadn’t thought about Mica at all. She had seemed all right. She hadn’t been disappointing Mother. I had been so up my own arse that it had been all I had been thinking about. I had left her alone. It must have felt like a betrayal.
You don’t let your friends down, that was what I kept telling myself. That should have gone double for family. I didn’t have much else going for me, but at least I had that. Or so I’d thought. I was going to have a Depths of a job fixing this. Maybe it couldn’t be fixed.
I tried a more conciliatory tone. “Will you at least tell me who he is?”
Her expression didn’t soften. “That depends. Can you promise me you won’t go over there and cause trouble?”
I winced. “Honestly?”
“Fuck it, Nik!”
I held up my hands. “Fine. Fine. Don’t tell me.” I would find out anyway … if I survived the next couple of days.
Mica shook her head. “Just take a bath, Nik. You’re a mess.” She ushered Sereh out of the room. “I’ll find out what I can.”
A bath? What a joke. One of the city’s high mages wanted my guts nailed to the nearest wall, and I wasn’t so sure about the other two. The Ash Guard would slam me into a magic-suppressed cell the moment they caught up with me, or just execute me on the spot. And whichever bastard had set me up wasn’t done with me, I was sure. I had no time for lying around.
On the other hand, I hadn’t had a proper bath with running hot water and bath salts for five years. There was such a thing as priorities.
I soaked until I had filled two tubs’ worth with dirt and dried blood. I might even have slept for a bit. My skin was certainly wrinkled enough when I came to, and some of my bruises had started to feel better.
How long have you been asleep, you daft bastard?
It felt like the best part of the day. Depths. That was why I hadn’t wanted a bath. I had wasted what little time I had.
Why hadn’t Mica woken me?
I hauled my body out of the cold water and rubbed my skin to restore some of the circulation.
My old clothes stank. I mean, really stank. Just picking them up to dump in a bin made me gag. How anyone had managed to stand next to me, I didn’t know.
Mica’s bloke had extravagant taste in clothes. They were all a little too delicate and elaborate for my tastes. The next time I had to smack someone in the teeth, they would rip down every seam. I chose the plainest, toughest items I could find. By my reckoning, my new nemesis was about a hand’s width shorter than me. If we ever did meet, I would be able to glower down at him.
It was the little things that made my day.
Mica was working in a personal sitting room just off her bedroom. She shuffled her pages into a folder as I entered and placed it on a side table. I didn’t really know what her job involved. I had always imagined that a senior mage like Mica would spend her day crafting powerful spells or meddling with unimaginable forces. From the piles of paper around her, I suspected it was rather less exciting. Score one for me. My life had been high on the excitement scale recently.
I settled in a chair opposite and absent-mindedly helped myself to some fruit set on the nearby table. Then another piece when I realised how hungry I was.
“Where’s Sereh?”
“In her room. Don’t worry. I’ve got one of my mages watching her. She won’t run off again.”
“Good luck with that.” Her mages, huh? That was interesting. Either Mother trusted Mica more than I’d expected or she wanted Mica to believe that.
“Do you want me to order you something proper to eat?”
I glanced over to see that my fingers had closed over the last peach on the plate.
“Nah, you’re all right. I’m not hungry.” I made it a lie immediately by devouring the peach.
Mica sighed. “You wanted to know about Lowriver.”
“Yeah. Anything you’ve got.”
“And you’re not going to tell me why you think she’s behind all your troubles? Apart from the fact that she enjoyed beating you up rather too much, because I’ve got to tell you, Nik, she’s not the only one who’s thought of doing that from time to time.”
“It’s just a lead,” I said. “No proof.”
Mica rubbed her eyes. “You need to keep out of her way, Nik. She’s too powerful for you. If she’s been up to something, leave her to Mother or the Ash Guard. You can’t keep picking fights with the big kids.”
“Whatever you’ve got,” I said.
She shook her head. “You’re a stubborn bastard. You always were.” She plucked a sheaf of papers from the floor. “Her family worked their way up from market traders three or four generations ago and stayed there. I was right. They’re in banking. They’re not at the absolute top of society, but they’re doing well. On a level with your friends the Sunstones, I would say.” At my surprise, she snorted. “What, you don’t think I looked into you, too? If I’m helping you, I want to know what I’m getting myself into.”
It was almost like she didn’t trust me.
“So they could have known each other? The Sunstones and Lowriver? Socially, I mean.”
She opened her hands in a gesture I took to mean she didn’t know. “They moved in the right circles, but it would take a lot more digging around to find out for sure. Why?”
I shook my head. I would keep my suspicions to myself. I didn’t know how Mica would react, and in my experience, admitting how ignorant you were was rarely a winning strategy.
“How about the Stacks connection?” I asked.
“Nothing. I had one of my clerks track down her family history. No one in her family is from there, back at least three generations.”
That was one of the innocent explanations scratched off. “Property?”
“Not that we’ve been able to find. She has investments in the docks and in a couple of businesses in the Upper City, but nothing even close to the Stacks. The Stacks don’t make much of an investment.”
So what the Depths had she been doing there? She had looked like she owned that house. She certainly hadn’t knocked before letting herself in. Not a relative. Not a lover, or Mica would have been able to root that out. Mother didn’t allow secrets like that from her mages. It wouldn’t be hard to hide ownership of a house, but the question was: Why? It wasn’t exactly a nest egg. A safe house? But safe from whom? It didn’t make me less suspicious, that was for sure.
“How about jobs? Has Mother had her doing any work that would carry her up to the Stacks?”
Mica shook her head. “Really, Nik, there’s not much of interest up there. Not much crime, not much trade, not a lot of wealth.”
“So you’re not watching it.”
“Mother’s hardly got mages on every street corner. You know that. Why are you so obsessed? What does it matter if Lowriver was up in the Stacks?”
It shouldn’t. But it did. “Something feels off. Tell me what she’s like.”
Mica pushed the stack of papers away. “Are you trying to suggest that Mother is out to get you somehow? That — what? — she’s told Lowriver to mess your life up?”
“You’re saying the great Countess doesn’t care that everyone knows her only son is a disreputable freelance mage?”
She let out a frustrated sigh. “There’s a long mile between being embarrassed by you and trying to get you killed. We’re all embarrassed by you. Even Benny thinks you’re letting yourself go.”
A ‘no’ would have been a better answer. But it did tell me Mica wasn’t ready to believe in Mother’s involvement. I should keep that itch in the back of my brain where it belonged.
“You�
�ve been talking to Benny?”
Mica rolled her eyes.
“I’m just following leads,” I said, “seeing where they go.”
Mica sighed. “Lowriver is intense. She’s dedicated. She doesn’t have a sense of humour. That appeals to some of the other mages. She’s ambitious. Very ambitious, but that’s not unusual in a mage. You can’t have forgotten how Mother was when she still worked for the Wren.”
And look how that had ended up for me.
“This Lowriver has her own acolytes?” I said.
“No. They’re all Mother’s acolytes. Lowriver has sympathisers, mages who see things her way.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Why would it? There are others who share my views, and plenty who only look to Mother for guidance.”
Depths. I was well shot of this shit. I had been well shot of this shit. Mage politics and jostling for favour had never appealed to me.
It was starting to grow dim in the courtyard outside Mica’s sitting room. The sun must be lowering towards the western valley wall. Lights sprang up around the room. Morgue-lamps, I guessed, but they didn’t have the same greenish glow that the public ones did. Some magic to alter them. I looked at them with my magical vision, but the spell was too complex for me to decode at a glance.
“So she’s not been up to anything — anything at all — that seems suspicious?” I pressed.
Mica gave a one-sided shrug. “Not that I’ve seen. It’s not like I spend all day watching her. I have my own work.”
I had been hoping for something more, something that might give me an insight into what she and Sunstone were up to and how, assuming they weren’t just shagging behind Galena Sunstone’s back. I would like to think that Lowriver had more taste than that, but you could never tell.
She’s a mage. She’s got the power to do what Sunstone can’t.
Like turn a ghost into a beast that could tear people into pieces? I still didn’t see how. And why would she? What was in it for her?
There was too much I didn’t know. It was driving me crazy.
Shadow of a Dead God: A Mennik Thorn Novel Page 26