The whole place smelled of spices and rice wine, orange blossoms and vanilla.
And then there were the masks, a constant stream of painted faces, some angry, some solemn, some with ferocious grimaces. Few people wore smiling masks. Frightening masks were much better than smiling ones at scaring away evil spirits. And no one wanted evil spirits at a party.
Tac carried Nisha in through a small side door and paused in the shadow of the staircase. Despite her new asar, she felt out of place, a blot on the bright crowd. She wished for Josei, but the House of Combat Mistress had been called back to the Pavilion Field to help her novices with another demonstration.
Nisha hadn’t seen Esmer or any of the other cats. The thought that they might have left for good was a painful one. But there was nothing she could do about it. For now, at least, she still had a job to do.
Nisha and Tac watched from the shadows as someone stepped to the Redeeming table and offered to speak for one of the novices. The servant looked up the girl’s price in a scroll and took the money offered. Once the transaction was complete, another servant climbed up the large marble stairway above the crowd and rang a large gong.
The gong’s low vibrations silenced the room. The servant on the stairs called the name of the novice, a girl from the House of Music, who had just been redeemed as the wife of a wealthy merchant. The novice came forward to greet the client, and everyone went back to eating and drinking.
Matron was standing at the bottom of the staircase, next to the Redeeming table. She raised one eyebrow when she saw Nisha.
“You look better than you did before,” she said. “I approve.” She motioned to the servant attending the table. “You’re relieved. Go help the kitchen staff.”
The servant slipped away. Tac lowered Nisha into the stiff wooden chair and arranged her asar so it flowed over her feet. Then he stood behind her chair and folded his arms across his chest.
Matron nodded in satisfaction. “There are people I must speak to, Nisha. Have your guard here fetch me if you have any trouble.” With another nod to Tac, she slipped away into the bright whirl of people.
Nisha ran her fingers along the table covering, embroidered with silver. From where she sat, she could hear the music from the dancing hall, the stately thrum of drums and bells, the flowing melody of the double-reed flute, the rippling notes of sitt-harps. She could imagine each step the dancers were taking, each arch of the spine, each flicker of the fingers. Her feet itched to join them, but her cast bound her like a chain, tying her to the chair.
A woman in a green-and-gold-embroidered asar walked up. Her mask was orange and black with a wide mouth and hooked nose. Her hands were painted with elaborate designs in dark-green dye, the sign of a practicing healer.
“I would speak for the Jade novice Danna,” she said formally. “I will take her as an apprentice.”
Nisha nodded, keeping her eyes cast down. Nervousness fluttered in her stomach as she unrolled the scroll and found Danna’s name. The price next to it seemed huge to Nisha, but the woman paid it without comment. Nisha gestured to the announcer, who walked up the stairs and hit the gong.
“The novice Danna,” she said in a carrying voice, “has been redeemed as apprentice by Uditi the healer.”
Nisha put the gold in the strongbox next to her and marked the healer’s name on the scroll. There were already quite a few girls marked off, since many craftsmen and merchants preferred to pay for their girls early and take them back to Kamal or their homes before dark.
This isn’t so bad, she told herself. I can do this.
Tanaya appeared in a flutter of silk. “Nisha!” Tanaya’s light hair glowed in the sea of dark heads. “What on earth are you doing over here? Have you seen the prince? I’m so nervous.”
Some of the tension in Nisha’s shoulders relaxed. At least Tanaya was safe. “You look beautiful,” Nisha said, meaning it.
Tanaya’s asar was of richly embroidered scarlet silk, edged with gold, setting off her clear skin and black-brown eyes. A cluster of rubies nestled in her shining hair, matching the golden collar of rubies around her neck. Tanaya’s delicate hands tangled in the fabric of her asar, and she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet.
“I’m so nervous,” she repeated. “What if he doesn’t want me?” She looked up and saw Tac behind Nisha’s chair. “Since when do you have a bodyguard?”
“He’s … here to guard the strongbox,” Nisha said. She didn’t like lying to Tanaya, but explaining Tac would mean explaining her foot, too. “He’s one of Josei’s assistants.”
“Too bad he’s not guarding you,” Tanaya said with a wink.
Nisha suppressed a surge of annoyance. Tanaya had acted the same way when she’d realized Nisha cared about Devan. Did she think Nisha was desperate enough to throw herself at any man who appeared? Tanaya probably didn’t realize that Nisha even knew Tac.
“It seems like everyone has a bodyguard today,” Tanaya said, oblivious to Nisha’s frown. “Have you seen all the warriors?”
Now that she was looking for them, Nisha could see dark-clothed shadows standing at intervals along the wall. Swords gleamed at their waists. “Where did they all come from?”
“Many of them are Prince Sudev’s private guards,” Tanaya said. “But I know the members of the Council brought their own warriors too. Wouldn’t do for someone to try to kill the High Prince, I suppose.”
“I suppose,” Nisha said, not really listening. As if her thought of Devan had conjured him, she saw the young noble across the room. His mask was pushed up above his eyes, and he was laughing. Other young men flocked around him like jeweled parrots.
Nisha closed her eyes briefly to shut out the sight of Devan’s smile. Tanaya kept talking.
“I sneaked away from Indrani to come and say hello. I feel like I haven’t seen you for a week. Indrani keeps fussing, trying to make sure everything is perfect, making me practice my bow one more time. Anyway, I have to go. I’m going to be late.”
Tanaya whirled away and a piece of paper fluttered to the floor, skittering to rest against the leg of Nisha’s chair.
“Tanaya, wait!” Nisha bent down to scoop up the scalloped paper. “The way you drop these poems, I’m surprised you don’t …” Her voice trailed off as her fingers rubbed along the grain of the rice paper.
The same kind of paper as the note she’d found under Lashar’s body.
Everything around Nisha slowed, stopped.
She remembered: Tanaya playing with her ruby necklace, a necklace that matched the marks on Atiy’s neck.
Tanaya, claiming to be in her room all day the day Lashar died, but smelling of lavender, distinctly like the House of Beauty.
Tanaya, who trained in every House.
Tanaya, who could go anywhere she pleased.
Zann playing the sitt-harp with a folded paper pick, a paper with scalloped edges.
It all made a horrible sense.
“Did I drop another one?” Tanaya took the poem from Nisha’s unresisting hand. “I always write when I’m nervous.” She paused. “Nisha, what’s wrong?”
Nisha looked up at the girl who had always been her hero, feeling something inside her shatter. She hadn’t known a heart could break so many times in one day.
“Why, Tani? Why did you kill them?”
The paper fell from Tanaya’s hand.
32
FOR A MOMENT, neither girl moved.
Then Tanaya bent down swiftly. Even over the other scents in the foyer, Nisha could smell the rich scent of the night-queen flower. Their faces were inches apart.
“I don’t care what you know,” Tanaya whispered. “If you’re smart, you won’t say anything.”
“I know you killed Atiy,” Nisha said softly, her words heavy with certainty. “Jina. And Lashar. Zann had your paper, Tanaya, the paper you use to write poems. She had it on the roof right before she killed herself. Zann never went to the House of Flowers. She wasn’t allowed in. How did she get it?”
“Shut up,” Tanaya hissed, looking around. “Do you want everyone to hear you?”
“Tanaya,” Nisha said, her voice forcing the other girl to meet her eyes. “Tanaya, please. I know you left the note in Lashar’s room for me. Only you would tear it so I wouldn’t see the scalloped edges. Someone who stole the paper would never think of that.”
For a moment, she thought Tanaya would deny it and walk away, but the older girl just shook her head.
“You have no idea what happened the day Atiy died,” she said. Her eyes flashed to Tac.
“He won’t tell. He can’t speak,” Nisha said. “Help me understand. Please, Tanaya.”
The please sucked the vitality out of Tanaya. She slumped, her voice so low that Nisha had to lean forward to hear her. “After I helped you dress, I went to the House of Pleasure for my achaneh dance lesson,” she said dully.
Nisha nodded. Achaneh was a private dance that the wives of the royal family learned for their wedding nights. The House of Pleasure was the only House that taught it. Tanaya stared into empty air.
“As I was leaving the practice room, I bumped into Atiy going in. I’d never met her before, never even seen her, but she … she was wearing the exact same necklace that I was.”
Tanaya’s hand crept to the collar of rubies and gold at her throat. “I persuaded her to come up to the roof with me—I don’t remember how—and I asked her where she got it. She said she was training to be the secret mistress of the prince. My prince!”
Tanaya’s whisper became a hiss. “Can you imagine? All these years of studies and lessons I went through, all that training? And some mousy little whore thought she was going to share Prince Sudev with me? I tore the necklace from her neck. We struggled, and she tripped.”
Tanaya spread her hands. “I swear, Nisha. I swear, by the Ancestors and by the Five Sacred Rivers, I did not mean to kill her.”
Partygoers swirled past their corner, but the chatter and laughter felt unreal and far away. No one took any notice of them.
“All right, I believe you. What about Jina?” Nisha asked in a low voice.
Tanaya’s face was still stiff with fury and hurt pride. “Jina was in the stairway when I was coming down from the roof. Was it my fault she was poking around where she had no business?”
“So you killed her?”
“No.” Tanaya straightened. “Atiy was an accident, and you can’t prove that I had anything to do with those other girls.”
“Tani.” Nisha held out her hand. “You know I’ll have to tell Matron about this. Come with me. Turn yourself in.”
“You think I’m afraid of you?” Tanaya’s smile mocked her. “In a very short time I will be a princess, and you will still be a nobody who no one wants.”
The dead, frozen butterfly in the quarry. Tanaya had crushed the butterfly as carelessly and ruthlessly as she had killed those other girls. Just like she had pushed the boulder onto Nisha the moment she was defenseless.
“Is that why you tried to kill me?” Nisha whispered, the words digging their claws into her throat. She moved her foot so the heavy cast slipped out from under her asar. “Is that why you did this to me? Because I’m a nobody?”
Tanaya’s smile turned sad. “I had to protect myself. And no matter how you or I feel about it, I’m still the more important one. I don’t make the rules, Nisha. You’re alive, and you should be grateful for that and learn from your mistakes. This isn’t a fight you can win. Trust me.”
With that, Tanaya walked away. Nisha stared after her, her eyes burning. Matron’s words echoed in her mind.
Sometimes, Nisha, people are not who you expect them to be.
Tac touched Nisha’s shoulder, and she jumped. His eyes were as troubled as her own. What do we do? they seemed to ask.
Nisha didn’t know. Tanaya’s cruel words were also true. She was the most important novice the City of a Thousand Dolls had ever trained. No one would believe Nisha over her.
But if she did nothing, Sashi would die.
Nisha bit her lip and looked up at Tac. “Can you find another servant to take the table? I need to find Matron.”
Tac carried Nisha through the crowd. She had pulled the black tiger mask down, and the ceramic was cool on her hot face. She felt safer behind the mask, less conspicuous, but more than anything, she wished for a breath of fresh, free air. She longed for the feel of grass bending under her bare feet and the vibrations of purrs in her ear.
But those things were gone for Nisha. And whatever happened next, she had to make sure they weren’t gone for Sashi, too.
As Tac scanned the crowd for Matron, Nisha sneaked a glance through the open door of the throne room. She wanted to see the man Tanaya had thought it worth killing for.
Then she saw him. Prince Sudev was handsome, a slim man not quite thirty, with hair and eyes as dark as ink and the shadow of a beard under his high cheekbones. He leaned forward on the throne, chin resting on his fist. Sometimes he covered a yawn with one perfectly manicured hand. Black-clad bodyguards stood to either side, hands on hilts, eyes wary.
The prince’s long blue-and-silver tunic shimmered like a moth in a darkening forest. His teeth flashed in frequent smiles, but his eyes looked like they had forgotten how to smile a long time ago.
Every time his eyes wandered in her direction, Nisha shrank down. Instinct told her it would be very dangerous to draw the prince’s attention. She wasn’t here to see him. She had to talk to Matron.
Matron stood in an alcove outside the throne room, talking to a man with the two earrings and gold chains of a successful Bamboo caste merchant. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Nisha.
“Excuse me, please,” she said to the merchant.
The man nodded and moved away, and Matron pulled Nisha and Tac farther into the alcove.
“What are you doing here? You had strict instructions to stay at the Redeeming table.” Matron lowered her voice. “Nisha, I have seen the prince throw a man in prison because he was offended by his scarred face. He’s the most spoiled and unpredictable of all the Imperial family, and you cannot let him see you. You know it’s an insult to appear before a member of the Imperial family while injured.”
“I’m sorry, Matron, but I had to find you. I know who killed Atiy.”
“What?” Matron stiffened, looking around the room. “Who was it?”
Nisha pushed up the tiger mask and took a breath. “It was Tanaya. She fought with Atiy on the roof. She said they were fighting over the High Prince.”
“She told you?” Matron’s hand flew over her mouth.
Nisha nodded. “Just a few moments ago. Matron, I think she killed Jina and Lashar, too. I didn’t tell you before, but someone left a note addressed to me under Lashar’s body. A note telling me to go to the quarry. The edges were torn, so I didn’t realize at first that it was the same paper Tanaya likes to use to write her poems. And Zann used the same kind of paper for her harp pick on the roof.” Nisha felt her voice crack with hurt. “I confronted Tanaya about the paper, but she refused to talk about it. She says Atiy was an accident, but you should have seen her face. She’s behind the deaths, Matron. I’d stake my life on it.”
Matron’s face was the color of ash. “Ancestors defend us. Nisha, you have to get out of here.”
“What? Why? What about Tanaya?”
“I will deal with this,” Matron said hurriedly. “But you have to leave, now. Tac, you have to take her away, somewhere safe. Hurry!”
“I don’t understand—” Nisha started, but her words were cut off by a smooth voice.
“Nor do I.” The designs of Akash tar’Vey’s brown-and-black tunic glittered like scales as he approached them. “But Tanaya was right to warn me just now. She told me you were spreading vicious rumors and trying to cause trouble.”
Nisha couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice. “Tanaya told you that?”
Matron held out her hand. “Akash, Nisha has done what we asked. We asked her to look into these
deaths.”
“And she provided us with a most convenient solution,” Akash said, and straightened his sleeves. “A blind healer no one will miss. We did not ask her to fling accusations at the most important novice in the entire City.”
He bent closer to Nisha, his breath smelling of rice wine. “I am willing to overlook this as an unfortunate delusion caused by your accident. But you must never speak of this again.”
Despair was followed by a hot flash of anger. “Don’t you even care that Tanaya might have killed three girls? What if she is guilty?” Nisha’s words were high-pitched and desperate, a grasp after reason.
And Akash’s reply caught her completely by surprise.
“Of course she’s guilty,” he said. “Which is why we needed another suspect. It’s the only reason I allowed the Council to agree to Matron’s proposal. That’s why I held off your buyer and permitted you to investigate. You were never supposed to find the truth, Nisha. You were supposed to find a scapegoat. And you did an excellent job.”
Nisha felt like she’d been punched in the throat. “You used me? You used me to set someone up falsely so you could protect the real murderer?”
Akash waved his hand, the gold of his flower tattoo clearly visible. “It was a distraction. And a better option than trying to cover up Tanaya’s involvement. Even getting rid of Jina left too many unanswered questions.”
His words were like a slap, and Nisha reeled.
Matron gasped. “You killed Jina?” she asked. “It wasn’t Tanaya?”
Akash shrugged. “Tanaya came to me in private after Atiy’s death and told me what she’d done. She also told me that the only person who’d seen her come down the stairs after Atiy’s fall was Jina. She wasn’t sure if Jina had seen her, but that’s not the sort of thing you take chances with.”
Nisha’s mind flew back to Zann’s expression on the roof, the look of trapped despair. You’ll never believe me. No one will. It’s just my word against theirs.
“Zann wasn’t just talking about Tanaya,” Nisha said, her words soft with horror. “She was talking about both of you. You manipulated her and bribed her into getting those seeds. Because not even Tanaya could get into the private stores of the House of Jade without someone noticing. Did you at least have the courage to put the seeds in her bowl yourself? Or did you get another person to do it?”
City of a Thousand Dolls Page 23