“Roll him in sand before he goes up like a torch!” I dumped the bucket over his leg and the flame went out with a sibilant hiss. Eld dropped beside him and began shoveling more sand over him with both hands.
“He’s enough on him that he’ll take us both with him,” I said between gasps. Eld glanced down at the lad and winced.
“Th-there.” I set the bucket down beside Govanti and bent over to catch my breath. “That should do for now.”
“Are you sure?” Eld whispered.
“Aye,” I said, waving his question away. Most of what I knew came from reading, but all agreed sand quenched the fire. This isn’t right; what am I missing? I plopped down in one of the high-backed chairs and crossed my legs.
“You’ve been keeping secrets from me, Eld, haven’t you?”
“A-aye.”
“Tell me,” I said, anger kindling in my chest now that I knew Govanti wasn’t going to burn alive before my eyes. It’s more than Marin had. “All of it.”
Eld licked his lips, his pale features bright in the fading light. “Buc, after you asked me to check in on the lad, I kept checking in. He was in danger.”
“What sort of danger?”
“The same sort that did for your other informants.”
I listened as Eld told me of two would-be backstabbers he’d taken down, of moving Govanti around, providing him with coin and protection: doing my job. Only, I hadn’t been there. I had been practicing my dancing and trying on dresses and acting the noblewoman instead of protecting my own or chasing down the leads that would have led me to Sicarii days ago. In time to save both Govanti and Marin. Shame burned through my chest, sent tendrils up into my cheeks.
“Govanti found the Sin Eaters’ lair, following the Parliamentarian,” Eld said, his words piercing my self-immolation.
“What?” I felt my eyebrows climbing. “I told you they were my little fish.”
“I know!” Eld said, standing up and offering me a hand. “I was trying to help … you seemed caught up with the Chair and the Doga and I knew the Gods had to be involved. I thought if I could ferret out the evidence, with Govanti’s help—I could keep him safe and find the Gods’ hands in all this.”
“Fine,” I said after a moment. It wasn’t fine, not by half, but I wasn’t ready to unleash my rage at Eld until I knew it all. Keeping Govanti safe was supposed to be my job. Then again, I’d been promising Marin I’d teach her to read for ages and not held up my end of that bargain, either. Eld stepping in was something I hadn’t calculated. Trying to help. I took a breath, fighting the tightness in my chest, and steeled myself. “That doesn’t tell me why Marin thought Govanti would be here. In our palazzo.”
“Because.” Eld punched his leg, tears sparkling on his cheeks. “I started to tell you earlier. You were right.”
“I’m always right.”
“About the Sin Eaters catching onto us,” he said, ignoring my faint jab. “They did. One did, anyway. Nearly killed me, save Govanti killed her first.”
“Govanti killed a Sin Eater and you left him out there alone?” I growled.
“No! Of course not,” Eld said quickly. He drew in a short breath. “I hid him in the palazzo, told him to keep to my room and out of sight. Until I could tell you.”
“But you didn’t tell me.”
“I meant to.”
“Only, you knew I’d be pissed.…”
“Aye. Things haven’t been so great as it is. Between us, I mean,” Eld whispered. “I didn’t want to make them worse.” He shook his head. “Now that I think on it, I recall Govanti had an eye for Marin; he asked about her once or twice.”
I hadn’t told Eld my plans and he’d gone and made his own, not telling me, and between the two of us, we’d wrought a nightmare. Had I known, this wouldn’t have happened. Everyone thought me so damned smart, but I was only as sharp as the information I had. I ran a hand down my braid, seeing it all now and all too late. “So she snuck out of the theater and came back to meet him.”
“I did this,” Eld whispered.
I didn’t call him a liar.
47
“The cologne almost hid it,” I said, staring at Govanti. He lay limp, with the barest hint of breath in his chest. “That spicy smell from the stuff Sicarii made, to hide the shit odor from the chemicals involved.” My nose wrinkled.
“It’s not poison?” Eld asked.
“Not sure,” I admitted. “It’d be like Sicarii to have a fail-safe.”
“Now that I think on it, I’ve never seen this bucket before,” Eld muttered, staring at the half-filled pail. “Set just within arm’s reach so I could play the hero. And the fool.” He cursed under his breath. “You saved us all, Buc. How?”
“Someone’s been watching us for a while now,” I said, ignoring his question. I knew he wasn’t responsible for Sicarii’s actions, but he was damn well responsible for his own. Which I intended to remind him of in the not-too-distant future. Now, I had thinking to do.
“Which means,” I continued, “they likely knew Govanti was in the palazzo. Knew that Marin returned and that when we found her, we’d lose our wits and come running for Govanti. They wanted us to find him like this. To try to save him and fail.” I tapped my lip with a nail.
“If Sicarii knows us as well as she seems to, she knew I wouldn’t have tossed water on the boy straight off. Which means she left that pail for you knowing how you would react—and that you’d likely go up along with Govanti.
“She knew what that would do to me. Not just losing you, but watching you die.” Sin was unable to keep the image from flashing through my mind, and I shuddered.
“Sorry,” Sin said. “You thought it, then I thought it, and it just slipped out.”
“I’m sorry, Buc,” Eld said. “I should have told you—”
“I thought Sicarii didn’t know about me until I started asking questions,” I said, working through the idea out loud, trying to forget the image of Eld in flames. Like Sister. “But the Artificer said she talked about me when she kidnapped him. He didn’t say anything about you, though, and if she’s been following us as closely as he believed, she would know that we barely speak anymore.” I grunted. “So that leaves—”
“The Doga or the Company,” Sin said. “They know what Eld means to you.” And Salina, but Salina wouldn’t betray me like this.
“This is Sicarii’s work, but she had help, to know what this would have done to me,” I whispered, sitting up. “She’s had help from the Gods, but this? Had to come from the Doga or the Chair.”
“The Doga or the Chair?”
“You lied to me,” I said quietly, beginning to tremble. “I fuck up, make mistakes or miscalculations. Not often, but when I do, they’re pretty big. Intelligence’s double-edged sword. I didn’t account for your fucking this up, Eld.”
“Buc—”
I suddenly realized I wasn’t shaking from fear or emotion, but from anger. I’d only felt this level of rage half a dozen times in my life and it was always a scary thing. That it was directed at Eld was even scarier.
“I trusted you!” I shouted my rage, a living thing, bright inside my chest.
“Trusted me?” Eld snorted, his eyes hard behind his tears. “You didn’t trust me enough to tell me fuck all about what we did today. You’ve been cutting me out of your life for months. Trusted me with what?”
“With Govanti’s life,” I snapped. Eld recoiled, but only for a moment.
“If not for me, the lad would have been dead twice over,” he said. “You didn’t know because you were off in the bubble you put yourself in. On your own.” He bit his lip hard. “When were you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” I asked, his question catching me flat-footed.
“That the Chair set you up to be banished from Servenza any day now?” Eld said angrily, his face twisted with emotion. “When were you going to trust me with that?”
“I—” My mouth hung open, but words wouldn’t come. For once.
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“You want to talk about lies?” Eld asked, his voice tight. “When we started down this path, you said it was to remake the world. To save the innocent so they wouldn’t be forced to choose between death or turning into someone like yourself to survive. That’s why we went haring off to the Shattered Coast. That’s why we nearly died facing down Chan Sha and the Ghost Captain and his Shambles. To find the power to remake the world!
“Power’s a funny thing, though, isn’t it?” he continued in a softer tone. “Can mean all manner of things. Strength. Coin. Magic. You have all the power you could possibly desire, Buc, and what the fuck have you done with it? Taken up with the Kanados Trading Company Board. Worked yourself to the bone to win their adoration. Gone into the Doga’s service as one of her Secreto. You’ve turned into one of them.”
“One of them?” I choked.
“Seeking power to overthrow the authorities you hated, you became corrupted by it.”
“I have to play the game, you fool. We didn’t get the Empress’s blank writ to do as we pleased. We got a chance! A chance to sit at the table and run the board. We’ve had to get down in the muck and fight them on their own terms.”
“The old Buc would have quoted some generalissimo about how stupid it was to fight the enemy on their own terms,” Eld said. “Muck? You call wearing pretty dresses to the Doga’s Palacio muck?”
“Me? You were dressed up like a fucking prince, Eld.” I shook my braids. “You danced the night away!”
“I was there because you asked me to be there The first time you asked me to be anywhere in months. Answer me this,” Eld said, his voice like rolled steel over the forge. “When you walked the streets today, what did you see?”
“I told you what I saw,” I said. “How do you think I ciphered out all those shops Sicarii was using? Or found her lair?”
“Let me tell you what I saw. I saw children wearing rags and playing in the gutter. I saw others being hustled off to the factories by work gangs. I saw men and women bent double, coughing and hacking from agues brought on by the winter and lack of proper clothing, food, and shelter. I saw all the things that used to set your teeth on edge, put fire in your eyes—”
“You think I don’t care?” I interrupted him. “I showed you the fighting in the streets. I know it’s growing worse, Eld. I’ve told you before that—”
“You’re doing this all for the greater good. Your greater good is out there”—he pointed past me—“dying while you help them. The old Buc would have known that. The old Buc wouldn’t have forgotten. She wouldn’t have forgotten about Govanti until today.” His eyes were bright with unshed tears. “What happened to her?”
“She died,” I whispered.
“On the island?”
“No.” I shook my head, watched the floor blur between us as tears burned my eyes and traced lines of fire down my cheeks. “The island was just the beginning. A wound. One that didn’t heal, that grew worse, became gangrenous and tore her apart piece by piece. Until nothing was left.”
Pain and rage twined within me.
“I needed you, Eld. I needed you to listen to me, to be there, by my side, the steadfast line tossed out when I was feeling lost beneath the waves.” I swallowed. “You know I have magic inside me, Eld. But you don’t know what it means and you didn’t help me try to figure it out. Instead, you left me as soon as we touched boots on Servenza.”
“I thought you wanted space—”
“I wanted you! I wanted you and you pulled back,” I said, voice cracking. “You pulled back out to sea and left me marooned, despite how I tried to reel you back in. I know how you feel about magic, Eld.” I closed my eyes and felt my breath catch in my chest, but I’d already begun the sundering—there was no point in stopping now. “I know you loathe it.”
“That’s true, but—”
“I know,” I said, opening my eyes, somehow seeing him clear through the tears. “You can’t help it. Now that I’m magic, you loathe me.” I couldn’t stop the sob from tearing past my lips. “Do you know what it feels like, Eld? To have the one you love, loathe you? Loathe your very being.”
“L-love?” Eld stammered.
“Sambuciña.” Sin’s voice splashed through my mind like a cooling wave. “Stop.”
“Now you talk?” My question sent fire racing back against his softer magic. “Don’t tell me to stop. It’s too fucking late for that.”
“You don’t understand,” he said gently. “Eld loathes magic, aye. Hates me, aye, but … he doesn’t hate you.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not. Sambuciña, he’s been working with me to help save you.”
“What?” Eld knows about Sin? Is helping him? Shock waves reverberated through me. I was aware, peripherally, of Eld moving toward me. “What?”
“I didn’t tell you, we didn’t tell you, because … because the first time we told you, it nearly killed you.” Sin sighed. “You made a mistake, Buc, and we’ve been trying to fix it ever since.”
“What mistake?”
“Buc?” Eld’s voice was shaking. It never shook.
“What mistake did I make that you’re trying to save me from?” I asked, the world rushing back in on me, unaware I’d stood up until I was already in front of Eld. “That almost killed me? Sin just told me you two have been working together.”
“Oh.” Eld’s eyebrows leapt into his hairline and he collapsed backward into the chair behind him. “Oh, no.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, my voice a whisper in my ears. More lies. “What are you hiding? Tell me.”
“I—I can’t,” Eld said.
“I can,” Sin said, his voice coming from my own lips. His voice, outside my head. The sensation sent ice racing down my spine.
Eld cleared his throat.
“Show her.”
48
“Remind me why we didn’t take one of the pleasure barges,” Salina suggested, her usual snark muted beneath the waves of humidity that pressed down on us. She had a parasol in one hand and a fan in the other, but despite her efforts, her gold hair was plastered to the side of her face and her curls were frizzy. “It’s hot enough to boil the sea.”
“We’ve a tight schedule. This factory is the proof of concept, but I also want to show you the factory that is still doing things the old way and then we need to return for the Board meeting later tonight,” I said, “so you can testify to how amazing I am.”
Salina rolled her eyes.
“You were the one who wanted to ensure we had enough time to freshen up before the meeting,” I reminded her.
“A flotilla just put in yesterday,” Eld added. “The canals and the Crescent are crammed right now. We’d never have made it in time.”
“Fine, fine,” Salina muttered. “I’ve already sweated through my silks, so what’s it matter?”
“You should have worn white, like me,” I said.
“What, and show off everything beneath? White’s transparent when you’re soaked through.”
“Is it now?” I asked. With Sin’s magic, I wasn’t sweating, wasn’t even really all that warm.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured.
I wasn’t hot, but I could feel hunger creeping in, even though I’d eaten thrice as much as Eld at breakfast. He hadn’t commented, but three months home from the Shattered Coast and things were still awkward. Now that we’d come up in the world, the sharks were taking note of us and more than a few of the feminine species were circling him, wondering if he was worth a nibble or two.
“That Lucrezia wants more than a nibble,” Sin said.
“She’s nothing,” I told him. “I’m having the servants prepare his favorites for dinner for tonight after the meeting and I’m going to tell him everything.”
“Everything?”
“Almost everything,” I amended. “Enough that he’ll know what’s going on. If I don’t, I’ll be in danger of losing him and that”—the thought made my throat clench—“
can’t happen.”
“You look tired.”
Salina was staring at me with something that looked almost like concern. That can’t be. She smiled. “Have you been sleeping well?” she asked.
“She doesn’t sleep at all anymore,” Eld chimed in from my other side. He puffed his chest out and the would-be beggar eyeing us sat back down on his corner, in the shade provided by the peeling plastered building. Eld tossed something that glinted toward the man, who snatched the coin from the air, and continued, “She’s either in her rooms, going over schematics and workflows or she’s out at the factories, whipping them on.”
“As touching as it is that you both care about my sleeping patterns,” I said, stepping around a suspicious pile of something dark lying beneath a window, “I’m fine.”
I looked away, hiding a yawn. When I turned back, both were shaking their heads. “I am! Besides, I’ve not visited the factories, I’ve been concentrating on the guild. If the maestros don’t do their jobs, none of the others will.”
“So today’s the first day you’ll see the product of your labor?”
“Aye, same as you,” I told Salina. It better fucking be perfect. I’d studied how the factories refined sugar and had been horrified to discover every single one was different, a mishmash of machinery and workers and storage. No two were even close to alike.
It hadn’t been all that hard after reading number 384, Archo’s The Distribution of Labor, to put together a standardized floor plan and operating procedures. Sin’s magic let me see layouts in my mind and cipher out how the workers would be most efficient.
I told Salina and Eld that—minus the Sin part, of course—and added, “I fit three additional mills into the same space.”
“If I remember correctly,” Salina said, “those mills put off a lot of heat.”
The Justice in Revenge Page 34