The pages taken from Danaea got better and better, did they not. Lapis frowned at the sheet she held while Lyet prepared another draught for her to drink.
After a predictable relapse, her body surged ahead, eager to reclaim health and haleness. Lady Thais changed her medicines daily, and she appreciated the concern that drove the intensity, even though she did not understand it. Thais saw Lapis as a way to rein in Patch’s darkest impulses. She doubted her power in that regard; Patch was Patch, and her influence on his acts and reputation minute.
At least she had healed to the point she returned to her room, though she missed the nearness of a bathing room and toilet.
She accepted the glass absently and sipped at it as she settled the page down and retrieved another one. She never would have anticipated the hunter being involved in so many failed attempts. It almost seemed as if she spent more time creating her brand than she did completing stakes.
The failed ones, though . . . reading the words twisted Lapis’s stomach. The woman tried to weasel her way into the Jiy House, and when the rebels declined her application, she targeted sympathizers. Some odd House deaths Patch attributed to Baldur’s incompetence were victims of Danaea and her lust for revenge. Baldur had interfered in Patch’s investigations, which intensified suspicions, but after reading the happy little notes about the killings, she realized the headman should have set aside his offended pride and let the chaser work. Her hand in the deaths would have come to light sooner and the rebels would have sent her to the Pit long before she thought to drive a knife through Lapis’s ribs.
Some of the other notes worried her. Some unnamed patron had an unwarranted interest in many of Danaea’s rebel and underground stakes, though whether this patron initiated them remained unclear. Hints, bits here and there; some darker scheme was at play, and it bothered her.
Lyet sat down on the floor and folded her legs, waiting for her to finish her drink. She glanced at the teen.
“How’s Phialla and Ness doing?” She usually sat with them to sell pottery at the Lells, and they must miss her.
She laughed. “Better now that Orinder isn’t around to cause problems.”
“His grandson’s still there.”
“Yes, and playing mouse. The market’s whispering about how Orinder had his hands in more than tech smuggling, and it all relates to Hoyt. Rin’s wondering if he had something to do with the Meergevenis presence, like being an intermediary between them and Hoyt.”
That would explain the shroud’s raid on his extended holdings, which Rin related to her with undisguised glee.
Or maybe he and Scand robbing the poor fellows blind explained his smugness. Not that active-duty military men carried much cash on them, but they had enough to make the danger worthwhile—or so they said. Lapis did not think the potential execution for stealing from a Dentherion soldier worth the risk, and she planned to nail that into their thick skulls once she felt better.
Maybe she needed to include Scand in the chaser training. Patch was pulling stakes for her and forcing all three into a boring retrieval of stolen goods would keep them busy.
Gabby flew into the room before stuttering to a stop, retreating, closing the door, and knocking loud before bursting back in. Lapis hoped Lyet’s lack of amusement reflected her own; they had told her, multiple times, to announce herself. She did not want to startle Patch and end up hurt, did she?
She beamed, her cheeks reddening. “Lady!” She flumped onto the bed and leaned over the scattered page. “There’s something weird going on at the Lells!”
She raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”
“So there’s a group of guttershanks being targeted by the Minq because they worked for Hoyt. They know Dandi, and Dandi’s trying to find someone to help them get out of the city. They’re saying they know a whole bunch of things about Hoyt and why the skyshroud’s in Jiy, but they want sanctuary before they tell anyone about it.”
Lapis rubbed her hands over her face, hard. “Really.” They obviously thought rebels would snap at the dangled treat.
Under normal circumstances, she would refuse to become involved. The city guards, the palace, the Dentherions and the Minq hunted Hoyt’s men, and she had little reason to step in the center of it. But if they knew where Beltin might be, she needed to meet them and at least dangle the prospect of help in front of their noses. And, well, if they provided info on the skyshroud, she would happily hear it.
“Lady,” Lyet warned. She gave the teen her glass and patted Gabby on the leg.
“This is an opportunity, and I’m not going to miss it because it isn’t safe. Where are they, Gabby?”
“Down the northern sewer at the Lells.”
Ew. “Is Patch around?”
“Not at the Eaves, but I saw him and Brander at the Night Market earlier.”
“Go find him and tell him to meet me at the north manhole cover.”
Gabby bounced off the bed and saluted her, fist to chest. “Aye, Knight Gabrielda at your service, Lady!” She whisked out the door, slamming it behind her.
“Lady.”
Lapis cocked an eyebrow at Lyet’s impatient disapproval. The teen firmed her lips, then raised her chin.
“I’m going with you.”
Why did the rats insist on being so motherly?
