I raise my eyebrows. "You went through the trouble of sneaking in here to pay your condolences?"
"That," the Cook says, "and to tell you that when you're ready to take on the Bitch of Blackcliff, I can help. You know how to find me."
I consider the sealed letter from Marcus on my desk. "Come back tomorrow," I say. "We'll talk."
She nods and, without so much as a whisper, slips back out the window. Curiosity pulls at me, and I walk over and peer out, scanning the sheer walls above and below for a hook, scratches, any indication as to how she scaled an unscaleable wall. Nothing. I'll have to ask her about that trick.
I turn my attention to Marcus's letter:
Tiborum is under control, and Gens Serca and Gens Aroman have fallen in line. No more excuses. It is time to deal with her.
There is only one her he could be talking about. I read on.
Be quiet and careful. I do not want a quick assassination, Shrike. I want utter destruction. I want her to feel it. I want the Empire to know my strength.
Your sister was a delight at the dinner with the Mariner ambassador last night. She quite put him at ease about the shift in power here. Such a useful girl. I pray she remains healthy and serves her Empire for a long time to come.
--Emperor Marcus Farrar
The Fiver on message duty jumps when I open my office door. After I give him his task, I reread Marcus's letter and wait impatiently. Moments later, a knock sounds.
"Blood Shrike," Captain Harper says when he enters. "You called?"
I hand him the letter. "We need a plan," I say. "She disbanded her army when she realized I was going to tell Marcus of the coup, but that doesn't mean she can't muster it again. Keris won't go down easily."
"Or at all," Harper mutters. "This will take months. Even if she doesn't expect an attack from Marcus, she will expect an attack from you. She'll be prepared."
"I know that," I say. "Which is why we need a plan that actually works. That starts with finding Quin Veturius."
"No one has heard from him since his escape in Serra."
"I know where to find him," I say. "Pull a team together. Make sure Dex is on it. We'll leave in two days. Dismissed."
Harper nods, and I turn back to my work. When he doesn't leave, I raise my eyebrows. "Do you require something, Harper?"
"No, Shrike. Only . . ." He looks more uncomfortable than I've ever seen him--enough to actually alarm me. Since the execution, he and Dex have been invaluable. They supported my reshuffling of the Black Guard--Lieutenant Sergius is now posted on Isle South--and unwaveringly backed me when some of the Black Guard attempted to rebel.
"If we're going after the Commandant, Shrike, then I know something that might be of use."
"Go on."
"Back in Nur, the day before the riot, I saw Elias. But I never told you."
I lean back in my seat, sensing that I'm about to learn more about Avitas Harper than the previous Blood Shrike ever did.
"What I have to say," Avitas goes on, "is about why I never told you. It's about why the Commandant kept an eye out for me in Blackcliff and got me into the Black Guard. It's about Elias. And"--he takes a deep breath--"about our father."
Our father.
Our father. His and Elias's.
It takes a moment for the words to sink in. Then I order him to sit, and I lean forward.
"I'm listening."
*
After Harper leaves, I brave the slush and muck of the streets to head to the courier's office, where two packages have arrived from the Aquilla villa in Serra. The first is my midwinter gift for Livia. After checking to make sure it's intact, I open the second package.
I catch my breath at the glimmer of Elias's mask in my hand. According to a Kauf courier, Elias and a few hundred Scholar fugitives disappeared into the Forest of Dusk shortly after breaking out of the prison. A dozen Empire soldiers tried to follow, but their mangled bodies were found on the Forest's borders the next morning.
No one has seen or heard from the fugitives since.
Perhaps the Nightweed killed my friend, or perhaps the Forest did. Or perhaps, somehow, he found some other way to evade death. Like his grandfather and mother, Elias has always had an uncanny skill at surviving what would kill anyone else.
It doesn't matter. He's gone, and the part of my heart where he lived is dead now. I tuck the mask in my pocket--I'll find a place for it in my quarters.
I head for the palace, Livvy's gift nestled under my arm, mulling over what Avitas told me: The Commandant kept an eye on me in Blackcliff because it was my father's last request. At least, that's my suspicion. She's never acknowledged it.
I asked the Commandant to give me the mission to shadow you because I wanted to learn about Elias through you. I didn't know any more about our father than what my mother told me. Her name was Renatia, and she said my father never fit the mold that Blackcliff tried to force him into. She said he was kind. Good. For a long time, I thought she was lying. I've never been those things, so it couldn't be true. But perhaps I just didn't inherit my father's better traits. Perhaps they went to a different son.
I berated him, of course--he should have said something long ago--but after my anger and incredulity settled, I understood the information for what it was: a crack in the Commandant's armor. A weapon I can use against her.
The guards of the palace let me pass into the imperial wing with only nervous glances at each other. I have begun rooting out the enemies of the Empire--and I started here. Marcus can burn in the hells for all I care, but Livvy's marriage to him puts her in danger. His enemies will be hers, and I will not lose her.
Laia of Serra had the same type of love for her sibling. For the first time since meeting her, I understand her.
I find my sister sitting out on a balcony that overlooks her private garden. Faris and another Black Guard stand in the shadows a dozen feet away. I told my friend that he didn't need to take the posting. Guarding an eighteen-year-old girl is certainly not a coveted position for a member of the Blood Shrike's force.
If I'm going to kill, he'd said, I'd rather do it while protecting someone.
He nods a greeting to me, and my sister looks up.
"Blood Shrike." She stands but doesn't hug me or kiss me the way she once would hav
e, though I can tell she wants to. I nod to her room curtly. I want privacy.
My sister turns to the six girls who sit near her, three of whom are dark-skinned and yellow-eyed. When she first wrote to Marcus's mother, requesting that the woman send three girls from Marcus's extended family to serve as her ladies-in-waiting, I was stunned, as was every Illustrian family that had been passed over. The Plebeians, however, still talk about it.
The girls and their Illustrian counterparts disappear at Livia's gently given order. Faris and the other Black Guard move to follow us, but I wave them off. My sister and I enter her bedchamber, and I lay her midwinter gift on the bed and watch as she tears it open.
She gasps when the light shines off the ornate silver edges of my old mirror.
"But this is yours," Livia says. "Mother--"
"--would want you to have it. There's no place for it in the Blood Shrike's quarters."
"It is beautiful. Will you hang it up for me?"
I summon a servant to bring me a hammer and nails, and when he returns, I remove Livvy's old mirror and plug the spy hole behind it. Marcus will just have his spies cut a new one. But for now, at least, my sister and I can speak in private.
She sits on the vanity chair beside me as I hammer in a nail. When I speak, I keep my voice low.
"Are you all right?"
"If you're asking the same thing you've asked every day since the wedding"--Livvy lifts an eyebrow--"then yes. He hasn't touched me since the first time. Besides, I approached him that night." My sister lifts her chin. "I will not have him thinking I fear him, no matter what he does."
I suppress a shudder. Living with Marcus--being his wife--is Livvy's life now. My disgust and loathing of him will only make that more difficult. She did not speak to me of her wedding night, and I haven't asked.
"I walked in on him talking to himself the other day." Livvy looks at me. "It wasn't the first time."
"Lovely." I hammer in a nail. "An Emperor who is sadistic and hears voices."
"He's not crazy," Livvy says thoughtfully. "He's in control until he speaks about doing violence to you--just you. Then he gets twitchy. I think he sees his brother's ghost, Hel. I think that's why he hasn't touched you."
"Well, if he is haunted by Zak's ghost," I say, "I hope it sticks around. At least until--"