Page 69 of Mistress of Bones
She nodded in understanding. “I asked for too much. Neither you nor your shadows nor your Order will harm me as long as I don’t use my gift. And my siblings, not ever.”
“That I can promise, and your siblings I have no reason to seek.”
They both knew the first part of the promise was moot—she’d have to use her gift again to raise Isadora—but Azul recognized the truth in the rest of his words. Surprising that he had agreed not to harm her family, as Enjul knew she meant to bring Isadora back and he had shown no compunction in killing Zenjiel, but he must be confident he could stop her before she got the chance.
Azul was happy to let him believe that. “We’ll talk, then.”
They retreated back into the plaza and found some seats at the shaded tables. Blue tabards were still lolling around, talking, drinking, and playing some kind of marbles game. Someone offered them cold drinks, and Azul realized the tables belonged to a nearby tavern.
Azul and Enjul faced each other, drinks and cold meats and cheese on a platter between them. Nobody paid them attention; her shadow lounged close by.
“Tell me what you truly saw at the exhibition,” Enjul asked.
Azul arched her brows. “I see now. Your plan was to wait for me to identify these people for you. You imagined yourself sweeping in after me, interrogating them, then ending their lives to correct the malady’s wrongs. A coup for you and your god.”
Enjul pierced her with a hard stare. “He’s your god too. You owe him for simply stopping your foulness and not your heart.”
Azul wondered if that was true. If she were such an offense, if the Lord Death were so powerful, wouldn’t he have taken her down with Isadora?
“Show your respect and help as you promised,” he continued. “Or is your word worth nothing?”
“If you won’t immediately kill the necromancer’s victims,” Azul said.
Enjul smiled coldly and sipped his drink. “You forget your place,Azul del Arroyo. You’ve had your freedom but become a liability, and I will have you sent back to Valanje whole or in pieces. Keep changing the terms of our deal, and you will make me wonder why we have a deal at all.”
“Very well,” Azul said. “Go around killing random people. Show yourself as the Emissary of the Lord Death and force my fellow malady into hiding. You think you will catch them unaware if all you do is produce a massacre and cause the Guard to investigate the bloodshed? You may have rights as an emissary, but the Lord Death is not the only god of these lands. Those speaking for the Lord Life and the Blessed Heart might have a problem with your bloodthirst.”
Enjul blinked. “How many walking corpses have you seen?”
“Three, so far.” Azul saw no harm in telling him this much, since he couldn’t find them on his own. “One belongs to the blue tabards, the others I don’t know. But who knows how many more there might be?”
“The maladyisgetting ears in every building,” he muttered, followed by another sip.
Azul wasn’t fooled by the apparent ease of his posture. He was trying to hide his thoughts from her, even if the mask already did a good job. “I think so too.” After a slight hesitation, she added, “I have a proposal.”
“Another deal?” he asked wryly.
“Indeed, I grow them in my garden. But think of it as a refinement rather than a new weed. You might be able to recognize this other necromancer like you recognized me, but your choice to shed your emissary status makes it impossible to access the upper echelons of Cienpuentes.”
“It has its drawbacks,” he conceded.
“You can hire people to look for you, like you hired my shadow to follow me around, but without my help, you’re stuck at hoping someone will cross your path. The necromancer wasn’t at the exhibition, since you still haven’t found them, but not all the court was there, and they must belong to it. Otherwise, why the need for these spies so conveniently located? How else would they have access to an ambassador’s second-in-command long enough to see them dead and brought back to life? I’d bet a fair coin a lot of the nobles probably watched theexhibition from the cooling shadows of the rooms surrounding the plaza, not out in the open with the sweat and the heat.”
“An easy assumption.”
Her smile was as glacial as his. “Noche Verde is coming up. The court is out of mourning and will put on splendid balls. All the court will be in attendance—easy pickings for you.”
“The thought has occurred to me.”
“I have secured invitations on my own. You could accompany me and my brother, and nobody would think it weird he brought his guests along. He’s a marquess; he will be allowed at all the balls.” She had meant the second invitation for Nereida, guessing if they were to make a desperate move, that would be the time, but this could work as well. Easier to slip his reach in the coming days if he had something to look forward to.
“You assume I cannot gain entrance on my own.”
Azul took a bite of one of the chunks of cheese. “You would have to announce yourself as the emissary. News that one of you is in town would spread like free-flowing wine, and the necromancer will hide until you’re gone. But as of now,” she pointed out, “because you haven’t gone on a rampage, the victims remain where they are. The necromancer is unaware of your presence.”
“I could simply procure the invitations under my name, and only those involved would know of my status.”
“Your people have already been compromised—the necromancer killed your ambassador’s second-in-command, and you don’t know who else might be under their control or we would be staying at Valanje’s official house in Cienpuentes instead of my brother’s.”
