Page 8 of House of Dusk
A scornful chirrup sounded from the far corner of the lavish room, as if in agreement. Yeneris glanced toward the confection of intricate copper bars that was more miniature castle than cage. Within, the princess’s ailouron was a blotch of darkness with baleful golden eyes. The creature chittered, clattering her sharp beak against the bars and half-extending gold-feathered wings, even as her feline hindquarters coiled to scratch yet another silken pillow to shreds. The Scarthian ambassador had gifted the beast to the princess only a few days earlier, and she’d already caused significant damage to Sinoe’s bed linens and several ornamental plants, not to mention Yeneris’s nerves. Even Sinoe had been forced to consent to caging the beast after Tami had scratched one of her handmaids.
If only the princess herself were so easy to keep safe.
Yeneris tossed the note into the nearby brazier, waiting just long enough to be certain it had caught fully, that there would be no scraps to betray her. Then she stalked over to the window.
An ancient wisteria clambered up from below, veiling the wide casement with frothy greenery. Leaning out, Yeneris surveyed the twisting vine. She doubted it would hold her own weight, but Sinoe seemed to be built of thistledown and sunlight.
There. Yeneris plucked something from the leaves below. A single thread of long, silky reddish-brown hair. Swiftly, silently, she slung herself over the casement, her fingers finding the ridges between the stone. A few moments later, she thumped onto the soft soil of the gardens. She dared not risk a lamp, but the frail silver light of the full moon was enough to reveal the imprint of sandals in the earth. Steps leading away, toward the far wall. Toward the city.
Where was the girl headed? Fates, please not a love-tryst. The girl was utterly obsessed with romantic poetry. No doubt she would think it thrilling to sneak out to meet some paramour, no matter the scandal.
It was almost enough to send Yeneris back up the wall. She didn’t care one shred for Sinoe’s reputation. If the girl were disgraced, it would hurt Hierax.
Remember the mission, she told herself.Stick close to the sibyl. She is our path to recover the kore and hold the ancient vows.
Yeneris gritted her teeth, biting down on the promise like a hound with a bone. She carried it with her as she set off across the dark garden, following the trail of the wayward princess.
• • •
It wasnota romantic tryst. But it was still staggeringly outrageous. When Yeneris finally found Sinoe, an hour later, it was deep in the lower city, in the middle of a crowd gathered to watch a troupe of capering acrobats performing along the steps to the old necropolis.
Yeneris had to give the girl some credit. She’dtriedto conceal her identity. Or at least, that was presumably the intention of the ragged shawl wrapped around Sinoe’s head and shoulders. Unfortunately, it did little to disguise the fine gown underneath, six layers of linen so thin that you could read a scroll through each one. It was a small miracle no one had stolen the gold ring glittering on the girl’s right thumb, clearly visible as she flung her thin arms into the air, cheering with abandon. Fates, where had she learned to whistle like a common sailor?
Yeneris halted on the outskirts of the crowd. Her uniform was meant to fade into the background: a simple red-brown tunic, a darker woolen over-cloak to keep back the evening chill and to hide the hilts of the twin short swords at her waist. She had five other blades hidden about her person. Even the Master of Guards hadn’t found the smallest, when he searched her during her audition. Nor had she told him. It was one of her many secrets.
She had to be cautious. Not risk drawing any further attention than Sinoe—stupid, ridiculous girl—had already. If she thought she could get away with it, Yeneris might have knocked the princess over the head and carried her back to the palace. Instead, she was going to have to try to convince Sinoe to leave willingly.Trybeing the key word.
Yeneris drew a bracing breath, then began threading her way through the crowd, using her elbows as needed to clear the path.
Up on the morbid, makeshift stage, a very beautiful woman in a gauzy green tunic was now bending herself into shapes that made the crowd—and Yeneris—hiss with mixed fascination and horror.
Sinoe watched, her hands clasped together under her chin, lips parted. How could she still be such a child, after twenty-five years of life? Yeneris strained through her own memories. Hadsheever looked at anything in the world with that sort of wide-eyed wonder? Maybe once, long ago. But Yeneris had been seven when the war began. The war that this foolish girl had started.
She shoved the thoughts away. It was the future she served. And she needed Sinoe to claim that future.
Yeneris spun a drunk woman gently to one side, slid past a man as he turned to shout something to a friend across the crowd, and suddenly there she was, beside Sinoe.
“Princess,” Yeneris muttered, bending to ensure only Sinoe heard the word. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Sinoe turned abruptly, her eyes going even larger. Not with chagrin or fear or guilt, or even imperious condescension, which would have made sense. No, the princess turned those enormous brown eyes up to Yeneris with a look of absolute delight that made Yeneris’s heart do something odd in her chest.
“Yeneris! You did follow me! Good. Look at her! Isn’t she amazing?” Sinoe gestured, the gold ring winking provocatively, toward the acrobat, who had currently contorted herself into a shape that reminded Yeneris of an Idrani bread knot.
Itwasamazing. But it was also beside the point. Sinoe did not belong here, and it was Yeneris’s job to get her back to the palace. Preferably without anyone realizing who she was.
“Princess,” she tried again. “Your father forbids you to leave the palace without a suitable escort.”
Sinoe waved a dismissive hand. “I have a suitable escort.”
Yeneris frowned, scanning nearby. She saw no sign of any royal guard. Only a churning crowd of cityfolk, cheering and gasping and tossing back cups of wine from the nearby taverna. “Where?”
Sinoe laughed. It wasn’t what Yeneris expected, not some insipid giggle, but a resonant chuckle that made something tickle in the back of her own throat. She swallowed. “What’s so funny?”
“It’syou,” Sinoe said. “You’re my escort.”
Yeneris ground her teeth, trying a different tactic. “Then as your escort, princess, I must beg you to return to the palace. It’s not safe here.”
Sinoe arched a brow. “You don’t think you can keep me safe?”
