Page 22 of A Court of Masks and Roses
“Looks like everyone is back where they started,” I tell Cameron, sliding Luca’s coins into my pocket to return later. Cameron grunts, but I’m done with games for the evening.
“Not bad, cub.” Luca goes to clap my back and then thinks better of it. “Will you join us? You’ve earned yourself a drink.”
Trace’s jaw tightens. He might tolerate—even teach—Kal at morning training, but plainly, spending his liberty hours with me is low on his list. Not that I blame him. Spending liberty time with Trace is low on my list as well.
“No, but thank you.” Separating from Luca, I sit myself at the bar, angling a stool to watch Wil, who is still talking with the girls, and Samuels, whose day and night jobs still rub me oddly. Is a rose moonlighting as a terror monger, or is a terror monger feigning a Holy Guard allegiance? More to the point, how many Viva Sylthia members are hiding in plain sight, leading public lives?
“Might I welcome you to the Wandering Dog, guardsman?” A pretty blonde with a melodic voice perches on a stool beside me.
I push my own stool away. “I’m quite all right, thank you.”
The girl follows.
Luca, back at a table with Trace, salutes me with his mug. “Enjoy,” Luca mouths, and I swallow a groan. Bloody stars. The girl is hired and paid for.
“I’m Sonia.” Her fingers slide toward mine. Clearly, she has no intention of risking her business or reputation by failing to properly seduce a young lad. “You have a name?”
“Luca-killer,” I mutter, shooting my benefactor a dagger-filled glare.
“Killer, I like that.” The girl traces the curve of my ear. “Very strong.”
“It is actually Kal.” I push my chair back another foot. “And I’d prefer to spend the evening alone. No offense intended, Sonia. You are very lovely.”
“Kal.” Sonia plays with the name on her lips. Her smile is kind and inviting. She’s about my age—my real age—but atthe moment, I feel as young as Kal looks. Sonia’s gaze brushes my hair and continues behind me, an eyebrow cocked in question. When the gaze returns to me, no doubt after visiting Luca, it’s more determined than ever. Sonia reaches toward my thigh and the appliances that I am very much missing.
I block her hand.
Sonia studies me with the air of a cook determined to pluck an evasive chicken. “Will you take a walk with me, Kal? I could do with a bit of air.” She grabs my collar and pulls me none too gently toward the back until the sounds of rutting applause from the onlookers make it impossible to do anything but follow. Bloody Wil, my last line of defense, gives me a thumbs-up.
In a moment, the cool evening wind is kissing my skin and the sounds of the Wandering Dog dampen behind the shut door. At least now I know what might have brought Novan into the back alley.
“I like the bit of quiet, don’t you?” Sonia asks, all but pinning me against the wall. She places a gentle finger on my face, tracing my cheekbone. “You’ve not done this before?” she says kindly.
I grasp both her wrists and hold them a safe distance from me. “Whatever Luca paid you, I’ll double it if you say we did it and... and... that I was good. All right?” I clear my throat, changing tack. “Wasn’t someone killed here not long ago?” I ask before Sonia can return to her original mission of corrupting Kal. “A guardsman trainee, like me?”
Sonia nods reluctantly. “It happens.”
“Got drunk and got dead?”
“It wasn’t like that.” Sonia pulls her arms from my grip and wraps them around herself, a flash of grief sparking in her eyes. “Novan... Novan was kind and not usually one forexcess. I don’t want him remembered as a drunk just because of one bad night.”
“He picked the wrong night to change his habits,” I mutter.
“He had a bad night,” she says again, gazing down at her feet. “He told me that a girl he cared deeply for had fallen in with the wrong type of people. The day he was killed, he had tried to get her to come back and... well, rejection will put anyone in his cups for a night.” Her eyes return to me, professional once again. “Enough about such things.” She ruffles my hair. “You are downright adorable, Kal. If you’ve no wish to doit, perhaps you’ve some questions aboutitthat I might help with?”
The questions I have are more to do with Samuels’s trade than Sonia’s, but I little want to raise her suspicions. Plus, I’ve had both Samuels and Wil out of my sight for longer than I’d like already. Taking off my cloak, I wrap it around Sonia’s shoulders and place my hand on the small of her back, the way men do. “We should head back inside,” I say, slipping the promised coin into her pocket as I steer her toward the door.
The greeting applause—unabashedly led by Luca—is enough to turn my face the appropriate shade of burgundy to support their theories.
“A strong buck, this one,” Sonia says, winking in my direction as she returns my cloak.
Except I’m not paying attention to Sonia anymore because the table where I left Wil not five minutes ago is empty.
13
VIOLET
“Avaliant effort, Lady Violet, but I fear your answers slightly missed the mark.” The tutor’s words were perfectly polite, but Violet saw the disdain lurking in his eyes. They sat beside each other at a large, polished table in the palace library, the glass covering some of the most valuable tomes on the shelf in front of them reflecting the expressions Master Tril thought safely hidden from Violet’s sight. The tutor had never liked her, not since it became apparent at an early age that none of Wil’s cleverness had bothered to visit her. Even at fourteen, Violet’s head ached from trying to read. The letters and numbers turned and jumped about the page like ants, and she’d grown sick of fighting this losing battle years ago.
