The Mask of Mirrors by M. Carrick; (lightest ebook reader txt) 📗

girl. If even House Traementis was invited, Mettore Indestor must be casting a broad net.

“Of course. Alta Faella wouldn’t accept anything less than the entire city turning out for her grandniece.”

All the parts of it she cares to acknowledge, at least.

As Tess moved down to her hem, Giuna stuck one bare toe out from under the dress and said, “Do you know how to dance? Our local dances, I mean. We could teach you. I’m sure Sibiliat would help, and Leato.”

Tess giggled. “I’m sure he would.”

“Tess!” Renata’s voice was reproving, as if they hadn’t discussed in advance how to tease information out of Giuna. “Please forgive her, Alta Giuna. I’m afraid I’ve spoken too familiarly to her about your brother—the fault is mine.”

Giuna laughed off Renata’s apology. “No, she’s right. Leato likes you.”

“It isn’t that. I shared with her some of the gossip about him, and I shouldn’t have. I meant it to show that he wasn’t like the rumors say, but—”

“He really isn’t,” Giuna said earnestly. “I don’t know what he’s doing when he goes out, but it isn’t what people think.”

“Oh?” Renata said, but her attempt at casual inquiry failed. Giuna hesitated, fiddling with the edge of her sleeve.

Despite her best efforts, Ren hadn’t managed to figure out what was keeping Leato so busy, except that it regularly took him to parts of town she wouldn’t expect any Liganti cuff to visit. He adored his sister; that was obvious. He might have shared with her whatever clandestine activities he’d been up to—but first Renata had to tip the girl over into speaking. “I promise, I won’t share any secrets.”

“Not even with Mother. Or Leato. She doesn’t know, and he doesn’t know I know,” Giuna said rapidly. “I don’t know why he wants her to think he’s acting like a wastrel, but he’s gone to a lot of trouble to make her think it, and please, you can’t say anything—”

“Of course I won’t, Giuna.”

She’d been saving her first use of the girl’s unadorned name for a key moment, and it did the trick. “People say he comes home drunk, but once his gloves are off, he’s as sober as Sebat,” Giuna said. “I’ve seen it. And you watched him fence Mistress Ryvček—is a drunkard’s hand ever that steady? And… sometimes he comes and goes from his balcony window.”

Now isn’t that interesting.

Giuna hopped down from the settee and clasped Renata’s hands. “I’m telling you because you are family. I’m Nadežran enough to say that, even though you aren’t in the register.”

“To you and Leato, at least.” Renata let her smile dim as though Giuna’s words were more troubling than encouraging; it wasn’t far from true. “But that only makes me worry more. Why does he encourage that sort of gossip? Especially when he knows it bothers your mother so much?”

Tess stripped off the mock-up, giving Giuna a few moments to stew. When she looked up from her bare toes, her lips were pressed flat with determination.

“I’m not certain, but it’s gotten worse since… You’ve heard about Kolya Serrado, yes? Mother mentioned him when you came to dinner.”

Renata hadn’t forgotten. “Yes—Captain Serrado’s brother. He died, I believe. Or rather, the Rook killed him.”

Giuna nodded. “Grey used to come by, to spend time with Leato. But the Gloria was the first time I’d seen him since right after Kolya died. And Leato used to go out, but not nearly as often as he has since then.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, even though there was no one in the room to hear other than Renata and Tess. “I think Leato’s trying to hunt down the Rook. For Grey’s sake.”

There were paper toys from Seteris that transformed when you tugged on them, collapsing into an entirely new shape. Ren’s thoughts felt like one of those toys. Hunting the Rook…

Many people had tried. Leato didn’t even have the resources of the Vigil to call on, like Captain Serrado did; for that matter, the entire combined might of the Aerie had failed for generations.

But that wouldn’t necessarily stop Leato. Maybe he’d been following them in Lacewater, using Mezzan as a sacrificial offering, knowing the Rook was likely to go after the man for maiming Ivic Pilatsin. Waiting in the shadows for a chance to pursue—and then, when that failed, going out again and again, seeking places where the Rook might strike.

Ren believed in Leato the dedicated friend more than Leato the wastrel. I’m afraid revenge will break him—that was what he’d said about Grey that night, in the Talon and Trick.

So Leato, in the grand tradition of his house, would get revenge on his behalf.

Giuna swept Renata’s hands up in her own. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t burden you with troubles like this—not when you’re doing so much for us.” She paused and then brightened, as if an idea had just come to her. “We should do something for you in return. When is your natal day? We should celebrate it!”

The question pricked Ren’s spine like the tip of a knife. Giuna’s sudden change of subject was blatantly artificial, but her eyes showed no hint of suspicion.

It was just coincidence that she had asked on Ren’s actual birthday.

“Colbrilun,” she lied. “The twenty-ninth.”

Giuna pouted. “Oh, bother—that’s months away. But you’ll be turning twenty-three, yes? What city did you say you were from in Seteris—Endacium? Is that where you were born?”

“Yes,” Renata said, tension and suspicion curling through her like twin snakes.

“A-and what time were you born?”

Giuna was as transparent as The Face of Glass. The only reason to ask for Renata’s time of birth was so an astrologer could calculate her natal chart.

Donaia put her up to this. The woman was ready to use Renata’s services in the Charterhouse, but her suspicions still hadn’t gone away. “Around sixth sun, I believe,” Renata said, choosing the time at random. She didn’t know the first thing about astrology. What answers would that false chart give?

“That’s the mock-up done,” Tess said, standing and drawing Giuna’s attention. The little shake