“Better that than the future Amber Empress wandering around the Paper City, blind drunk, past curfew, when there are Red Masks trying to kill her.”
He had a point. He half carried me to the bed, then hoisted me onto the mattress and tossed a blanket on me.
“’S your bed,” I feebly protested.
He sank to the floor, pillowing his head on his elbow. “I’ve slept on harder surfaces, Sylvie.”
I drifted through the dusk toward Midnight, but an urgent thought flamed across my mind.
“I didn’t tell anybody where I was going.”
“You idiot.” Luca’s laugh sounded distant. “Of course you didn’t.”
“Sunder’s gon’ be so worried.”
The last thing I heard before I surrendered to sweet oblivion was Luca’s voice.
“Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe it’s you who’s in love with him.”
Ileft Luca’s apartment after fifth Matin feeling like I’d been kicked in the head by a horse with a grudge.
Luca had woken me fifteen minutes earlier with a glass of lukewarm water in one hand and that Scion-cursed liquor bottle in the other.
“Rehydrate, then take a bite of the beast that rode you.” He sloshed the amber liquid. “It might make you feel better.”
I nearly gagged. I slurped the water like a greedy child and tried not to look at the alcohol.
“I wanted to let you sleep.” Luca seemed annoyingly entertained by my misery. “But they’re looking for you.”’
“Who?”I surged to my feet. The movement made me feel even worse, which I didn’t think was possible. My stomach heaved, and I flung out an arm to steady myself against the wall.
Luca had the grace to look sympathetic. “Everybody.”
I cursed, and made for the door. Lucatsked, flopped my cape over my shoulders, and threaded my arm through his.
“Bad enough you came here alone,” he said. “But it’ll be my head if I let you go back without an escort.”
We hurried down the rickety stairs and through the mud-slopped street. The Paper City during Matin was a different place—humanity ebbed and surged around me like a noisy ocean. Light filtered harsh between listing buildings. Odors slapped me in the face, and I breathed through my mouth to keep my nausea at bay.
We were halfway up the winding, terraced streets of the Échelles—spitting distance from the palais—when I heard hoofbeats on cobblestones and saw a pair of riders canter around the corner. It took me a long minute to recognize their livery—I still wasn’t used to seeing red and kembric surcoats glinting in the low sunlight. They were Gavin’s household garde—what had he called them?
Husterri.
They barely slowed as they approached. My stomach throbbed with acid and guilt, and I hid my face deeper into my cloak. Scion, let them not see me. But Luca waved them down. They reined their steeds, impatient.
“Looking for the dauphine?” He yanked back my hood, cheerful. “I hope there’s a reward, because you found her.”
The soldat lifted his fingers to his lips and loosed a piercing whistle. I heard more hooves round the corner, and another half dozen riders thundered up. My stomach gathered rocks when I saw cracked-agate eyes beneath waving mahogany hair.
Gavin.
Could this day get any worse?
“Lady Mirage!” He flashed one of his dazzling smiles. “You’re safe! Glad we found you at last.”
I sniffed with as much dignity as I could muster. “I wasn’t lost.”
“Perhaps not.” He laughed, shooting a glance at Luca. “Still, you had everyone worried. Enough for them to summon me from Jardinier to join the search. Who’s your friend?”
