That was some comfort. But Mihály should know that it wasn’t his money or education that had the doors opening or the best table being pulled out.
Csilla leaned back as a carafe of fruit brandy and two glasses were brought to them.
‘We’ll take a bottle, but we only need one...’ Mihály started.
But Csilla grabbed her own glass and cut him off with a thank you to the staff. Perhaps it would ease her nerves.
‘You drink?’ he asked, pouring her a half glass of the pale drink that glimmered like a jewel. The syrupy scent stung her nose and took her back to the poison, when things had at least made a horrid kind of sense.
‘No,’ she admitted as she picked it up. There was wine in the cathedral stores, sacramental and ordinary, but no one ever offered either to her. But everyone else here was drinking. She could at least try to fit in.
‘To health and holiness.’
They clinked their glasses together, and Csilla took a small sip. It was sharp, with a slight linger of apricot that brightened on her tongue even as it burned.
When she looked up, Mihály had his hand resting on his chin, half-smiling at her. She turned her attention back to the brandy, took a gulp, and choked. Her dining companion said nothing, only passed her a linen napkin. Csilla was grateful when the bread was served and she could absorb the taste with dark rye.
More and more people were coming in, spotted furs and tall hats. Csilla recognised a few from their parading into the cathedral, others were looking around like they’d never seen the room. Early pilgrims come to greet the Incarnate’s return, then.Or refugees. Wealth didn’t protect people from Shadow, though perhaps it guarded them from other things. There’d been no murders on the finely maintained streets of this district.
Yet another reason they shouldn’t be wasting their time here, even if the bread was fresh and the wine plentiful. It was a mockery to sit here and feast while evil went unchecked.
Mihály’s foot brushed her ankle under the table, and she jumped, rattling the drink again.
‘You look very dour for someone dressed so prettily. Smile, will you?’
She tried, but the stretch of her cheeks hurt. ‘I’m thinking. We don’t even have a plan—’
‘Exactly.’ He nudged her again, toe skimming her calf as she stared. ‘I’m no ascetic. I refuse to sit in the dark wearing haircloth and wait for a revelation when I might as well do it with an elegant dinner and charming company.’
Csilla examined the surface of the brandy, the colour close to the magic stirred by souls. The dinner was certainly elegant, but she knew she was lacking in charm. She wasn’t even sure how she would put on a show of it.
She took another sip. Maybe it would help. ‘So you were expelled?’
Mihály winced as his own drink went down wrong and he snatched the napkin back.
‘So much for the charming company. But yes. My ideas weren’t any more popular at school than they are with the Church. It’s their loss.’
‘And you knew Evaline at school? And that’s how you know Madame Varga. And Tamas.’
He nodded, though his eyes stayed on his glass. ‘Yes, Tamas quickly took me under his wing when I entered school, though I think he may have just wanted the distinction of being my mentor. Evie was two years below me. I was her tutor, at first. Her mother was always a great help to my accounts.’
So there was a time when he was fine with Madame Varga’s charity. Csilla pressed her lips together. She was hardly one to judge.
A young man in a dark coat beckoned to Mihály from across the room, and Mihály raised his hand in an answering wave.
‘Another admirer?’ Csilla asked, grateful for the distraction. Her questions had dragged a gloomy cloud over what was already an awkward meal.
‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘No. Why don’t you go talk to him.’ She pushed away from the table and stood. She didn’t belong here. She wanted to think. To be alone. ‘You can ask them if they know anything. I’d rather just go...’
There was no home. There was a Church who didn’t want her and a fine and draughty house she didn’t know.
‘I’ll go with you, then.’ A desperation had lit in his eyes, and she flinched.
‘I’m just tired. I’m not running away. This has been a lot for me.’ Her eyes dropped at the intensity of his expression. No one had ever cared that much about where she was. ‘Please, stay and enjoy yourself. I’m sure you’ll have more fun if I’m not here falling asleep into my soup.’
He studied her for a moment, then nodded.
