“Nohe, it is good to see you.” I smiled when she blinked in surprise, her lips twitching up and her eyes crinkling.
“We are glad to be back in your service,” she said.
“I see you have already been busy,” I said mildly, taking a seat on the couch.
“I thought it best, given that Quuri did not provide you with your own steward.” Her tone was mild, the chastisement subtle, but I heard it anyway.
“We have been very busy,” I said.
“It should not be your job to see to your own attendants.” Nohe gestured sharply and one of the servants behind her jumped into motion, serving me a glass of water from the pitcher on the sideboard. I drank it gratefully. There had been too much talking at dinner as we worked out the logistics.
“We will be traveling very soon. Will you be able to ready everything?” I studied the glass in front of me, rubbing my thumb over a droplet of water.
“Of course.” Nohe nodded, turning it into nearly a bow before straightening. “Is there anything else you need, Your Highness?”
“What happened to the rest of the servants from Turtle House?” I asked. “General Saxu gave us some idea, but his focus was on other things. Did any others survive the fire?”
Nohe wet her lips. “There were not many of them left in the palace when the fire began.”
Good. That meant many of them had fled like so many others after we left, hopefully back to their homes, or even to the city where they might have blended in. Hopefully General Bemishuhad been more gracious with his prisoners than General Kacha had inside the palace.
“And those that were inside the palace?” I asked.
“Some died.” Nohe glanced at Homisu, who was studiously looking at the stone floor. “But those that survived with us decided to seek their fortune elsewhere once we were clear of the capital.”
I released a slow breath, feeling some relief, even as I knew Nohe was purposefully keeping some of the tragedy from me. She hadn’t given exact numbers of how many had been killed, how many had survived, and how many had scattered like a herd of deer fleeing at the crunch of dry leaves under a hunter’s foot.
“What about Nuti? And Tilo? They worked in the bathhouse?” I asked.
“They escaped,” Nohe said, she fidgeted and I felt a stab of worry that she was lying, but then she raised her chin. “I know you were quite fond of Nuti, so I gifted her with some coin from the Turtle House lockbox before she fled.”
“That was good,” I said. “She was a help to me when I was new to the palace.”
I started to ask another question, even though I knew this line of inquiry was like taking a knife to both Nohe and me and hoping to cut out the infection along with the flesh.
But a soft tap at the door interrupted me. I frowned, and one of the other servants jumped into motion, opening the door, her eyes moving down as she looked for the interloper.
Stiffening, she said, “Prince Hallu.”
“I’ve come to see Consort Airón. Is His Highness available?” Hallu’s voice was soft, and the servant glanced back at me before turning her gaze abruptly to Nohe.
I nodded, gesturing the boy in. Iradîo looked between the door and me before moving to an armchair in the corner of the room next to a window. Homisu bowed, moving back into my bedroom to, I assumed, get back to the complicated task of organizing and repairing my clothes.
Nohe walked to the door, gesturing the other two servants away. They fled quickly, and she bowed Prince Hallu into the room, subtly indicating for him to take a seat across from me. Moving to the sideboard, she poured him a glass of water, placing it in front of him before excusing herself.
A cool breeze entered the room, and I saw the dark flap of wings as Terror settled on the ledge where Iradîo had just opened the window. Within a few moments, Dawn and Ratcatcher had joined him, each jostling for position. I returned my gaze to Prince Hallu, who sat impossibly straight, his feet hanging nearly half a foot above the floor, his spine not touching the back of the couch.
“Prince Hallu,” I finally greeted, belatedly realizing that, as his social superior, I needed to speak first. “It is extremely late.”
Hallu flinched, and I realized that my words would be taken as criticism rather than concern in the Imperium.
“I apologize for the hour. Is it too late to speak? I should have… Mother says if we’d been home, at the Mountainside Palace, we should have been at your wedding, and I could have shown you respect.” I could hear Koque in his words, the politeness, the delicacy, the way each one was carefully chosen for best effect.
“In no way can I blame you for your absence,” I said. “I think we both understand the reason behind it.”
“Do we?” Hallu asked, his eyes fixed on me. On his small face, they looked far older than his years, and I wondered if that was an effect of Centipede, or if it was simply the fact that he had been born to Empress Koque and spent the first three years of his life at the very heart of the Imperial Court.
“I believe so. We were both caught under the spell of the animalia Centipede. More than almost anyone else here, I understand the cost of his thrall. I am glad you are free now.” I kept my words flat, but there was an implied question in them I hoped he would answer.
