“Your passenger.”
The driver’s mouth pinched. “Do you have business?”
“Yes,” she lied.
The man’s gaze swept her up and down. “He’s gone to meet Mistress Farrentail.” He pointed to a large booth angled several stations down from the carriage. “I pity you if you’re lying.”
Lux sneered, but she said nothing else. Wiping at her swollen nose and finding nothing to be ashamed of, she pushed her way farther into the crowd.
She discovered the man easily enough after the driver’s direction. He wore a tall bowler hat and a fine black coat, and his shoes seemed impeccably polished. He hadn’t had to walk nearly as far as she had, sliding down mountainsides.
He appeared to already be in an intense discussion with a woman. One who wore more feathers than fabric, and whose hair was not any shade found in nature. Lux pretended to inspect a pail of wrinkled apples while the man gave up his entire leather bag in exchange for a vial.
Lux’s insides grew heavy. She tried to see the color of the contents in that small bottle, but it disappeared within his coat before she could manage it. When he turned around, she slid from his path.
Because shehadbeen lying. And because the driver’s warning had unnerved her a little.
She realized she wasn’t the only one to behave in this way. Several marketgoers gave him room. Some, she noted, cast down their eyes and folded their shoulders. Some offered smiles. Others stared from the safety of the crowd, wary. The man climbed back into the carriage and, for the first time, Lux noticed the emblem on the door. An ornate, silver ‘M’. She had no context for it and spun away before the driver could catch her stare. She made instead for the vendor.
“Hello.”
The woman blinked back at her from behind thick spectacles. “Good day. Interested in business or pleasure?”
Lux did a precursory sweep of the vendor’s display. All sorts of feathers were available for purchase; most were from creatures she’d never seen in her life. She recognized a crow feather, and that was all. “Business. I’m in the market for rare things. What do you sell that is most obscure?”
“Most obscure?” The woman peeled at the flaking rouge on her lips. “Well, now. I’ve not been askedthatin an age.” She raised a tinted eyebrow. “Obscure in what way?”
“Rare. Taboo. Expensive.”
A second eyebrow joined the first. “Are you good for it?”
Lux could see the leather bag partially exposed behind the woman’s stall. If it was full with goldquins, then she was certainly not. She reached into her pack. A handful of coins—and two seeds.
“I’m good for it.”
The woman crouched at once. When she rose, she held a vial identical to the one before. Lux’s heart beat in her ears. “Made from smoked phoenix feathers, though I won’t tell you more details than that. They’re drops for the eyes. Drip them on the dead and they’ll tell you how they died.”
It isn’t lifeblood.A relieved lightness swept through Lux—only to be followed by an odd, bitter disappointment.
“Interesting,” she said, and she meant it. It could be useful during a revival, for those invisible deaths. Not that it mattered much to her, but to those commissioning her for their loved ones? She could add the diagnosis for a small fee. Just enough to cover the cost. “How much?”
“Thirty goldquins.”
“Devil’s tits!”
The vendor reeled back. “Language, girl! This is a respectable market!”
But Lux had already clapped a hand over her mouth to avoid allowing anything else out. When her shock ebbed, she said, “Why so much?”
“Did you miss the part where I saidphoenix feathers? Those birds are as elusive as the devil and twice as cunning.”
“Sakes. I’ve never come across anything for such a high price before.” She released the coins in her purse and held onto only the seed. “What can I get for a gorgaseed?”
“A gorgaseed?” The vendor’s face fell as she replaced the vial. “I’m not sure I know anything about them, so I’ll say nothing, thank you.”
“A botanist called Edgar Dosem said if you swallowed the whole thing you’d lose your speech forever.”
“Dosem? Dosem…the mountain trader? Saints above, does it really? Well.” A devious gleam entered the woman’s eyes, and Lux felt abruptly sorry for whomever had wronged her. “It’s not worth the tincture, but I’ll trade you this.” She pulled at a feather in her scalp and winced when it came away. She held it out.
