“Except for Mistress Selethis,” Dori said. “She’s hisofficialgirlfriend.”
He had a girlfriend? Not that I cared. I sat up straighter, ignoring the sudden tightness in my chest. “And she’s okay with him fucking other women?”
“Seems like it,” Clary said.
What did I care about his sexual antics? “I need to get some sleep.”
“Lock your door,” Benedict said, suddenly all serious. “The locks here activate wards to keep unwelcome things out.”
So that’s why Vitra had insisted on it. “Noted. Thanks.”
I left them to their conversation and headed to my room, where I closed and locked the door. I was too tired to bathe, so I stripped off and climbed into bed. I’d wake early and have a soak.
Pulling the covers up, I turned onto my side so I was facing the dresser. Sleep washed over me, and my eyes were tugging closed when something moved in the mirror. My adrenaline spiked, knocking me momentarily wide awake. But there was nothing there. Just a trick of my tired mind.
Sinking back into the mattress, I activated one of my more enviable skills.
I switched off.
* * *
Polina wasat my door at eight fifty-five a.m. She was a pretty woman with the delicate features of a porcelain doll but had the expression of someone who’d smelled something off. Dori’s sour face comment from last night made complete sense.
She raked me over, taking in my wide-leg gray trousers, cream blouse, fitted gray waistcoat, and calf-length brown wool coat—one of the most expensive outfits I owned. Polina sniffed derisively, then ordered me to follow her.
Was there something wrong with what I was wearing? It was the standard fare for Arcanus. Natural fabrics in neutral shades. Granted, the ensemble was a little rumpled from being tightly packed into my pack, but the coat covered most of the creases. It wasn’t too bad…was it?
I hadn’t bothered dressing this way in Carlston, opting to don cotton and leather to fit in with the local fashions, but was I not looking the part now?
Irritation flared in my chest. Fuck her for making me second guess myself.
We took a different route than the one I’d taken with Vitra, and once again, I was struck by the number of corridors occupying this tower. It broke the laws of physics, but then, the Weave had its own laws.
Polina ushered me through a door and out onto a stone walkway, high above the neatly clipped grounds below that stretched away from Bramble Tower, as if reaching for the froth-coated sea beyond. The walkway ended in a stone arch.
Salt kissed my skin, and a gusty wind picked up my hair, lifting it away from my face before slapping it back against my cheeks.
Polina hurried toward the arch. “Come on.”
What was it with this place and heights? I followed, veering toward the balcony so I could grip the rail for stability.
From this vantage point, the grounds were a honeycomb of grass, gravel, and cement, bordered by stretches of woodland. Several domed buildings were visible to the right of the tower. They were made of glass that glinted in the shafts of sunlight that pierced the heavy cloud cover.
The coast of the inlet was a dull gray stretch of sand in the distance, with towers rising on either side of the majestic Main Building that sat on an island in the sea. Five towers… No—six, there was one wreathed in mist far beyond the Main Building.
It looked like an optical illusion, the island that housed the Main Building couldn’t possibly be large enough to house the tower wreathed in mist unless…
I hurried to catch up with Polina. “Is there another island behind the Main Building?”
She ignored the question, pressing her palm to the arch at the end of the walkway. It lit up a soft blue. A port. “There is no direct way to the Main Building from Bramble,” she said, ignoring my question. “We’ll take the port to the eastern bridge and go on foot over the sea. You will go first.”
I didn’t like the sly edge to her smile. “Why?”
“Because the port will close after me. You have not been attuned to it.”
“I managed to get through the Border House port just fine.”
“Yes, I delivered your sample to him yesterday morning.”
