“Yes?”
“It’s Adraa.”
Papers stir, a chair screeches against stone. “Come in.”
Naupure gives a little start of surprise as I enter. “Hughes didn’t tell me you were here.”
“I’m sorry, I ditched him.”
“Wondered when you would start to do that.” Naupure’s eyes widen a little as he processes the parade of fabric I’m wearing. “You’re all dressed up.”
“Yes, well, I got blood on my other clothes.”
Naupure bursts out laughing. “Not yours, I hope,” he says as we both sit.
“No, I was cutting out a goat’s liver before setting out.”
He smiles brightly. “Some days I just can’t wait until you are living here.”
I squirm in my seat, fixing how the lehenga falls around me. Naupure and I hardly ever talk about the impending marriage. That’s why we get along so well. I should have expected this, though. Jatin home. Me in fancy attire. Suddenly, it all seems real. Iwouldone day live in this palace instead of my own.
I gesture to my outfit. “Don’t go expecting this on a daily occasion.” I don’t mind more traditional wear like lehengas or saris, really, only flying had been too difficult for words, and I know I can’t train in it either, meaning in one single day I would have to change three times to get anything done. That sounds like the most absurd waste of time.
Naupure’s chest shakes as he chuckles. “I’ll be sure to set my expectations.”
I sense a pause and go for it. I need to change this conversation before I can’t think properly about what really matters. “There has been a new development in Project Smoke.”
“I assumed when I got your letter.”
“Oh, good. I was thinking…”How should I word this?
“What?”
“Nothing,” I say. I can’t tell him how all the women in my life assumed he didn’t want to listen to me, but only reintroduce me to Jatin. A warm fluttery feeling soars through my chest. For Maharaja Naupure, Project Smoke is more important than me as a marital piece to maneuver around a board. But by now I should know better. It was Maharaja Naupure who comforted me when I broke down in this very office after Riya’s father was injured. It was Maharaja Naupure who hugged me tight and said, “Do you want me to help you find the culprits?”
I start by telling him the story of the thief, bypassing the carriage interaction altogether, but sharing my interrogation of Basu. “I got him to admit he was selling my firelight to a boy named Nightcaster.”
“As in—”
“Yes, I can’t imagine who else it could be. Which means Basu was selling directly to the Vencrin. I need to go back into the Underground to fight as Jaya Smoke and I’m going to find out why the Vencrin are hoarding firelight.”
“Hoarding? In your letter you said they were taking it and selling it for five silvers.”
“I thought so too, but I was in the East Village all yesterday giving shop owners orbs of firelight. I mark the orbs to let people know how long the firelight will last. Basu was either wrong or he lied to me. The East Village hasn’t received a shipment of one thousand firelights in two months. Firelight was up-charged because it has become so scarce. The North and South villages were affected too.”
“So, you question Sims, maybe even Nightcaster. If they say nothing or don’t know, what then?”
“Then I’m going to follow Nightcaster, see who he reports to. And I’m going to shut this corruption down.”
“Adraa, this mission was dangerous enough the first dozen times. And now you want to go outside of the cage-casting ring? If you push hard enough, you will be discovered.”
That’s a risk I’m willing to take. I want to prove myself, demonstrate I’m more than a one-armed Touch. But Maharaja Naupure works on logic. “Sims gives me more information the more I win. I’m doing well, well enough he might give up meeting times, shipments.” I pause, awaiting Naupure’s acceptance to my plan. Knowing he is behind me in this gives me a safety net. One I don’t think I could live without.
“So this mission isn’t about Mr. Burman or the drugs anymore.”
“It will always be about that. I’m not going to stop until the streets are clean. But I know what they’re doing with the drugs. What could they want firelight for?”
Naupure rests his chin in his hands. “I have a guess.”
