“I can’t leave Baldbeak out here,” I said. “He’ll freeze.”
Mieka sighed. “Is he house-trained?”
“Yes,” I lied, giving him a stern look. He rattled his feathers.
“He’senormous,” said the younger girl, still wide-eyed.
“He can stay on the curtain rail, for now,” said Mieka. “But first sign of bird shit, and he’s out.”
I will try to hide it, Baldbeak said to me, fluffing himself up and trying to look innocent—difficult for a hulking black bird with enormous claws. I supposed that was the most I could expect.
Mieka stamped her feet to get the worst of the water off her boots and went inside. Baldbeak and I followed suit, and the door clanged behind us, sounding both ominous and decidedly final. I hoped that the magician had truly been helpful in sending me to Mieka, because I didn’t see any graceful way out of the situation now.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the candlelight, but when they did, I saw a low-ceilinged room with curtains draped across at intervals. Piecemeal rows of shelves and bunks were visible behind, and a low wooden table squatted in the center. There was a chaos of boots and slippers all over the floor by my feet—a dozen pairs at least. Baldbeak flew from my shoulder to the top of one of the flimsy curtain rails, making it creak ominously with his weight.
Mieka unlaced her boots. I knelt down and tried to do the same, but my fingers shook with cold, and I couldn’t manage the laces. She turned to me and started untying my boots with deft, rough tugs.
“Is she staying?” said the girl who had answered the door, standing on one leg and observing me with suspicion. She was several years younger than me—fifteen? Sixteen? It was hard to tell—and very small, but her face was as sharp and cynical as an old woman’s, giving her a ferretish look.
“Yes,” said Mieka briefly. She had finished with my shoes and rocked back on her heels.
Other faces had started to peek out from behind the curtains—curious or irritated, depending. Ferret Girl wasdefinitely more irritated than curious. All girls and young women, not a boy among them. An unwelcome suspicion started to rise.
“The girls,” said Mieka briefly, waving a hand at them in vague introduction.
“What is this place?” I asked slowly.
“You’re not in any position to be picky.”
“No, but I am in a position to worry about being recruited to a brothel, if that’s what this is.”
Mieka snorted and gave me a look that made me want to shrivel down into my boots. “A brothel? Hardly. Although what would be so wrong with that? Do you think you’re better than that work?”
I flushed. “No.”
“Because you’re not. It’s honest work. More honest than what we do here.”
“I’m sorry. But … then what is it?”
“A workshop.”
“What kind of workshop?”
“An illegal one.” She raised an eyebrow, studying my face for my reaction.
“… Oh.”
“We take in goods and … improve them before selling. Is that going to be a problem?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I mean … I don’t think I understand.”
“Have you been living under a log your whole life?” She sighed. “We’re on the river here, and we’re a trade hub, right? So we get people coming in from all over. They need goods to buy, and places to drink and entertain themselves. Goods to buy—that’s where we come in. Little stuff—jewelry, fine clothes, trinkets. Places to drink and entertain themselves, well. There are two, maybe three big players who own all the gentleman’s clubs, gambling hells, casinos, and theaters in the city, and control the black market. Ladran is the biggest. They havethe Watch in their pocket, for the most part, and the Temple turns a blind eye if they pay their tithe—and a bit extra. Then there’s us. We’re like … the dog under the table, waiting for crumbs to drop. It means we only get crumbs, but it also means we never get into too much bother. Not like the bigwigs.”
Another young woman entered the room: beautiful, enviably so, with the out-in-out curves of a fuchsia blossom. She wore a full-skirted coat, cinched in at the waist with a sash, and a pair of boots so exquisitely shaped that they could have been displayed as a piece of sculpture. Her eyes sought me out as soon as she entered, but she shrugged off her coat and removed her boots before she spoke.
“A new one?” she said to Mieka.
“Found her outside,” said Mieka. She turned to me. “This is my partner, Zlata.”
