The city of Ocrae was significantly less dignified than either of its two sisters. Like the others, it was still run by the guilds, but here, they were less concerned with decorum. Known for being loud and garish, Ocrae was, as Jentt had once described it, the rebellious younger sibling who didn’t like to wear pants. Full of the hopeless and the hopeful, it was the city you went to when youwantedso desperately that it ate at you until you were willing to risk it all.
Wanted what? Well, that was up to you.
What is Marso doing here?Kreya wondered.
She rode the cable car up to the city center, squashed between Zera and Jentt. Twice the number of people were crammed into the cable car than was considered safe, and she kept her eye on the roof, as if she’d be able to do anything if it suddenly separated from the wire.
Beside her, Zera was unfazed. She’d already befriended ninety percent of the passengers and was regaling them with tales of half-tested talismans failing in spectacular ways and of wild parties where the revelers all used speed talismans to make love to as many people as possible.I don’t even want to know if that’s true,Kreya thought.
Catching Kreya’s eye, Zera winked, which meant either that she was making the whole thing up or that not only had Zera done it, but it had been her idea. With Zera, it was hard to tell.
Jentt murmured in her ear, “At least she’s distracting them from us.”
True.
No one had noticed that Kreya and Jentt were traveling with Zera. It helped that both of them kept the hoods of their coats up, and that no one expected them—a known hermit and a dead man—to be here. She hoped their anonymity would last.
With a jolt, the cable car reached its destination. The passengers lurched forward from the impact, and a woman who stank of cheap wine smashed up against Kreya. Untangling herself, Kreya squeezed out the door and checked the contents of her pockets.
Already she felt filthier than she’d ever felt in her dilapidated tower.
“I hate this place.” Out on the landing, Kreya was jostled as the other passengers flowed around her. She squinted up at the buildings, all of them with multiple spires, each painted a more garish color than the last. It gave her a headache.
Zera breezed past her. “I love it. Next time I send instructions to Guine, remind me to tell him I want to buy a second home here. Expand my business.” She waved at a few strangers who were staring at her and blew a kiss at another.
“You’re going to need to stop drawing attention to yourself or we’ll never get anywhere,” Kreya complained.
“Your wife is a spoilsport,” Zera told Jentt. “I don’t know how you tolerate her.”
With an absolutely straight face, Jentt said, “Because she’s excellent in bed.”
“Ah, that explains it. I’ve been baffled for years. Can’t be her personality.”
Jentt gave a fake shudder as they pushed their way through the crowds. “Definitely not. She’s much too bossy.”
“Mmm,” Zera agreed. “Always thinks she’s right.”
“And far too serious. So a guy dies. So what? She overreacts to everything.” Wrapping an arm around Kreya, he casually elbowed a few pedestrians out of the way.
“I hate you both,” Kreya said.
“Aw, I’m wounded.” Zera mimed a knife wound to the heart. “We mock because we love. You know that.” She skirted a clump of acrobats who had halted in the middle of the sidewalk to practice flips.
One of the acrobats tumbled in front of them, straight into a lamppost. He lay there upside-down, puckering his lips and flopping his hands like fins in an imitation of a beached fish.
“Sorry to disappoint, sweetie, but you are not a trout,” Zera informed the acrobat.
Kreya stepped around him.
Leaning down, Jentt pressed a coin into the acrobat’s hand. He then put his arms around both Kreya and Zera, and they plowed on through the crowded street.
“Where did you get that money?” Kreya asked when they were a block from the acrobats. “You didn’t have any coins.”
“Zera did.”
Yelping, Zera whacked his arm. “You picked my pockets.”
“Technically, one of the passengers on the cable car picked your pockets, and I rectified the situation. You’ll find that most of your coin has been returned to you.”
