Page 28 of The House of the Red Balconies

Hylas had put the crowning glory on Zo’s achievement by falling asleep, leaning against a pillar and wrapped in his cloak like a soldier on a night watch. Zo reached over and shook him gently by the shoulder after Timon was gone.

“Hm?” Hylas’s eyes popped open, unfocussed. “Oh dear, I really fell asleep, didn’t I?”

“You certainly did.” Zo gave him an arch look which seemed to roll right off him.

“I was, well, pretending at first. I thought you might want an opportunity to say something about how late it was, and oh look, poor Hylas has gone to sleep, how I envy him.” He grimaced. “Gods, I shouldn’t try to help you like this, should I? I’ve no idea what I’m doing, and you’re an expert.”

He’d had, if Zo was any judge—and he was—too much wine to be called quite sober. But it looked good on him. He seemed relaxed and happy.

“It was perfect,” Zo said. “Timon hated to be the first to leave, but I hinted I thought you were drunk, and that made him feel good about himself because he wasn’t, and he didn’t want to have to offer to see you home if you woke up, so he left, feeling jealous that you got to stay.”

“Goodness. So I did well?”

“You can help me any time. Speaking of which, how about helping me up right now?”

Hylas obediently scrambled to his feet. As he did, something tumbled out of his lap and rolled into the torchlight. It was a scroll, and the writing on the label caught Zo’s eye.

“The Bronze Dolphin! Where did you get that?”

“Oh, I’d forgotten it altogether.” Hylas stooped to pick it up and presented it to Zo, smiling. “I borrowed it for you. I can’t tell you where, and I want to read it too, but I’ll let you have it first.”

“You beautiful man,” said Zo.

Hylas laughed aloud as he grasped Zo’s forearms and hauled him carefully to his feet.

CHAPTER 10

The next morning was too cold for sitting in the garden. Zo woke late with a headache and a vague memory of Hylas visiting on his way out and leaving tea. It was lukewarm now, but the buns were still good. He ate them sitting in bed and brushed the crumbs off the blanket.

It had been a while since he’d had a truly late night; evenings had been ending early at the Red Balconies, a symptom of the lack of guests. He hadn’t realized how much he’d begun to count on the extra sleep.

Mistress Aula was still pleased with him. She told everyone so that morning, breezing into the companions’ sitting room to announce that they should all follow Zo’s example.

“Mistress,” Menthe ventured meekly, “where are we going to entertain tonight? It’s too cold for the courtyard … ”

“In your rooms, of course. You should be spending more time with the guests in your rooms anyway.”

“Surely we can get the good winter sitting room ready for tonight,” said Theano, “if we work together.”

“What? Don’t be impertinent! None of the furnishings I’ve ordered are ready. You’ll meet your guests in the courtyard and bring them back to your rooms.”

“That hasn’t been the custom of the house,” said Theano.

“I don’t care! It is now! And you’ll all get yourselves garlands from rich patrons. If Zo and Chrestos can do it, the rest of you can, too. I’m not having my house thought of as a place where you come to court boys—not when I have perfectly good girls on offer.”

“I like how she managed to make that sound like an insult to you too, somehow,” Menthe remarked to Zo after Mistress had gone.

He winced. “Did you notice that? I noticed that.”

“There’s no winning with her,” said Pani grimly. “Do you know she tried to pull Taris’s headscarf off last night? She only stopped because one of the guests saw her.”

“And she yelled at the aqueduct man last week in front of guests,” Menthe added.

Theano sighed. “I’ll try to reason with her again, though I’m afraid she won’t listen to me. If I can at least get her to compromise on some of the redecorating, we can have a usable sitting room, and that will be something.”

“Won’t we risk losing guests if we try to take them all back to our rooms?” said Zo. “They don’t all come here to see just one of us.”

“Exactly.” Theano rubbed her forehead. “We’ll just have to do our best. Let’s get on with our chores, everyone.”