Chapter 41

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The soldier assigned to guard me doesn't see it coming. I approach Calmi at the end of the hall, hear the punch, followed by a choking gurgle. Cloth swooshes across marble as Tug drags the guard into my chambers.

"Who else but my maid saw you come here?" I ask Lady Calmi.

"No one."

"How can you be sure?"

"Right now the men assigned to guard me are following a young woman whom I have used often, and most successfully, as my double."

I am only half-listening as I stroll past her down the hall. We have company. Someone lingers behind the curved balustrade, and either they are with Calmi, or they spy for the Queen. Queen Usas already distrusts me. If she hears of Calmi's visit, her suspicions will increase ten-fold and I will never convince her to leave the Red City.

I slip my knife from the band around my boot and skulk to the edge of the corridor wall. Then I swing around the side into a small, unarmed man. His eyes widen at the sight of me. He flinches, but doesn't reach for a weapon, or run in the opposite direction. His weathered skin is a shade darker than my own. His trousers and shirt clean but ill fitted, crumpled.

It is Sixe. Calmi's leash. The shadow weaver her grandfather assigned to watch over her the day she arrived at his castle.

He stares, expression transforming to fascination. A sentiment I reciprocate, though I don't understand why I should be of particular interest considering he lives on Strik's lands and is surrounded by our kind. I on the other hand, have not come close to a grown-up Uru Ana since we lived in the Sea of Trees. Unless you count the Duchess, and I do not.

An arm floats up from his curved shoulders. His cracked, rough fingers prod my cheek as though testing whether I am real. A current of recognition passes between us. Far off in the mind-world, waves crash against crystal cliffs.

"He's with me," Calmi says. I take a step back. Sixe knows we are alike. If he reveals my identity and Strik learns I am Uru Ana, I shudder at what the lord would do if we met again. And it would shatter Strik's misconception of the Prince as an unmindful idiot who readily follows their plan for his own self-serving ambitions. "Sixe," she continues, "is my eyes and ears in the palace."

"Your eyes and ears, or your grandfather's?" I ask, allowing distrust to seep through my voice. If I'm forced to strike Sixe unconscious so he does not reveal my sight to Calmi, my distrust will be the motive.

"Grandfather caught him when he was a boy. He wishes to be free as much as I do. He has been watching over the Prince and Queen all morning for me."

"Let's not forget he has been watching you too," I say. He is bound by Strik's power to follow Calmi, to know her whereabouts at all times. No doubt he longs for freedom, but like Calmi, he is not governed by his own will. They are both dangerous allies.

"You have been surveying the Prince," I say to him, "Where is he now?"

"Sixe cannot speak. But if you wish to see Prince Jakut, he will take us."

The stooped Uru Ana slave bows his head, showing he is at my service.

A distant click makes me jump. I step back to see around the balustrade. Tug stands outside my closed chamber door, brushing off a crinkle in his new white shirt. The Queen's guard is taken care of.

I turn to Calmi. "I will speak to the Prince of what you have said, alone. Remain in my chambers until my maid returns. Keep my maid in my room by whatever means necessary. Sixe will take me to Prince Jakut."

"How long should I detain her?"

"As long as it takes."

"As what takes?"

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